Feral Thoughts

Brilliant opportunity to work with Australian wildlife

Australian Wildlife Conservancy is doing an absolutely brilliant job of protecting ecosystems and wildlife. They are currently offering two internships, one in the North of Australia and one in the South for budding conservation biologists to work with AWC staff. These six month opportunities would be incredible experience working across a number of AWC's sanctuaries. 

Anyone interested only has a few days to apply for the Northwest internship and a bit more time for the Southeast internship.  Click here to find out more.

Posted by Tony Peacock, founder of 'Feral Thoughts'

Image shows 'monkey' roaming Darwin - ABC News

Security camera footage has been released that apparently shows a monkey scampering across a street in Darwin. A bus driver and several other people said they spotted the small primate wandering around Darwin's northern suburbs on Friday morning. Following the sightings, the Northern Territory environment department issued a warning for people to stay clear of the animal.

"Monkeys can be aggressive and bite," the department said. All registered monkeys have been accounted for. The department says the roaming monkey could have been brought illegally to the Territory from Asia and could be carrying exotic diseases, such as rabies. It says the monkey has not been spotted since Friday.

Today, security camera footage taken from a bus in the northern suburbs was released.It shows a grainy image of a creature crossing the street. "That was a monkey, wasn't it?" the bus driver can be heard saying in the background. "It bloody was."

via www.abc.net.au

Posted by Tony Peacock, founder of 'Feral Thoughts'

Asian carp controversy growing in the US: White House now involved

It's unusual for the the President of the United States to be directly involved in an invasive animal matter, but if the Governor of Michigan has her way, President Obama may need to become involved to ease growing tensions between his home State of Illinois and other Great Lakes States.

The State of Michigan is renewing a motion in the US Supreme Court to force the closure of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal to prevent Asian carp moving from the Mississippi Basin to the Great Lakes Basin. The US Supreme Court previously denied the motion but since then environmental DNA ("eDNA") samples showing the presence of Asian carp have become available and a new economic study concludes that previous claims of the cost of closing the canal by Illinois were greatly exaggerated. The $70 million cost needs to be compared with the billions an Asian carp incursion of the Great Lakes will cost.  If you want more on the legal wrangling see Professor Noah Hall's Great Lakes Law blog.

Get Farming: WA scientists develop successful feral cat bait

"The development of Eradicat is an exciting breakthrough because it can effectively control feral cat populations across big areas. This will open the door to a number of fauna reintroductions and help build resilience in the populations of many native species."

via www.getfarming.com.au

This story from Get Farming indicates it may not be long before land managers have a better tool for controlling feral cat populations. Cat control is usually ignored because of the lack of decent tools that work. The Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation haven't been able to ignore cats because of the huge problems they cause, particularly in reintroduction programs. 

The Western Shield fox control program has been an outstanding success, with woylies (brushtail bettongs), Tammar wallabies and quenda (Western bandicoot) recovering in numbers.  But "mesopredator release" over time has meant the relative importance of cats has become greater and they need to be addressed. So the scientists, particularly Dave Algar, have been working away for a long time to try and come up with a solution - good on them.

Posted by Tony Peacock, founder of 'Feral Thoughts'

Asian carp moving up the Mississippi

Asian carp are causing all sorts of problems as they move up the Mississippi River and into the Great Lakes - they may even be there now. They jump in reaction to sound and are causing injuries to people on the river as well as environmental problems.

Posted by Tony Peacock, founder of 'Feral Thoughts'