Overwhelming call for the return of wildlife to Serendip Sanctuary

WATCH: Full house shows support for Serendip's wildlife at Community Meeting

Lara residents voted overwhelmingly for the return of Serendip's wildlife during a recent full house Community Meeting.  Sadly, Ella George's promised 'vison' for Serendip was a flop

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Unanimous support for Serendip's famous Wildlife Walk

More than 120 people attended a Community Meeting with Ella George as our State government representative.

There was unanimous support from the audience for return of the native birds and animals previously on display at Serendip.   

This response sent a strong message to Ms George to take immediate action to reinstate the Wildlife Walk exhibits and endangered breeding programs at Serendip Sanctuary.

These have been the main attraction for visitors and students to the sanctuary for many years, 

Ella George's 'different' vision underwhelming

Local presenters spoke about the recent history of the You Yangs Precinct Master Plan, and the deception by Parks Victoria in secretly removing the wildlife before the required stakeholder review process required in the Master Plan got underway. 

It was then Ms George's turn to present her vision. She failed to explain, or even address, the clandestine removal of wildlife but moved on to say that: "The Serendip experience may be different in the future to what it was in the past."

This begs the question: so what will be different?

In her speech Ms George offered virtually nothing new that could help residents understand what she meant by "different". The audience was left confused and upset about how this fitted with her pre-election promise that she would bring back Serendip's wildlife.

Barry White, President of the Lara Care Group, said: "Ella’s response and commitment to returning the wildlife was largely underwhelming and instead focused on undefined viewing opportunities in future, and the announcement of a small sensory garden at Serendip."

Serendip was future-proofed for wildlife and visitors

At the meeting Mike Helman, former Head Ranger at Serendip, explained how he and others carefully researched and planned infrastructure that would future-proof the Sanctuary and its wildlife.

The idea was to allow visitors - be they students or tourists - to interact and learn from wildlife with particular regard to the welfare of the birds and animals on display.

Mike Helman's historical briefing received warm applause.
Seated: Ella George MP and Chair, Anthony Aitken

As Mike explained: "Serendip's captive breeding programs were so successful that during the late 1970's and 80's Magpie geese and Cape Barren geese had been bred in large enough numbers to be self-sufficient and they were allowed to fly free from Serendip.

"Serendip is a unique Australian native wildlife experience and while the free-range animals provide a fantastic experience for many visitors, Serendip without displayed animals is just like a walk in any other park or bush.

"Serendip's environmental education program without displayed animals is diminished to a point that students won't be excited and our students will not learn about native animals." Mr Helman said.

Ella: Serendip does not need to be "different" in the future

With minimal adjustments and costs Serendip will remain one of the best and most successful wildlife sanctuaries in Australia but to achieve this the breeding and display programs must be brought back.

To support this claim LCG speakers highlighted the sanctuary’s role in wildlife conservation and successful breeding of rare and endangered species, as well as Serendip’s highly regarded educational programs. 

Also highlighted was the importance of its role in promoting tourism and the growth in conservation travel which would contribute to economic benefits to our region.

"All these things were in place before Parks Victoria pulled them down . The process has been seriously flawed and Parks Victoria should be called to account," said LCG President, Barry White.

"The reality is that given the disastrous actions taken to remove important native birds and animals, Serendip will be different in future, but not in a good way." Mr White said

More about the Community Meeting

Well over 120 concerned residents attended the meeting 

Thankyou to:

• Ella George for speaking and taking questions (we may not agree with Ella but we respect the fact that she came out and joined the meeting)
• Deputy Mayor, Anthony Aitken, for chairing the meeting so professionally.
• Daniel from "Z" Audio Visual for his support with sound and vision.  
• And to all the volunteers who distributed pamphlets and spread the word about this meeting
• Charles Street for recording the meeting. The  videos and photos in this story are by Charles.

In the coming weeks we will update this story with highlights, questions and videos from the meeting.  Come back to this post anytime to find updates.

UPDATE:  Here are some video recordings from the Community Meeting.  Thanks to Charles Street for compiling and editing these.  Lots of hard work went into this:

1. Introduction & Parks Victoria videos  (19 minutes)
2. Presentations by Barry White, Mike Helman and Roger Smith (39 mins)
3. Presentation by Ella George followed by Q&A (63 mins)
4. The entire meeting (127 minutes)

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What can you do to help?

Write to Ella George, our local Member of Parliament and tell her that you want the wildlife returned to Serendip: Here's how you can do that. This is one of the most powerful actions you can take

Join Lara Care Group

Please click here: Join the Lara Care Group

Visit Lara Care Group's Facebook page

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NOTES on this Newsletter

• This is an ongoing series of updates about Serendip direct from the Lara Care Group. 
• We will publish these stories regularly and post them on social media. 
• To follow this blog go to: saveserendip.blogspot.com
• Your comments are welcome (be nice 😊please)