Victorian Big Cat Hunt-YAWN
I Wish Channel 10 were not given footage of feral cats for the story above. :(
Jesus..why do they %$%#@ bother.
When they were in opposition..they said they would do an enquiry once in power.
They get in power..
And what did they do once in power.
They did diddly squat last time they announced this..perused some files..talked to themselves..made a coffee..they said they would interview doggers etc last time..I know for a fact they never interviewed anyone.
They did nothing..
And many of their own staff have been told in person..not in writing!!!! not to talk about the problem/sightings etc..so there are no emails/documents etc that can be found using Foi.
Beside make a fool of their own department..are they that desperate for shite publicity.
So..after that complete non event debacle..the brain trust decided to reopen the enquiry they had which did nothing..so that they can again do nothing..
I "predicted" what there original report would say here...
Vindicated then....
I realise that some of the Victorian guys have high hopes for this next stage..
I dont think it will happen..
The search for Victoria's elusive big cats is back on.
Just weeks after it shelved plans to solve the decades-long mystery, the Victorian Government now wants to put the matter to rest once and for all.
Witness sightings have been recorded, over at least 60 years, of cougars, panthers or pumas in a wide stretch of Victoria from Gippsland to the Otways, the Grampians, central Victoria and at Beechworth in the northeast. Have you seen an elusive big cat in Victoria? Tell us below.
The reports include livestock maulings and unexplained paw prints. As reported in The Weekly Times, an official investigation has been launched in line with a 2010 pre-election pledge from Nationals leader Peter Ryan, who said "there were enough credible observations" to warrant the effort.
Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh said work on the big cat study had already started. Mr Walsh said wild-dog control remained the Government's priority but there were now "sufficient departmental resources available".
"The study will review existing literature, reports, correspondence and other evidence for the presence of big cats in Victoria, and it includes liaison with relevant community groups and individuals who have reports or records of possible sightings," Mr Walsh said. "The study is expected to take several months to complete."
The investigation is known to include staff from the Department of Primary Industries and the Department of Sustainability and Environment.
Opposition agriculture spokesman John Lenders yesterday said the Government's priorities to rural and regional Victorians were more important "than solving Deputy Premier Peter Ryan's obsession with finding his big cat". "In an ideal world when the Government has not cut jobs to DPI offices across the state, underfunded fruitfly road blocks and the baiting of wild dogs, maybe funding for a 'study' into big cats would be welcomed," Mr Lenders said. "How can there be 'sufficient' departmental resources available to conduct a big-cat study when there have been significant jobs losses in both DPI and DSE as part of the Government's move to sack 4200 public servants across the state. "With cuts to TAFE programs, the scrapping of the Rural and Regional First Homeowners bonus this shows that the Baillieu Government is not taking rural and regional Victorians seriously.
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