Is artificial intelligence the solution beyond the fence?
9 March, 2023
One of the most promising new tools in development that is helping to protect native wildlife outside predator-free havens is the Felixer.
One of the most promising new tools in development that is helping to protect native wildlife outside predator-free havens is the Felixer.
The feral deer population has exploded so much in recent years that people have referred to them as the next rabbit plague. Australia now has millions of feral deer and, without action, scientists predict they could soon inhabit nearly every ecosystem across every part of the continent.
Invasive Species Council CEO Andrew Cox reflects on a recent visit to the first ever outbreak of red fire ants on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island).
With the NSW election just weeks away, where do the major parties stand on ensuring funding and policies to manage feral horses, deer, weeds, cats and other invasive species are top priorities for NSW? Here are highlights from our work on the ground as of 8 March.
Environment minister Plibersek has recognised the dismal failings of our national environmental laws. Her commitment to rewrite this law coupled with her commitment to zero new extinctions provides an exciting opportunity to establish a new era in nature conservation.
The agricultural and environmental biosecurity office has had budgets slashed, biosecurity funding is on the table, the National Biosecurity Strategy is moving forward, and the Decade of Biosecurity has a new national coordinator.
Biosecurity is an increasing feature in all our lives. The detection of varroa mites in 2022 saw the emergency destruction of tens of thousands of commercial and feral honey bee hives in NSW; a red fire ant outbreak in Queensland threatens our Aussie way of life forever; and foot-and-mouth disease looms on our border.
With no natural predators and an ability to adapt to almost all environments, feral deer already occupy every state and territory.
One of the most promising new tools in development that is helping to protect native wildlife outside predator-free havens is the Felixer.
The feral deer population has exploded so much in recent years that people have referred to them as the next rabbit plague. Australia now has millions of feral deer and, without action, scientists predict they could soon inhabit nearly every ecosystem across every part of the continent.
Invasive Species Council CEO Andrew Cox reflects on a recent visit to the first ever outbreak of red fire ants on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island).
With the NSW election just weeks away, where do the major parties stand on ensuring funding and policies to manage feral horses, deer, weeds, cats and other invasive species are top priorities for NSW? Here are highlights from our work on the ground as of 8 March.
Environment minister Plibersek has recognised the dismal failings of our national environmental laws. Her commitment to rewrite this law coupled with her commitment to zero new extinctions provides an exciting opportunity to establish a new era in nature conservation.
The agricultural and environmental biosecurity office has had budgets slashed, biosecurity funding is on the table, the National Biosecurity Strategy is moving forward, and the Decade of Biosecurity has a new national coordinator.
Biosecurity is an increasing feature in all our lives. The detection of varroa mites in 2022 saw the emergency destruction of tens of thousands of commercial and feral honey bee hives in NSW; a red fire ant outbreak in Queensland threatens our Aussie way of life forever; and foot-and-mouth disease looms on our border.
With no natural predators and an ability to adapt to almost all environments, feral deer already occupy every state and territory.
One of the most promising new tools in development that is helping to protect native wildlife outside predator-free havens is the Felixer.
The feral deer population has exploded so much in recent years that people have referred to them as the next rabbit plague. Australia now has millions of feral deer and, without action, scientists predict they could soon inhabit nearly every ecosystem across every part of the continent.
Invasive Species Council CEO Andrew Cox reflects on a recent visit to the first ever outbreak of red fire ants on Minjerribah (North Stradbroke Island).
With the NSW election just weeks away, where do the major parties stand on ensuring funding and policies to manage feral horses, deer, weeds, cats and other invasive species are top priorities for NSW? Here are highlights from our work on the ground as of 8 March.
Environment minister Plibersek has recognised the dismal failings of our national environmental laws. Her commitment to rewrite this law coupled with her commitment to zero new extinctions provides an exciting opportunity to establish a new era in nature conservation.
The agricultural and environmental biosecurity office has had budgets slashed, biosecurity funding is on the table, the National Biosecurity Strategy is moving forward, and the Decade of Biosecurity has a new national coordinator.
Biosecurity is an increasing feature in all our lives. The detection of varroa mites in 2022 saw the emergency destruction of tens of thousands of commercial and feral honey bee hives in NSW; a red fire ant outbreak in Queensland threatens our Aussie way of life forever; and foot-and-mouth disease looms on our border.
With no natural predators and an ability to adapt to almost all environments, feral deer already occupy every state and territory.
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The Invasive Species Council was formed in 2002 to seek stronger laws, policies and programs to protect nature from harmful pests, weeds and diseases.
The Invasive Species Council acknowledges the Traditional Custodians throughout Australia and their connections to land and sea. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.
Our protected areas are being trashed, trampled, choked and polluted by an onslaught of invaders. Invasive species are already the overwhelming driver of our animal extinction rate, and are expected to cause 75 of the next 100 extinctions.
But you can help to turn this around and create a wildlife revival in Australia.
From numbats to night parrots, a tax-deductible donation today can help defend our wildlife against the threat of invasive weeds, predators, and diseases.
As the only national advocacy environment group dedicated to stopping this mega threat, your gift will make a big difference.
A silent crisis is unfolding across Australia. Every year, billions of native animals are hunted and killed by cats and foxes. Fire ants continue to spread and threaten human health. And the deadly strain of bird flu looms on the horizon. Your donation today will be used to put the invasive species threat in the media, make invasive species a government priority, ensure governments take rapid action to protect nature and our remarkable native wildlife from invasives-led extinction, death and destruction.
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Dear Project Team,
[YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.]
I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.
The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.
The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.
This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.
Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.
Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.
Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.
I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.
Dear Project Team,
[YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.]
I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.
The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.
The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.
This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.
Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.
Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.
Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.
I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.