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Feral Herald

Our ebulletin the Feral Herald covers conservation news and actions to help you protect Australia's native plants and wildlife from invasive species.

Our Blog

Australia’s moment of truth

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

Read More »

Voice of Country

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

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bug-hunt-ants-2

Introducing the Bug Hunt!

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.

Read More »

How we’re using AI to save quolls, night parrots, bettongs and kowaris from feral cats

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.

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Parliamentary Friends of Biosecurity launch

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.

Read More »

Australia’s moment of truth

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

Read More »

Voice of Country

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

Read More »
bug-hunt-ants-2

Introducing the Bug Hunt!

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.

Read More »

How we’re using AI to save quolls, night parrots, bettongs and kowaris from feral cats

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.

Read More »

Parliamentary Friends of Biosecurity launch

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.

Read More »

Australia’s moment of truth

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

Read More »

Voice of Country

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

Read More »
bug-hunt-ants-2

Introducing the Bug Hunt!

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.

Read More »

How we’re using AI to save quolls, night parrots, bettongs and kowaris from feral cats

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.

Read More »

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.

Kind regards,
[Your name]
[Your email address]
[Your postcode]


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.

Kind regards,
[Your name]
[Your email address]
[Your postcode]