Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden Set to Capture Wildlife and Illegal Activities
The Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden will be installing multiple high resolution, cellular enabled monitoring cameras to capture the health and Biodiversity amongst the native animals and plants in the garden and reinforce security measures.
The Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden was established to research, conserve and promote the wider appreciation of Australia’s arid zone flora. The iconic Garden is home to a diverse collection of arid habitats and its coastal location alongside the Spencer Gulf, means it’s situated in a biologically rich marine environment which is a rare combination.
The Manager of the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden Mr Brendon Bevan stated “The cameras provide an opportunity to covertly capture the behaviour of birds, small mammals and reptiles in a virtually unobtrusive manner. This in turn will enable us to build on existing baseline data to better understand the health of a number of populations that call the Garden home. With both high resolution video and still capability enabled, the units also record audio which is invaluable when conducting bird and other wildlife surveys.”
Mr Bevan also stated “We are also installing the cameras as a surveillance measure to help capture any disruptive antisocial behaviour both in and around the Garden. This is such a special place for our locals and visitors to enjoy, however, in response to a series of complaints brought to our attention by nearby residents involving illegal vehicle and motorcycle activity occurring in and around the Garden, we will now be in a position to record and report these incidents to work more effectively with SAPOL to preserve our environment for the enjoyment of the greater community.”
Port Augusta City Council CEO Mr John Banks stated “While the team and volunteers at the Australian Arid Lands Botanic Garden are highly committed to practising and promoting environmental sustainability, we also hope the installation of multiple cameras will make people think twice about partaking in any illegal activities.”
For further information please contact Council’s Media and Communications Officer on (08) 86419100
JOHN BANKS
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
28/08/2020