Important Update from Friends of San Remo Wombats

Thank you so much for signing our petition! We really appreciate your support. 

It’s been 8 long months of asking the council and the community for help, but unfortunately, we haven’t successfully enacted any change, and the dogs are continuing to visit and enter wombat burrows on the San Remo back beach. 

So, we thought it about time to give you an update on the situation and, and for transparency, to provide you the following information to increase your insight into this ongoing issue. Perhaps grab a cup of tea!

We first contacted the council about the off-leash dog problem on the Sunday evening of January 5th, 2025. Within an hour and twenty minutes, Mayor Halstead, after reading our email that contained a video of scores of off-leash dogs visiting and entering wombat burrows, replied with the following:

“Dear Eve, 

I write to acknowledge receipt and thank you for your email expressing concern for the wildlife in San Remo and more specifically the infection of local wombats with mange. 

I am a wildlife lover as well as a dog owner who supports designated off leash areas under the conditions as are currently in place. 

San Remo is a residential area designated to be a growth corridor in Bass Coast and with a large population of pet owners (specifically dogs). 

There are very few off leash areas in Bass Coast and therefore I would not support any change to San Remo. 

The current arrangements for San Remo have been in place for a short period of time and took a great deal of effort to achieve.  This area continues to come under attack by those who do not support it as off leash.  I personally use this beach with my dogs and have found most (but agree not all) owners show strong respectful dog etiquette. 

Rather than calls to remove or change the current conditions I would support continued education and adherence to the laws under which a dog can be off leash.  If there are concerns around the grasslands this could be communicated to dog owners.  Better monitoring by our by-laws officers may also be required.  

I have promoted the need to leash dog to protect both wombats and hooded plovers and I know the Phillip Island and Bass Coast Dog Association also promotes heavily, respectful dog etiquette and training.  They have been working with conservation groups to better understand how they can help get the messages out there.  I support and encourage these working together partnerships. 

Again, I thank you for your email and please be assured I will continue to promote the great work you do and the need for residents to always be thinking of our wildlife when walking their pets.  

Kind regards, 

Rochelle Halstead GAICD 

MAYOR  

Note, the Mayor stated, “…I would not support any change to San Remo”, seemingly no matter what happens to wildlife and, “I personally use this beach with my dogs and have found most (but agree not all) owners show strong respectful dog etiquette”. This may present a conflict of interest for the Mayor on this matter. 

For the record, the off-leash dog rules have been in place in San Remo since December 1st 2019, not a ‘short period of time’ as Mayor Halstead told us - and far too long to have the wombats suffer in this way.

Our group only started monitoring the burrows in November 2024, we don’t monitor every burrow (the beach is dotted with many burrows throughout the vegetation and dunes) and we don’t have our cameras up all of the time. So based on probability, hundreds of dogs have frequented and entered wombat burrows over the past five years – this is unacceptable. Again, we only inadvertently, identified this problem doing our mange work, and thank goodness we did. The council was unaware.

We aren’t concerned about the dog walkers who are doing the right thing, we have always supported off-leash dogs on this beach that abide by the rules, but we are very concerned about those (far too many) doing the wrong thing. It is unfair to punish those doing the right thing by changing the rules, and the council should reward those doing the right thing by enforcing the rules. Therefore, any blame for a rule reassessment needs to be placed squarely on those doing the wrong thing, and the council’s inaction, and not what our group is or isn’t doing. We have no choice but to ask for change, as wombat volunteers, knowing what we know about this ongoing situation.

It’s been eight months now, since we first contacted the council, and nine months since we first identified the problem, and the dogs continue. We recorded a kelpie on August 16, 2025, inside a young wombat’s burrow (the joey featured in this video) that we are desperately trying to treat for mange. The next night their mother, who also shares the burrow, sniffed the entrance and didn’t enter her burrow. It was unusual behaviour. With wombats’ keen sense of smell, we can only assume that she smelled the dog from the day before and decided not to use her burrow. If the wombats are too stressed to use their burrows, particularly the burrows that we can access in San Remo, we can’t treat them for mange, and they will die a slow and cruel death. 

After seeing pictures of the kelpie, and the other approx. 40 dogs we have reported to them, the council informed us yesterday (September 5th, 2025,) that they would make the wombats wait another full year before they will even think about a reassessment of the rules that the council are already failing to enforce. 

