MAYOR Julia Leu claims Douglas Shire Council is ‘bewildered’ by the decision of the Department of Natural Resources and Mines to block the new Paws and Claws animal shelter site at Yule Point.

Council has been working with the Department for the past year to purchase a parcel of land south of Port Douglas to relocate Paws and Claws, which is currently homeless.

The Department informed Leu that it did not support the sale of the land, citing “significant environmental values, incorporating wetlands, of concern regional ecosystems, and essential habitat for the endangered Southern Cassowary”.

Leu said this assessment defied logic and ‘undermined the community’s confidence in government.’

“It has been extremely difficult for Council and Paws and Claws to find a suitable location for a new animal shelter that is fit for purpose...” Leu said in a Council statement.

“For the Department to now indicate it does not support a favourable determination, citing the proposed location as an essential habitat for the Southern Cassowary, undermines community confidence in government, defies logic and is out of touch with community expectations.

“It is completely bewildering to receive this response which will be devastating for the community.

“You hear governments all the time talking about cutting red tape and taking a common sense approach to community issues, and then the Department... comes up with a position like this which flies in the face of all of this rhetoric.”

The proposal was for a fenced enclosure and purpose-built kennel in a rural Yule Point location. Leu said she would be requesting a copy of the advice which triggered the Department’s current position because it ‘fails the sniff test’.

“The Department itself states that State land ‘is allocated to the most appropriate use and tenure to derive the greatest benefits to meet the current and future needs of the people of Queensland’," she said.

“This essential community project is an absolute priority and the use of this public land is undeniably in the public interest. Yet this preliminary assessment from the Department threatens the future of a dedicated local community organisation and further endangers native wildlife.”

Leu said Council would be fighting the Department’s position ‘all the way’ and has requested a meeting with the Minister to raise our concerns with him personally.

“A homeless animal shelter appropriately designed and constructed on this site is a perfect example of how Council can ensure conditions are imposed that preserve our natural habitat," she said.