Corella cull not working, Old Noarlunga locals say

Flying Little Corella. Image by Kym OLD Noarlunga residents are fearful people will take culling corellas into their own hands as frustrations over the council’s corella management program reach boiling point.

For the first time in six years, Onkaparinga Council has started a shooting program in a bid to rid the historic town of the birds, but residents say it is not working.

At a public meeting attended by 150 residents last week, a panel of council representatives, the Environment Department, the police and the Old Noarlunga Commercial and Residents Association heard that the noisy corellas were continuing to destroy trees.

Donna Hughson told the Southern Times Messenger she was worried residents were so fed up with the corellas they would shoot the birds themselves.

“It’s the stress levels,” Ms Hughson said.

“People are going to take matters into their own hands.”

The council’s corella management program included killing up to 200 birds and using blank pellets to scare away the rest of the flock.

A pest control company hired by the council had killed about 100 birds so far in the township’s Market Square.

David Hogg said the situation was “desperate”.

“My partner uses earplugs and takes a sedative before going to sleep ... it really is a desperate situation,” he said.

“We’re worried about what people might do.”

Corellas are not a protected species but landholders with firearms licences are prevented from shooting birds in built up areas.

Mayor Lorraine Rosenberg told the Southern Times Messenger that even though the program had not worked as expected, the council needed to finish the trial.

“It was always just going to be a trial but we needed to see if it would work,” Ms Rosenberg said.

“Without testing, we would never know.”

Onkaparinga city development manager Terry Sutcliffe told the meeting the program “was obviously not living up to residents’ expectations”.

The council will review the program when it winds up in a month.