
Welcome to the Decade of Biosecurity
As the Invasive Species Council celebrates 20 years, a major milestone was achieved – we co-hosted Australia’s second ever Biosecurity Symposium
Our ebulletin the Feral Herald covers conservation news and actions to help you protect Australia's native plants and wildlife from invasive species.
As the Invasive Species Council celebrates 20 years, a major milestone was achieved – we co-hosted Australia’s second ever Biosecurity Symposium
There’s a federal election slated for May this year, and we have one word at the top of our priority list.
Our election guide to what needs to be done to tackle the #1 threat to our environment.
It’s been five years since we nearly lost funding to control these dangerous ants.
And, for the first time, we have also stripped a past winner of their award.
A new report developed by the CSIRO and the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions details how and why invasive species are the major threat to Australia’s threatened species — currently ahead of habitat destruction and climate change.
How do we go about tackling the challenge of invasive species?
If you are out and about over summer try observing and identifying insects. It’s fun and you could even end up discovering a dangerous new pest insect!
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.
As the Invasive Species Council celebrates 20 years, a major milestone was achieved – we co-hosted Australia’s second ever Biosecurity Symposium
There’s a federal election slated for May this year, and we have one word at the top of our priority list.
Our election guide to what needs to be done to tackle the #1 threat to our environment.
It’s been five years since we nearly lost funding to control these dangerous ants.
And, for the first time, we have also stripped a past winner of their award.
A new report developed by the CSIRO and the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions details how and why invasive species are the major threat to Australia’s threatened species — currently ahead of habitat destruction and climate change.
How do we go about tackling the challenge of invasive species?
If you are out and about over summer try observing and identifying insects. It’s fun and you could even end up discovering a dangerous new pest insect!
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.
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.
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.
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. The Invasive Species Council supports voting ‘YES’ for a Voice to Parliament.
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.