Gold Coast lake dispute rages over beheaded bird

Grisly discovery and claim of missing eggs reignite fight over Black Swan Lake

The mayor of Queensland’s Gold Coast has vigorously denied allegations a council worker beheaded a bird and stole its eggs, as part of a long-running dispute over an artificial lake. Black Swan Lake in Bundall began life as a temporary pit and has since become a wellspring of local tension.

Many residents want it preserved as a home for wildlife, but the Gold Coast council is pushing ahead with plans to make it a car park.

A grisly discovery on the banks of the lake on Tuesday has reignited the debate and set off an impassioned search for the culprit.

Caroline Sartori, a resident, found the headless body of a moorhen, a black water bird, floating in the water on Tuesday. She told the Gold Coast Bulletin it had been killed with a “clean cut”, and three of its eggs were missing.

Sartori referred the matter to the RSPCA on Wednesday, and another resident, Lynda Donato, reported the animal cruelty to the police and asked them to scour their CCTV footage.

“I can’t imagine how a bird could lose its head any other way [than being cut],” she told the Bulletin.

Picketed

On Friday, the Gold Coast mayor, Tom Tate, spoke out against the notion that someone from the local council was responsible for the bird’s decapitation.

“I don’t believe that any Gold Coasters would be capable of doing something ridiculous like that. I’m looking forward to seeing the evidence,” he told reporters.

In February, the council’s first attempt to fill in the lake was picketed by 60 angry residents.