Campbell’s cow collars
It was a crazy plan to appease the cheap-lease farmers who have run their cattle over the Alpine National Park for over a century. Satellite-controlled electric shock collars were the only idea Federal Environment Senator Ian Campbell could offer to “protect the Alps” and keep the cattle’s owners happy.
The three year, $15 million plan was to have been for virtual fencing to keep cattle out of sensitive areas, rehabilitation of bogs and marshes, weed control (neither caused by cattle of course), feral animal control, sealing of the Bogong High Plains Rd, two cattlemen’s museums, new trails for walkers and horse riders and restoration of mountain huts.
He also offered to have the 1.6 million hectares of alpine parks throughout NSW, Vic and ACT assessed for a World Heritage nomination – complete with hundreds of cows and their heritage cow pats. But it died the death of all half-baked plans.