Voice of Country
21 February, 2024
Rampant invasive species and thriving Country cannot coexist. It’s one or the other. And we can’t have a healthy Indigenous culture without healthy Country. Invasive
Our ebulletin the Feral Herald covers conservation news and actions to help you protect Australia's native plants and wildlife from invasive species.
Rampant invasive species and thriving Country cannot coexist. It’s one or the other. And we can’t have a healthy Indigenous culture without healthy Country. Invasive
Reece Pianta is the Advocacy Manager at the Invasive Species Council. I had heard about the fire ant fields in Texas – no-go zones where
“For modern Australia to say no, I think that’s their loss. I feel sorry for them. But I mostly feel sorry for Country and our future generations.”
Voice of Country program lead and ISC Indigenous Ambassador, Richard Swain reflects on the referendum outcome and the journey to heal Country.
Fire ants are on the march across Australia. Here are 8 facts about them you should know.
Northern Queensland’s delicate ecosystems hang in the balance – their future under threat from ravenous supercolonies of yellow crazy ants. To deal with the problem, we first need to identify any locations the ants have spread to. You can help! Join the Bug Hunt and help our bug-ologists track invasive and at-risk native insects in Australia.
The Gondwanan Galaxiidae fish family has managed to survive millions of years in the freshwater ecosystems of Australia. Now, their existence hangs by a thread as ten of the species, including the critically endangered Kosciuszko galaxias have been listed as threatened under our national environmental law.
Cats have contributed to the extinction of 27 of Australia’s native animals, including the Yallara (lesser bilby) and the paradise parrot. Both species are now lost from our memories forever. Now, ISC is working with Thylation — the group behind the Felixer to supply local land managers with innovative new devices that use artificial intelligence to control feral cats and save Australia’s threatened species.
Unfortunately the lofty promise of the National Biosecurity Strategy is at risk.
On 18 October the Decade of Biosecurity (DoB) project partners came together to launch the Parliamentary Friends of Biosecurity group at Parliament House in Canberra. The group will elevate biosecurity issues and highlight the importance of a strong well-resourced biosecurity system.
We celebrated a huge win for nature last month, with aerial culling of feral horses finally allowed in Kosciuszko National Park. But how did the ban come about and what’s next for the Reclaim Kosci campaign?
The flowers of a rubber vine are annoyingly pretty. But its vanity is also the secret to its downfall along the Fitzroy River in Western Australia.
Australia needs an ongoing, sustainable source of funding to improve our biosecurity system so it can protect our environment.
We visited Kosciuszko National Park with Penny Sharpe, NSW’s new environment minister, where we face rising feral horse numbers.
This year, we’ve been at the heart of one of the biggest issues for nature. By giving nature a voice, we’re making a difference together.
While COVID has been spreading around the world, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has also been spreading.
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.
Bulldoze trees, and you wipe out plants and animals. Introduce a new predator, competitor or disease or let a weed take over can just as effectively send species on the road to extinction.
The wily fox has made it to two of Australia’s favourite holiday destinations – Fraser and South Stradbroke islands. It’s time to launch fully funded eradication programs before the fox becomes entrenched.
The wily fox has made it to two of Australia’s favourite holiday destinations – Fraser and South Stradbroke islands. It’s time to launch fully funded eradication programs before the fox becomes entrenched.
The fifth Island Arks Symposium had many important take-home messages, but the one that stood out for our CEO Andrew Cox was that invasive species issues on Pacific islands are becoming ‘agonisingly important’.
Along with land clearing, invasive species are the major threat to wildlife in Queensland. Yet biosecurity has been missing from Queensland election headlines.
Australia should seize the opportunity to better protect itself from dangerous new invasive species by adopting the recommendations of an independent review of the biosecurity system.
A campaign to fix the country’s leaky environmental borders and keep dangerous new environmental pests and diseases out. Send your message to the Deputy Prime Minister today.
The release of our report Norfolk Island: Protecting an Ocean Jewel, sets a path for reversing the decline of many threatened species on the island and eradicating harmful invaders.
After exhaustive research, one of Australia’s most cherished island sanctuaries Lord Howe Island is about to hit go on its rat eradication project.
The terrible destructive force of Hurricane Harvey made headlines not just for its human toll, but also for forcing fire ants out of their nests. Brisbane expat Jennifer Singfield tells us what it’s like living with fire ants.
The introduction of new crops or livestock can go spectacularly wrong. Question is, are those responsible for promoting new crops and livestock in Australia showing enough caution?
A review of Australia’s biosecurity arrangements has highlighted the need for much greater focus on protecting the natural environment from invasive species.
New research has found that almost nowhere in Australia is safe from growing feral deer numbers, with future mapping showing the animals could occupy most of the continent, including the interior.
A Senate environment committee that endorsed the commercial use of Tasmanian feral bumblebees seemed oblivious to the serious impacts this invasive species can cause.
At least 33 Australian mammal species are extinct – the worst mammal extinction record in the world – 24 mainly because of feral cats and foxes.
In 2013 Australia’s governments decided they would not attempt to eradicate recently-established smooth newts from Melbourne’s south-eastern waterways.
Thanks to the help of our supporters the Invasive Species Council has enjoyed a strong track record of triggering political action on feral deer.
One of the world’s worst invasive species, the yellow crazy ant, is a growing problem in and around Townsville.
A new biodecurity strategy can be the centrepiece for actions that define 2021-2030 as the Decade of Biosecurity.
Jim Godfrey is on a mission to have foxglove listed a declared weed in Tasmania.
A damning report reveals Victoria’s ecosystems will head into terminal decline without clear and decisive action.
We’re excited to announce Dr Norman Swan as a keynote speaker for the 2nd Australian Biosecurity Symposium.
It’s time to raise your voice to protect Tasmania’s remarkable landscape of unique and outstanding natural and cultural values along with highly valued agriculture from
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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.