The council has a Domestic Animal Management Plan 2021-2025 in place, and another draft for 2025-2029 in review – which we made a detailed submission towards. The current plan, that hasn’t been effectively implemented to protect the wombats in San Remo, includes the council’s obligation, under the Under Section 68A of the Domestic Animal Management Act to:

• "ensure that people comply with this Act, the regulations and any related legislation; and
• to minimise the risk of attacks by dogs on people and animals” and
• provide for the review of existing orders made under this Act and local laws that relate to the Council’s municipal district with a view to determining whether further orders or local laws dealing with the management of dogs and cats in the municipal district are desirable” 

In other words, they are obligated, by law, to enforce their regulations, and if they can’t (or won’t), and the regulations aren’t working to protect wildlife, they should be compelled to reassess their off-leash beach regulations. 

In the 2021-2025 DAMP the council also claimed they would enact “An increase in the number of patrols and enforcement actions undertaken for dogs was highlighted in community and stakeholder engagement conducted during 2021”, and that they already actively engaging in, “Enforcement activities including official warnings, infringements, notices to comply and court prosecution.” 
But we haven’t experienced this in San Remo, at least enough to protect the wombats. The wombats shouldn’t have to wait another full year for things to change. 

Dog walkers allow their dogs to breach the rules at all hours of the day, including after 5pm, yet the council doesn’t provide after-hours patrols.  

The council also told us yesterday, after a another full year of waiting, they will then conduct any potential reassessment in consultation with the ‘Dogs Off Leash Working Group’, which contains members of the Phillip Island and Bass Coast Dog Owners Association (DOA), a powerful lobby group formed, as their Vice President described, to “lobby for the rights and access to public beaches and lands for our dog walking/owners”. We already know that the DOA will never ever support a change to the rules, and they will defend ‘their’ off-leash beaches at any cost and want even more. 

Importantly, the DOA are supported and promoted by Mayor Halstead and Councillor Bauer, and the DOA actively helped these two councillors get elected/re-elected to council at the last election, as per the DOA's how to vote card and subsequent media reports (below).

Current councillors, including the Mayor were helped to re-election by the off-leash dog lobby.

We think our beaches are ‘not for sale’ to the off-leash dog lobby, who continue to lobby for their rights to retain their off-leash rights on this beach no matter what happens to wildlife and no matter how many people break the rules. Nor should our beaches, or the wombats’ welfare, be used by any councillor to ensure they’re re/election at the council through their support of the DOA or other off-leash dog supporters. 

Those councillors with personal and political interests in keeping things as they are in San Remo should have a rethink about what is the ethical thing to do, especially as animal lovers. They should also declare their conflict of interest in any future motions put forward at the council about this issue.

If the rules won’t be followed by those dog walkers who continue to breach the rules, rules put in place so we can all share the beach, then unfortunately, this beach just isn’t suitable for off-leash dog walking with the wombats living there. The council made a mistake. 

The council, without any ecological survey completed, didn’t properly assess the ecological sensitivity and presence of vulnerable wombats before they made their decision to make it off-leash, and then subsequently hasn’t done enough to ensure the rules are followed. They put up a few signs, conduct a few business hours patrols and walk away. 

Those dog walkers, and the DOA, should place all their focus on those dog walkers continuing to do the wrong thing, and the council’s inaction, because these are the causes of this problem, and will be the reason for any changes to the rules. 

It’s also important to note, had those animal loving off-leash dog walkers, who mostly do the right thing, had been made aware that the San Remo back beach was home to a colony of wombats, protected native animals that would be impacted by off-leash dogs visiting and entering their burrows, they may not have supported this particular beach being made off-leash. There are many other beaches just over the bridge on Phillip Island that may have been more suitable. Unfortunately, they weren’t made aware by the council or the DOA. 

We’ve done our part on behalf of the wombats, and the council. In addition to our mange management work, treating wombats for mange and monitoring their burrows for their progress, we have done the following:

• Produced and shared videos to highlight the problem.
• Designed and printed up flyers to educate the community and handed them out on the beach, put them up in shops and shared them online. 
• Made a Facebook page, and posted videos to educate the community, and to advocate for the wombats. 
• Designed ‘Mange Management’ signage and had them installed them in San Remo with grants from Rotary to alert dog walkers about the wombats.
• Wrote articles and started a petition, as another measure to educate the community.
• Regularly communicated to the council, asking for better signage and help. 
• Helped the council in their wording for the ‘conservation area’ signage and met with them to help with installation.
• Curated still pictures of dogs at burrows, off our camera footage and filed them with the council for investigation – to our knowledge no dog owners breaching the rules and state wildlife legislation, on the 40+ pictures we have supplied to the council have been identified or fined. 
• Met with the council and took time off work to attend the DAMP review meeting in May, 2025.
• And made a very detailed submission to the DAMP 2025-29 review.

