DR and KR Hutchinson Rural Contractors fined after clearing koala habitat

A harvesting contractor has pleaded guilty and been fined $20,000 after clearing koala habitat at a Cape Bridgewater property.

A harvesting contractor from southwest Victoria has pleaded guilty and been fined $20,000 after clearing koala habitat at a Cape Bridgewater property.

DR and KR Hutchinson Rural Contractors pleaded guilty to one charge under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986 after accepting a sentence indication at the Warrnambool Magistrates’ Court on Thursday.

The court heard the contractor worked at a Cape Bridgewater site from November 2019 to January 2020 and was one of two businesses hired by the landowner to clear vegetation from the former operational blue gum plantation.

The court also heard the contractor was responsible for a minority of the clearing at the property after using an excavator to remove stumps, some of which exhibited regrowth and that served as koala habitat, in a discrete part of the property.

Magistrate Nunzio La Rosa said habitat removal needed to be done in a “sensitive fashion appropriate to conditions” when sentencing DR and KR Hutchinson Rural Contractors.

Late last year a property owner in southwest Victoria and two companies were charged after the three parties allegedly cleared a Cape Bridgewater property, where at least 70 koalas were injured and killed or had to be euthanised. Picture: Lachie Millard

Magistrate La Rosa also said those engaged in this type of harvesting work “need to be careful” and that “the reduction of habitat would have led to recognition (on the part of the contractor that) it would have been insufficient for the (koala) population to survive adequately”.

DR and KR Hutchinson Rural Contractors’ fine comes after forest and wildlife officers responded to reports of injured and starving koalas at the Cape Bridgewater property in February 2020.

21 koalas were found dead on the site and a further 49 koalas were euthanised as a result of injuries.

It is not alleged DR and KR Hutchinson Rural Contractors caused any pain or suffering to the koalas.

The owner of the former plantation, James Troeth was charged with 126 animal cruelty charges under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1986 and the Wildlife Act 1975, including 18 aggravated cruelty charges for causing fatal injuries, as was southwest Victorian business Bryant’s Forestry and Earth Moving.

Neither Mr Troeth nor Bryant’s Forestry and Earth Moving have pleaded guilty, with both cases still before the Warrnambool Magistrates’ Court.

To report any suspected cases of wildlife crime to Crime Stoppers Victoria on 1800 333 000.