The Sunday Age, Page: 20
Sunday, 30 July 2006
DO SHEEP have feelings? Do they suffer from too much noise? No, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal has ruled in a bizarre case involving farmers Ann and Andrew Gardner, 400 fine-wool merino sheep, and opponent Macarthur Wind Farm Pty Ltd. At the centre of the case is a conflict about land use. Macarthur plans to build a wind farm next door to the Gardners and the Gardners, it appears, tried to stymie the wind farm by proposing to build two "farm-stay" units on their property, near the Victorian township of Macarthur.
The local council approved the Gardner's farm- stay units, but at VCAT, tribunal member J.A. Bennett knocked back the proposal, barely hiding his irritation about the squabble, saying it had "all the hallmarks of a riveting novel!" "It is apparent from the tenor of their submission that Mr and Mrs Gardner remain implacably opposed to the proposal for a wind energy facility on the adjoining property," Mr Bennett ruled. "I find it almost incomprehensible that Mr and Mrs Gardner would deliberately choose to locate two 'farm-stay units' so close to the boundary with the site for the proposed Macarthur wind energy facility. "And what about those extra special merino sheep? Well, the incensed Mr Bennett was just as hard on them.
He did not accept that merino sheep were any more sensitive than any other common or garden sheep, or horse, or human for that matter. "Each species has a 'normal' range of hearing with some individuals being more sensitive to noise than others," he ruled. "I would expect the same response with sheep as with any other animal. In other words, for the sheep to become used to the sound of wind turbines and for them to adapt accordingly.
I do not accept that the emotional wellbeing of sheep will be so adversely affected that their productivity will drop in the manner suggested by Mr and Mrs Gardner. "The merinos will just have to resort to... well, counting sheep.
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