By ALANA MITCHELSON
AT LEAST three dead sheep were dumped in a ditch beside the railway line in Nar Nar Goon and remained there for almost a week, despite complaints from residents.
Nearby resident Norman Crook said his wife went for a walk every morning past the Oakview Lane railway crossing and was shocked to have stumbled across the confronting sight of a dead sheep during her morning walk on Wednesday 3 August.
She noticed two more sheep carcasses were dumped the following Monday, at which point the original sheep had begun decomposing. A skull and bones were also visible from the street.
Mr Crook said that in the 20 years he had lived in the area, he had often observed rubbish dumped in the vicinity of the railway line but never had he seen dumped animals.
“We live about 200 metres away from the railway line and all the locals walk up and down the street,” he said.
“People dump rubbish all the time but this is the last thing you expect to see happening. It’s a terrible thing that someone would dump them like that.
“There are skulls and bones near them that look like they have been there for a long time, so it looks like they might not have been the first ones dumped there.
“Our neighbours are equally annoyed. We called the council last Thursday but they told us they couldn’t remove them because the animals weren’t on council land.“
Mr Crook told the Gazette on Monday that he had no idea where the sheep may have come from and said no nearby properties held sheep.
“The stench hasn’t started yet but it will start pretty soon if they’re not cleaned up,” he said.
After a request for comment on Monday 8 August, Cardinia Shire Council operations co-ordinator Mark Howard told the Gazette the council would dispose of the carcasses on Tuesday 9 August.
“Council acted promptly on this request, and well within the acceptable and established timeframes to remove animal carcasses from a road reserve,” Mr Howard said.
“Council was notified of animal carcasses near Oakview Lane, Nar Nar Goon on Thursday 4 August and the carcasses will be removed on Tuesday 9 August.
“VicTrack owns the land immediately adjacent to the railway line, however in this instance the carcasses are on a road reserve under council’s management.“
It is unclear as to whether the nature of this dumping incident involved acts of animal cruelty in addition to the improper disposal of the carcasses.
RSPCA Victoria had not received any recent community reports of concern about the dumping of dead sheep in the Cardinia region.
RSPCA urged anyone with concerns about the welfare of animals to file a report at rspcavic.org.au or to phone 9224 2222.
