Upper Beaconsfield residents Marie and Rebecca with a hawk run down on Manestar Road.By Paul Dunlop
STOP the carnage.
That’s the plea from residents who claim a winding stretch of road in Upper Beaconsfield — a popular ‘back route’ for hoon drivers — has become a death zone for wildlife.
A young hawk was killed last week after being hit by a car in Manestar Road. Just days earlier, residents said a motorcyclist had run down a king parrot on the same stretch.
Rebecca Edison said animals were killed on the road outside her house, which backs onto Cardinia Reservoir Park, on an almost daily basis.
“It’s not a oneoff thing, it’s every single week,” Ms Edison said.
“All these beautiful animals being killed, it’s just never ending. It’s quite devastating to see it happen.”
Fellow Manestar Road resident Marie (who did not wish to give her surname) is mounting a campaign to reduce the speed limit in the area from 80 to 60 kilometres per hour.
“Idiots cut corners, pass other cars. The road is dangerous,” she said.
“I’ve seen too much death and carnage. The State Government has introduced a slow down zone for school children, why not for animals too?
“I’d put speed humps there if it was up to me.”
Marie said she planned to start a petition supporting her campaign and also hopes to establish a rescue shelter for injured and orphaned wildlife.
“The other day I was happy to see a car stop because an echidna was crossing the road. But there were four cars behind beeping their horns and carrying on. A lot of people deliberately swerve if they see animals cross the road.”
Ms Edison said the area around her Upper Beaconsfield home was one of the few remaining wildlife habitats in the fastgrowing corridor between Berwick and Pakenham.
“I have kangaroos at my backdoor. We don’t want that to change,” she said.
Residents wishing to support efforts to establish a rescue shelter for injured and orphaned wildlife can contact redisonchisholm.vic.edu.au.
