New life for pound

Baw Baw Shire’s new animal pound is up and running at Longwarry North.

Seven impounded cats and five dogs were relocated from the old pound in Galloway St, Warragul, to the upgraded premises, formerly the privately run but now closed Utopia Pet Lodge, last week.

Baw Baw council bought the facility on five acres of land for $1.2 million in August last year. The upgrade that enabled the pound to be transferred to Longwarry North last week was needed to comply with state government codes of practice.

It involved compliance works on existing dog enclosures, construction of 18 new cat enclosures and a cat adoption area.

Stage two improvements estimated to cost about $230,000 will include another 22 dog and four cat enclosures, dog and cat isolation areas, a dog exercise yard, improved security and a solar power system.

The aim is to have those completed by the end of the year.

Stray livestock such as cattle, horses, sheep and goats will also eventually be accommodated at the Longwarry North site but will require a new entrance accessible to trucks to be built from Princes Way.

Mayor Joe Gauci said getting the animals into a new facility had been a priority for the council and the community.

Several members of the community vented their dissatisfaction with conditions for impounded animals at the Galloway St site in Warragul.

The decision to buy the Utopia Pet Lodge at Longwarry North also was shrouded in controversy. It was not one of the three options council presented for public consultation and was most expensive.

In eventually deciding on the Longwarry North site the council of the day stated it planned to continue operating the pet lodge as a “welcome extra revenue stream” to offset the costs of running a co-located pound.

Plans to continue to operate the pet lodge have since been abandoned.

Council has continually refused to release the business plan on which it based its decision to buy the property and business claiming it as being “commercial in confidence”.

Last week Cr Gauci described the new pound as “a future-proof facility that will meet the needs of growth occurring in the shire”.

However, he pointed out that impounding animals was a “last resort” for the shire’s compliance officers. The vast majority of cats and dogs are registered and microchipped and the first action was to contact the owners.

Those that are impounded are usually unregistered or “serial offenders,” Cr Gauci said.

He said council had not yet discussed what to do with the site in Galloway St, Warragul.

It had been one of three possible locations for building a new pound initially proposed to council but overlooked in favour of the Longwarry North property when it became aware it was on the market.

Cr Gauci said identification of an area south of the Galloway St pound for a retardation basin associated with the Warragul drainage plan could impact on its future use and the options available to council.