Cabarita Shopping Centre management responds after being slammed by public over dead bird netting discovery

After a “deadly” feature in a North Coast shopping complex carpark claimed the lives of several majestic animals, centre management claim it’s not their fault. Here’s the latest.

Cabarita Beach Shopping Centre.

Visitors to a northern NSW shopping complex have slammed centre management over netting in an underground carpark, which resulted in several birds becoming trapped and dying.

But centre management have since hit back, claiming the nets were vandalised, which resulted in the birds getting in.

Pottsville resident Yvonne Gardiner took to Facebook on Thursday after the shock Cabarita Beach Shopping Centre find, posting photos of several dead birds caught in nets hanging from the ceiling.

The nets look like the kind strung up to deter birds from roosting and defecating on cars and structures.

One of several dead birds photographed in the carpark. Picture: Supplied / Facebook.

“The management of Woolworths carpark at Cabarita need to monitor their deadly nets. Seven dead swallows today. Deliberate cruelty,” Ms Gardiner wrote.

“Management was notified yesterday that the birds were trapped inside the net. Appalled by their indifference to defenceless wildlife.”

Locals want to see something done about it. Picture: Supplied / Facebook.

Facebook user Irene Tims said there should be a better management plan to deter bird deaths, calling it “disgusting”.

“What … leave the birds trapped, stressed, starving and rotting? Disgusting,” she wrote.

But user Dan Bond claimed the bird, likely a swallow, was a “pest anyway”.

Vicky Harden fired back, saying “regardless of what they are, this is cruel.”

The birds became stuck, residents say. Picture: Supplied / Facebook.

“The nets should be made secure so that the swallows can’t get under them,” she added.

A woman who appeared to be a Woolworths employee commented that centre management had been notified.

Picture: Supplied / Facebook.

A spokesperson from Cabarita Shopping Centre management, which is run by commercial real estate giant Knight Frank, say the nets were vandalised.

“It has come to centre management’s attention that the preventative nets that have been installed in the centre car park were allegedly vandalised in late December and the birds are getting caught in the loose netting,” the spokesperson said.

“We have engaged a contractor to repair the nets and we have onsite cleaning staff checking these nets daily to limit the risk to the birds.

“We take this matter very seriously and it is a high priority for centre management and owners of the centre to rectify the situation promptly.”