Altona residents are outraged at the state of Cherry Lake, and want council to clean up its act before the area turns into a dump and wildlife disappear.
Concerned residents Suzan Crittenden and Grace Garbowski said they were sick of fighting a losing battle to keep the Cherry Lake waterways clean from rubbish and healthy for the wildlife and bird population.
The lake provides habitat for a range of native birds including pelicans, swans and swamp hens.
A passionate bird observer, Ms Garbowski, who works closely with the areas wildlife rescuers, said there had been five pelican deaths in the past two months.
“I’m really concerned about many issues at Cherry Lake, predominantly the bird life/wildlife and how it’s been affected by the intense fishing out here,” Ms Garbowski said.
She said a major concern was the irresponsibility of fisherman, who leave fishing line with hooks on the grass that birds can easily become caught and entangled in.
Other problems include rubbish thrown on the ground, people fishing in undesignated spots and dog owners not complying with the rules of dog on leash at the lake.
Ms Garbowski said she had made numerous pleas to council and Melbourne Water, who manage the lake, to get on top and better manage the lake.
Recue and wildlife transporter Lisa Toskovski said over the last few months she had received a call to rescue wildlife from Cherry Lake, mainly pelicans and swans every day.
“It’s as simple as a small fish hook in the leg that exposes the flesh and tissue and bacteria gets in and causes them to be euthanized.”
Ms Toskovski said this year on average one bird a week had to be euthanized with 98 per cent of the deaths caused by fish hooks.
“It all comes down to having some authority to protect the area. Authority is the only thing that will help the situation, otherwise we will keep catching birds and keep putting them down.”
Seabrook wildlife rescuer Kym O’Connor agreed that council needs to employ bylaw officers.
She said in her opinion 80 per cent of the animal injuries from Cherry Lake were due to the laws not being governed.
“In the last three months, we’ve pulled out five pelicans, in the last four weeks alone we’ve assisted three swans in hooks and fishing lines.”
She said more signage needed to be put up and council needed to “get its act together and start looking after what we have before it’s too late and gone”.
Council did not respond before deadline.
