Sad photo in Aussie town exposes 'disgraceful' problem
Emus are plentiful in the small Western Australian town, but council say they can be problematic.
An unusual sight in a small Aussie town has sparked concern among many after a local woman witnessed an emu rummaging through a pile of rubbish at a tip.
The resident from Nannup, located three hours south of Perth, shared the video online this week where it was met with condemnation from people across Australia addressing the state of the dumping site, resulting in the native animals getting stuck in. The local council explained to Yahoo News Australia how the "disgraceful" scene likely came to be.
"Here we are at the local tip. We don't have a general rubbish collection here in Nannup, but as you can see, the bin chickens are slightly built differently than the average," the woman named Bettie said in a video shared on TikTok.
Bin chickens is the name commonly given to the native Ibis bird which is regularly spotted targeting bins around cities and towns.
While some were amused by the "bin chicken' reference, others weren't too impressed by the amount of rubbish left lying around, providing easy access for the local emus. Emus have long existed in farmland and bushland surrounding the town.
Rubbish collection a problem in Aussie town
Yahoo understands the Nannup council performs regular, weekly bin pick up services for the town site but does not cover "out of town areas". The remaining rubbish ends up at the tip shown in the video.
The poster explained the tip is "a dedicated space with has different areas for different waste". She said what's shown in the video is the "general waste section" and is usually well maintained.
"There is also a green waste, metal, building materials, cardboard bin and oil bin. Only the emus are allowed to scavenge," she added.
Council explains to 'disgraceful' emu scene at tip
Yahoo News Australia contacted Nannup Council on the matter, asking if the emus rummaging through the rubbish is a common occurrence and what is being done to prevent them from potentially eating something harmful.
"Emus are plentiful in Nannup and often throughout the year residents and visitors see entire families walking around town and town surrounds," David Taylor, Shire of Nannup's CEO, told Yahoo.
"We have installed fencing at the waste facility but the emus continue to find their way in."
He went on to say "there is a small unfenced section of the boundary and it is on the works schedule for completion". "The emus would be accessing the waste facility via this unfenced portion," he added.
Emus 'bit of a nuisance' is Aussie town
Previously, in 2020, a mob of emus 'invaded' the small town causing a range of problems.
At the time, Nannup Shire President Tony Dean said "they've proven to become a bit of a nuisance in people's yards, and doing their dung on public thoroughfares," according to the ABC. They are also "a major problem" on roads," he added.
Crash data collected over five years, until the end of 2019, identifies that 28.9 per cent of crashes in our region involved an animal, council revealed in 2022.
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