REMEMBER WHEN

GOLD COAST BULLETIN Wednesday September 28, 2005

CHARLEVILLE’S mayor wanted his ibis back.

The birds left the west in the great drought of the 1980s and, much like the Pied Piper, Mark O’Brien was keen to guide them home.

A giant cavalcade of trucks were thought to be their ticket back to Charleville.

Cr O’Brien lent his support to a plan to purge the Gold Coast of its plague of scavenger ibis and truck them back to Charleville. With the Gold Coast so unenthused by its ibis population, he said he was happy to enter into negotiations with the city council about taking them off their hands.

He said Charleville residents did not discriminate against any fauna, as ”we all have to live together”.

”We’ve got to share this great continent with lots of creatures, including the ibis.

”Charleville is becoming a very well known place for conservation and concern about flora and fauna because of our Save the Bilby fund,’’ he said.

”The ibis are all right, I think they’re even a protected species. We’d look after them. I’m sure Ron (Mayor Ron Clarke) and I could have discussions.’’

Cr Dawn Crichlow, a longterm advocate of an ibis purge on the Gold Coast, said the council should drug each and every one of the birds and truck them out west.

”We just need to drug them with some seed, a bit of tucker, and then send them out west on a road train, back to where they came from.

”It’s called logic,’’ she said. They are disease-ridden, horrible creatures.’’