A DOG’S Breakfast will be held in Point Cook next month to teach pet owners to behave responsibly around shorebirds.
The free barbecue will be on at the corner of Hemsley Promenade and Scafetta Gardens on 6 February at 9am.
An education officer from Birds Australia, Dr Meghan Cullen, said educating dog-walkers about shorebirds was an important task.
“Areas along Port Phillip Bay, such as Altona Coastal Park and Cheetham Wetlands are important habitat for shorebirds,” she said.
“It can be difficult to understand how dogs may affect these birds. Unfortunately even when dogs just get close to shorebirds they can still have detrimental effects.” Dr Cullen said shorebird numbers were on the decline and unleashed dogs could be one of them.
“Migratory shorebirds arrive utterly exhausted on our doorstep, with the desperate need to feed,” she said.
“They feed all summer long and must gain enough weight to have the energy to make it back to their breeding grounds in the north.
“When predators, such as dogs and foxes are about, the birds are well aware and become stressed and they will either stop feeding, or take flight to find safer ground.
“Either way the amount of valuable energy they have stored is reduced, which could mean they may not make it back to the Arctic tundra to breed.”
Dr Cullen said residential shorebirds, such as oystercatchers and red-capped plovers, could also be disturbed by dogs.
“These are ground-nesting birds and when they are disturbed during nesting they will move away from their nests and chicks in the hope that the threat will follow them and not notice their young,” she said.
“This leaves the eggs or young chicks vulnerable to other predators, starvation and temperature extremes.”
Dr Cullen said educating dog-owners about the issue could help save the young bird’s lives.
