Dangerous trade in ants
23 August, 2021
Tim Low exposes a global trade in ‘pet ants’ that could unleash waves of environmentally destructive new ant invasions.
Our ebulletin the Feral Herald covers conservation news and actions to help you protect Australia's native plants and wildlife from invasive species.
Tim Low exposes a global trade in ‘pet ants’ that could unleash waves of environmentally destructive new ant invasions.
A new paper reveals invasive species as the highest impact threat to Australia’s native plants and animals.
Tim Low introduces Insect Watch, a handy guide for anyone interested in identifying and reporting potential new pest species.
The Centre for Invasive Species Solutions has launched an exciting new podcast series talking all things ‘feral animal and weeds’ innovation.
A review of Victoria’s Wildlife Act is a chance to move on from the past by managing feral deer as a pest.
Join a stimulating debate about the practical consequences of using 1080, a pesticide for controlling harmful invaders such as foxes.
One of the bad boys of the weed world pampas grass is making a comeback across NSW.
Dr Annelise Wiebkin is ready to tackle one of Australia’s worse emerging pest animal problems – feral deer.
Parks Victoria has a chance to rid the state’s Alpine National Park of feral horses in the next decade. Can it do it?
Bushwalkers, rural property owners and campers called on to help map spread of feral deer across Tasmania.
Pet cats can bring love into your world, but if not cared for properly they can also bring unwanted visitors such as diseases.
Removing deer and other feral animals from some of the state’s most popular national parks is a critical step in helping nature recover from the 2019-20 bushfires.
The cost of important alpine research in Victoria’s Bogong High Plains is being pushed up by the encroachment of sambar deer and feral horses.
The successful eradication of all pest animals on Macquarie Island has paved the way for an incredible explosion in bird populations.
We pay tribute to Ian Thompson, Australia’s first Chief Environmental Biosecurity Officer.
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.
This video, produced by the Invasive Species Council, tells the frightening story of the rise and rise of feral deer in Victoria.
Our breakdown of the very worst and very best parts of the country’s biggest environment report in five years.
This is a story about two islands, both in Western Australia. One of them, Bernier, on the edge of Shark Bay, stands out as the Australian island that has saved more mammals from extinction than any other.
In August 2021, a member of the public noticed some troubling symptoms on their maple tree in East Fremantle.
A few months ago we put out a call. Over 700 people responded, letting Kosci’s parkies know how much we value their work protecting native wildlife from the damage of feral horses.
Varroa mites were detected in two of six sentinel hives at the Port of Newcastle, NSW, on 22 June. As of the latest official update on 27 July, there are now 43 known infested premises across central-eastern and north-eastern NSW.
Feral and roaming cats have already helped push 27 native animals into extinction, including a long-forgotten mainland parrot.
Yellow crazy ants are one of the world’s worst invasive species. The federal election result could close the door on the invasive ants in northern Queensland.
Sparked by the book Feral Future, the Invasive Species Council is now Australia’s lead organisation dedicated to tackling invasive species.
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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.