Our ebulletin the Feral Herald covers conservation news and actions to help you protect Australia's native plants and wildlife from invasive species.
Rewilding is often a story of decades-long persistence in the face of adversity, and our recent experience trapping southern brown bandicoots at Booderee National Park
Dr Robert Puckett from Texas A&M University is no stranger to Australia’s fire ant fight.
Held at the iconic SeaWorld Resort on the Gold Coast from August 27-29, this year’s Australian Biosecurity Symposium was nothing short of groundbreaking!
Australia’s wet tropics area is the most biodiverse part of Australia – and all of it is under threat.
Norfolk Island is a green jewel in the vast Pacific ocean – a unique place of biodiversity with species found nowhere else in the world, a fascinating history and distinct culture.
Leaving a gift in your Will to the Invasive Species Council is a powerful way to ensure a wildlife revival in Australia and a future-proof nature.
A scathing new report has revealed that invasive species are costing New South Wales at least $1.9 billion annually – with the potential to balloon to a staggering $29.7 billion per year by 2030.
The Yalmy galaxias is a member of what probably counts as Australia’s most threatened group of animals. The last survey of the critically endangered species,
In the midst of an extinction crisis, our problematic invasive species are big winners in the federal budget. The 2024 budget was a missed opportunity,
It was a weed that Sydney almost eliminated. In the 1970’s the NSW government banned pampas grass (Cortaderia species) and ran an effective education campaign
Tasmania is a remarkable island state with native animals and plants found nowhere else on Earth. It has some of Australia’s most spectacular protected areas
Recently I visited lungtalanana island, once called Clarke Island, with the mob from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre. They’re undertaking a cultural restoration project on the
The 3rd Australian Biosecurity Symposium is making waves! The Symposium will be held at SeaWorld Resort on the Gold Coast from 27-29 August 2024.Our symposium
Lyall Grieve is Conservation and Biosecurity Analyst for the Invasive Species Council. A closing window of opportunity Australian environmental protection has reached the moment of
Update: This article has been amended to improve accuracy. On a recent visit to Barrington Tops National Park, Tim Low and Carol Booth experienced the
A new book is helping to give land managers the tools they need to convince others of the urgent need for greater investment in battling invasive species.
If allowed to stand the decision to ‘protect’ feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park will inflict increasing damage on this fragile landscape.
Australia’s system for identifying and then acting on key threats to our natural environment is failing. We assess its performance, propose broad changes and invite your ideas on how to fix it.
We’ve joined Townsville City Council in the battle against yellow crazy ants in Queensland’s far north. Our new community coordinator Yvette Williams talks about what’s at risk.
The NSW Government decision to protect feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park at the expense of some of our most vulnerable native plants and animals flies in the face of science and common sense.
The NSW Government decision to protect feral horses in Kosciuszko National Park at the expense of some of our most vulnerable native plants and animals flies in the face of science and common sense.
A new container levy announced in the federal government could change the face of environmental biosecurity in Australia, writes Carol Booth.
Would a compassionate society let Australia’s feral rabbits roam free rather than trying to control their numbers through killing? Adjunct professor Peter Fleming takes a look at the ethics of killing for conservation.
The most recent state of Australia’s environment report was tabled in Federal Parliament last year to limited fanfare. For invasive species it paints a grim future.
The most recent state of Australia’s environment report was tabled in Federal Parliament last year to limited fanfare. For invasive species it paints a grim future.
Australia’s fight against fire ants reached a watershed moment in 2017 when a ten-year battle plan was announced. What’s happened since?
To the untrained eye this moss in the foothills of Hobart’s kunanyi/Mt Wellington looks like a natural part of the landscape, but dig a little deeper and you’ll discover it holds a nasty little secret.
Our CEO Andrew Cox has been digging deep into Australia’s response mechanisms to dangerous new environmental invaders, and the results should rattle us all.
Often described as Australia’s Galapagos, Kangaroo Island could soon see the day when it is free of feral deer.
Join us from 6pm on Tuesday 20 March at Monash University’s Clayton Campus in Victoria for a fiery Q&A debate about invasive ants, bugs and other insects.
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.
Invasive species are one of the biggest threats to biodiversity worldwide and one of Australia’s worst environmental problems. So it’s not a big surprise to learn invasive animals and weeds may also affect carbon emissions.
In mid-September, in response to allegations aired by a shock-jock on Sydney radio, the NSW environment minister announced a ban on all shooting operations in Kosciuszko National Park.
In mid-September, in response to allegations aired by a shock-jock on Sydney radio, the NSW environment minister announced a ban on all shooting operations in Kosciuszko National Park.
Some academics have claimed that Indigenous people welcome introduced species and do not want them controlled. The Indigenous chapter of the 2021 State of the Environment Report can’t be reconciled with these comments.
Australia’s Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek has pledged to stop new extinctions. But which species are most at risk of going extinct and what will it take to keep them safe?
Australia has an urgent invasive species problem. Invasive species pose the greatest threat to our native plants and animals – even greater than climate change.
A visit to New Zealand is to witness a growing movement targeting the killing of pest animals and the excitement in seeing the return of birds and their songs.
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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.
