Distress at corella cull

The corellas (under the sheet) are gassed with car exhaust fumes.THE netting and gassing of corellas in Maylands has left local residents distressed and angry.

Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) zoologist Peter Mawson said there could be more culling in Maylands, after 30 corellas were killed last Wednesday morning.

“Sometimes you get lucky – we’ve had 130 birds in the net before and got the whole flock,” he said.

“It was a modest start, but we got a few.”

Maylands resident Alina Judge said she came across the cull program while walking her dog near the river.

“I actually found it hard to believe what I was watching,” she said.

“They lured them with grain and then hooked a hose up to a car exhaust.

“The birds left up in the trees were all squawking, probably because they were family.

“They would’ve killed two dozen birds – what difference will that make?”

Ms Judge believed corellas lived in social structures and would have found the process traumatic.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt being put in a gas chamber would be distressing,” she said.

“I live near the multipurpose centre and there are construction workers making a racket there all day, so do I net and gas them?”

Mr Mawson said the gassing method was a humane way of reducing bird numbers.

“The birds are covered with an airtight layer and it’s very quick, so it does minimise stress,” he said.

“I think some people aren’t accepting of the idea of controlling over-abundant populations, but it needs to be done.”

He said the introduced corellas were causing a range of problems throughout Perth.

“They impact on public amenity, infrastructure, playing fields and they compete with native cockatoos for nest hollows,” he said.

“Our experience tells us it’s easier to do something when numbers are lower, rather than in plague proportions.”