We don’t report these things to you, for kudos. Rather, to illustrate that we have done our part to educate and appeal to the community, and we now need the council to do their part, as enforcement authorities, who decided to make this beach off-leash in the first place. 

We’ve been patient, understanding, reasonable and balanced – again we support off-leash dogs on the beach as long as they follow the rules. The beach rules are:

• to not allow their dogs near wildlife
• to always keep their dogs in sight
• and to have voice control over their dogs. 

If their dog has been recorded on our cameras at a wombat burrow, they have breached the rules. 

On a good note, after 8 months of us asking for action, on June 30th, 2025, the council finally designed and installed three or four ‘Conservation Area’ signs on the beach – which we greatly appreciate. These signs, that should have been put up in a timelier manner, are in addition to the permanent signs at two beach entrances that already clearly state the rules; signs that are already being ignored. 

But as we feared, the new temporary signage is also being ignored and dogs are still entering the dunes and vegetation, out of sight of their owners, and around and inside wombat burrows, even with the new signs nearby. 

Yet more council signs are on the way, bigger and better ones! We appreciate this measure and always hope they will make a difference to the ‘culture of non-compliance’ of the off-leash by-laws that we have identified in this area. However, there is signage down there already that clearly states the rules, and more recent signage warning about the wombats, and that their dogs are at risk of snake bite and contracting mange, and yet, some people continue to actively ignore the signs.

Signage, education and rangers patrolling during business hours and only giving warnings on the beach, can only go so far. Those doing the wrong thing know they are unlikely to be caught, let alone be penalised. So, the dogs continue to impact the wombats, and we are powerless to stop them. The council must do more.

If you can help a bit more, please use this information to send your own emails (respectfully) to local Bass Coast Shire Council councillors, as it’s only they who can enact change on this matter. 

Cr Mat Morgan, Mat.Morgan@basscoast.vic.gov.au
Cr Meg Edwards, Meg.Edwards@basscoast.vic.gov.au
Cr/Mayor Rochelle Halstead, Rochelle.Halstead@basscoast.vic.gov.au
Cr Jon Temby, Jon.Temby@basscoast.vic.gov.au
Cr Jan Thompson, Jan.Thompson@basscoast.vic.gov.au
Cr Tracey Bell, Tracey.Bell@basscoast.vic.gov.au
Cr Tim O'Brien, Tim.O'Brien@basscoast.vic.gov.au
Cr Brett Tessari, brett.tessari@basscoast.vic.gov.au
Cr Ron Bauer, Ron.Bauer@basscoast.vic.gov.au

You can also contact the Conservation Regulator, as the beach is ‘managed’ by the state government department DEECA/DELWP. conservationregulator@delwp.vic.gov.au
 
And please continue to share our petition, the more signatures we get for the wombats the better. 

https://www.change.org/ProtectSanRemoWombatsFromDogActivity

Wildlife welfare is a concern for everyone, and as an ancient, unique species, that we are so lucky to have in Australia, wombat welfare and the species’ survival is not just a local, state or national concern, it is a global concern. Wombats are already suffering immeasurable pressure due to habitat loss (including in San Remo), climate change, floods, drought and fires, roadkill, pressure from feral animals and, of course, the cruel scourge of mange that is estimated to have infected at least 80% of wombats in Victoria. 

The problem in San Remo is 100% preventable and caused by human activity. 

Please also sign and share this petition to support Mange Mangement Inc. in having their vital funding of just $100K per year, that was cut by the state government in May, reinstated. This funding cut places yet more pressure on the San Remo wombats, and their volunteers – the funding paid for their mange treatments and the volunteers do all the other work, for free. 
https://www.change.org/p/reinstate-funding-for-mange-management-in-victoria

And please consider donating to this very worthwhile cause if you are able.
https://mangemanagement.org.au/donate/

On behalf of the San Remo wombats, thank you so much for your support!