18 Jun 2024 - Petition has been submitted to Whanganui District Council for the Council meeting on the 25th Jun 2024 - Total who supported 2512 (paper and online) - Thank You 

_____________________________________________________________________________

Last year the Whanganui District Council proposed shutting the aviary at Rotokawau Virginia Lake. It was a late submission to the 2023 Annual Plan. 

There were 448 submissions, 38 to close the aviary and 410 to keep it. 

"Mayor Andrew Tripe said community engagement would start on that this year and formal consultation would kick off in April 2024. Part of the process would involve exploring co-funding opportunities or fundraising to reduce the costs of the aviary upgrade for ratepayers."

https://tinyurl.com/p7d9yu

However in the LTP submission process there was no mention to exploring co-funding or fundraising, the main two options were to close the aviary or keep the aviary at a cost to the rate payers. 

Submissions for these options was tight 
44% (630) in support of closing 
42% (612) in support of keeping open
5% (74) don't know
9% (128) something else 

This raised the following questions for me -  of the 44% who supported closing the aviary was this due to wanting to save money from rates or because they want better animal welfare?  Had an option been presented to find public/community funding would they have supported that as an option? 

Of the 9% who said something else, how many were giving ideas to close or keep it open in a different form? 

During the LTP deliberations Cr Michael Law proposed transferring via tender process to a community group with a small fund of $30,000 to keep it running. If no community group would come forward then relook at closing it after a year. 

He also suggested allowing members of the public to annually sponsor a bird.  The Whanganui Bird Club already has an active role in the Aviary and this could be run by volunteers.  If a community group was running it, the outside funding could be sought. 

Two Councillors brought up that no group had come forward in the last year to offer to take over the aviary. Could this be because it was voted last year to remain open and in Council control? Majority of the public believe it to be settled and safe. 

One Councillor had issue with it not being wheelchair friendly, but then  voted to keep the Winter Gardens open but that is also not wheelchair friendly. 

Bushy Park was also brought up, yes it is fantastic for those who can get out there. 

Three voted due to animal welfare, a fair enough stance, but a personal one.

As Cr Jenny Duncan said, the life span of the aviary is limited anyway, it will close naturally as the bird population steadily decreases. (there are no new birds being brought into the aviary due to animal husbandry techniques). 

The Whanganui East Pool, the Wanganui Repertory Theatre and the Youth Initiative have all been given time to see what options are before them.... why not the aviary? 

Please keep the aviary open for the year proposed by Cr Law and explore the options as promised by the Council in May 2023.