Feral Thoughts

Animal Liberation: Better to die of dehydration than a bullet

Director of Animal Liberation Australia, Mark Pearson, has told Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio program The Current that a camel is better off to die from dehydration than a bullet. To be exact, Mr Pearson said “there is veterinary science to say that at a certain point of dehydration, suffering is not as… does cease and really just a process of death.”

In arguing that camels should not be culled in Australia's Outback, Mr Pearson used a variety of arguments including that it won't work, past mismanagement and that fencing or fertility control were better alternatives. He advocated that the bulk of the Government's investment in camel management should be directed to fertility control research. As a fertility control research organisation, our Cooperative Research Centre would obviously be delighted with an injection of funds but the reality is that the state of technology worldwide is not there yet and the urgency of the camel situation means they cannot continue to be ignored.

Ferals in the Capital - fox and hare control

The "Bush" Capital of Australia, Canberra, is developing a range of environmental projects that will be icons in the future.  Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve is slowly recovering from the devastation of the 2003 bushfires and two new projects are underway: Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary and the Canberra International Arboretum.

I've written a little about the Mulligans Flat project before. It has an obvious focus on feral animals with the recent completion of an 11 km feral-proof fence.  The rangers have begun the task of ridding the sanctuary of cats, foxes, rabbits and excess kangaroos (the last are herded out of the sanctuary). The job is almost done, with rangers Peter Mills and Grant Woodbridge trying to determine if they have dispatched the last fox. They estimate there were 8 or 9 foxes within the fenced area at the closing of the sanctuary and most likely all have been successfully baited.  Baits have stopped disappearing now but that isn't absolute proof of eradication - the guys are using remote cameras near likely fox habitat and the "super bait" of young rabbit to try and determine if the last fox has been eradicated.

Hunting Bill in NSW should be very carefully considered

The New South Wales Parliament looks like it might pass an amendment to the Game and Feral Animal Control Act.  The proposal by the Shooter's Party is a cause for real concern.  The RSPCA have come out today against the Bill and I know of many other groups with concerns.  The Invasive Species Council is dead against it.

Why would a feral animal guy be against shooting of feral animals?

The trouble is, this Bill could encourage the keeping of feral animals for the purpose of recreational shooting.  When one looks down the list of animals in the Schedule, a heck of a lot of them have wings.  How could a Game Keeper ensure these birds will not spread beyond their own place? Take the example of the Canada Goose.  They aren't currently in Australia, but they are a major problem in New Zealand and North America.  Once endangered, this species was the subject of a recovery program - but not all Canada Geese returned to a migratory lifestyle.  "Resident" Canada Geese are a huge amenity problem in many American cities.  They make public parks unusable because as a grazing animal, they have a pretty hopeless digestive system, so they basically are pooping every time the left leg is raised.  Apart from that, they tend to get sucked into jet engines and bring planes down from time-to-time.

Our next extinct mammal probably already known: the Christmas Island Pipistrelle Bat is living on borrowed time

Australia has the worst record of mammal extinctions of any country on earth with about half the world's losses coming from this country in the past 200 years.  That's sad but a lot of the cause of losses were from naivety due to late settlement by Europeans and by a lack of knowledge of the unique wildlife, that had evolved so far away from the rest of the world.

Invasive animals have often been involved, though often not as the primary driver of extinction.  Often human activity like taking away habitat has led a species to the execution room and an invasive animal might have flicked the switch on the electric chair.  That analogy is probably too blame-laden: naivety is usually a big factor, where we haven't realised the problems until it was too late.

Woylie translocation important for conservation

Australian Wildlife Conservancy has just announced a translocation of 60 woylies from Karakamia (southwestern Australia) to Stage 2 of Scotia in far-west NSW.  AWC has now conducted more than 75 translocations of threatened mammals.

This is a really important translocation.

Woylies are impacted by grazing, land clearing, fire and especially foxes.  They got down to critically low numbers in only three populations but recovered considerably during the 1990s due to the Western Australian government's "Western Shield" program.  Under Western Shield, extensive fox baiting is undertaken to protect native species from predation.  The program has been exceptionally successful and widely recognised.  However, a few years ago, the numbers of woylies and several other species began a rapid decline, despite continued fox baiting.

The decline in woylie numbers might be due to several factors.  Disease is one.  "Mesopredator release" is the other.  "Mesopredator release" is a fancy term for other predators becoming an important factor when fox impact is knocked down.  For example, feral cats or native goannas may have become more important as a predator of the woylie - foxes may have kept these species in check.  It's likely both factors are having an influence - our CRC's largest demonstration site is involved in determining the relative role of predators.

Whatever the reason, establishment of this new population at the second stage of Scotia Sanctuary is good news.  The extra numbers are good and the isolation from other populations is potentially critical is disease is a major impact.  Scotia is the largest feral-free area in Australia and these woylies will be free from foxes and cats because of the incredible fencing in place.  Scotia gives us an idea of pre-European Australia.

Woylies are ridiculously cute.  They are a bit over a foot tall and their name relates an aboriginal word for the fact that they have a prehensile tail - apparently they can use it to gather sticks and leaves for nests.  They are also known as Brush-tailed Bettongs, but like most of their kind, they are largely unknown to most Australians. 

See  www.australianwildlife.org and my previous entry on AWC  www.feral.typepad.com/feral_thoughts/2008/08/australian-wild.html

Photo courtesy WA Department of Environment and Conservation.

Bilbies ain't bilbies

Bilbies have become an iconic image representing many threatened species in Australia.  The long-eared bandicoot used to range over 70% of the country but land clearing, foxes and feral cats have caused a massive reduction in its numbers and range. 

The long ears of the bilby and the devastating impact of the European rabbit on Australia no doubt inspired the idea of the Easter Bilby, now promoted by a number of chocolate companies.  Rabbit Free Australia http://www.rabbitfreeaustralia.org.au/ own the Registered Trademark and image "Easter Bilby" and they have for years received support from South Australia's Haigh's Chocolates www.haighschocolates.com.au/our_company/environment.html

Darrell Lea chocolates also use the bilby image in Easter chocolate sales and in turn provide substantial donations to the Save the Bilby Fund http://www.dlea.com.au/?Community/Partnership/Save_the_Bilby

However, others use the image without providing any known support to threatened species protection or research.  I understand they avoid the Trademark issue by selling their products as Chocolate Bilbies (within their Easter range by not actually "Easter Bilbies") and by simply being too big for a group like Rabbit Free Australia to take on.

So when you buy your Easter Bilbies this year, check the packaging and make sure you support the companies that support threatened species. You'll feel less guilty eating the chocolate that way.

Biodiversity report shows impact of ferals

A new report published by the Invasive Animals CRC makes it clear that feral animals represent one of the major threats to biodiversity.  The threat posed by pest animals to biodiversity in New South Wales by staff from the Pest Management Unit in the Department of Environment and Climate Change quantifies the specific biodiversity at risk from invasive animals.

Pest animals are the fourth greatest risk to biodiversity in NSW, behind land clearing, altered fire regimes and weeds.  They threaten 40 of the threatened biodiversity in the State.  This extensive report contains a wealth of information of interest.  Copies can be obtained from the Editor, Dr. Wendy Henderson in the CRC office wendy.henderson@invasiveanimals.com