Native wildlife fading from Australian memory, new research finds
21 September, 2026
Australians know kangaroos and wombats are native, but recognition falls dramatically for quolls and bandicoots, new research has revealed.
Australians know kangaroos and wombats are native, but recognition falls dramatically for quolls and bandicoots, new research has revealed.
As many of us wind down for the weekend, agriculture ministers from across the country will sit down this Friday for a meeting that will decide the future of Australia’s fight against fire ants.
The Invasive Species Council is backing calls from Townsville City Council for ongoing funding from the Queensland and Australian governments for the Townsville Yellow Crazy Ant program.
The first confirmed death of an Australian sea lion from H5 bird flu has raised fears about what could happen if the virus takes hold in the threatened species, as the Invasive Species Council warns Australia needs a much greater investment in helping wildlife survive and recover.
The latest independent veterinary assessment of aerial shooting in Kosciuszko National Park has again found a “notable absence of adverse animal welfare events” and “no feral horses observed were non fatally wounded”, providing further evidence against misinformation being spread about the feral horse control program.
The Invasive Species Council has welcomed the South Australian government’s $4.6 million announcement to restore the River Torrens (Karrawirra Parri) and bring the platypus – among other species – back to Adelaide.
Queenslanders are checking for fire ants at 13 times the usual rate, demonstrating strong community backing for eradication efforts as Australian governments remain yet to commit funding beyond June 2027.
A new Northern Territory government-commissioned economic assessment has found the costs of allowing buffel grass to spread are around 60 times greater than the benefits, adding further weight to calls for a strong, nationally coordinated response to one of Australia’s most damaging invasive species.
The Albanese Government’s $20 million to help Australia’s wildlife survive the escalating bird flu crisis is a deeply unserious response to the seriousness of the problem.
The Invasive Species Council has welcomed the South Australian Government’s announcement of a parliamentary inquiry into buffel grass, calling it a crucial opportunity to expose the true scale of the invasive weed crisis and map out the urgent resources needed to combat it.
The Invasive Species Council says the arrival of H5 in Tasmania makes urgent investment in wildlife resilience even more critical – including reducing existing pressures from feral cats, pigs and deer and protecting important offshore islands and breeding sites.
The detection of a fire ant nest at Forest Glen on the Sunshine Coast is further proof Australia cannot afford to lose momentum on eradication,
The Australian Government invests in building community resilience to natural disasters and supporting recovery. What should we expect of our governments when it’s native wildlife facing catastrophe?
New DNA analysis has revealed feral cats are eating significantly more native mammals than traditional methods have detected. The Invasive Species Council says the findings reinforce the urgent need for governments to accelerate feral cat control across Australia.
Following the release of government risk ratings revealing the potential devastation facing Australian wildlife from H5 bird flu, the Invasive Species Council is calling on the Albanese Government to immediately commit $200 million to boost the capacity of species to survive and recover from disease outbreaks.
Australians know kangaroos and wombats are native, but recognition falls dramatically for quolls and bandicoots, new research has revealed.
As many of us wind down for the weekend, agriculture ministers from across the country will sit down this Friday for a meeting that will decide the future of Australia’s fight against fire ants.
The Invasive Species Council is backing calls from Townsville City Council for ongoing funding from the Queensland and Australian governments for the Townsville Yellow Crazy Ant program.
The first confirmed death of an Australian sea lion from H5 bird flu has raised fears about what could happen if the virus takes hold in the threatened species, as the Invasive Species Council warns Australia needs a much greater investment in helping wildlife survive and recover.
The latest independent veterinary assessment of aerial shooting in Kosciuszko National Park has again found a “notable absence of adverse animal welfare events” and “no feral horses observed were non fatally wounded”, providing further evidence against misinformation being spread about the feral horse control program.
The Invasive Species Council has welcomed the South Australian government’s $4.6 million announcement to restore the River Torrens (Karrawirra Parri) and bring the platypus – among other species – back to Adelaide.
Queenslanders are checking for fire ants at 13 times the usual rate, demonstrating strong community backing for eradication efforts as Australian governments remain yet to commit funding beyond June 2027.
A new Northern Territory government-commissioned economic assessment has found the costs of allowing buffel grass to spread are around 60 times greater than the benefits, adding further weight to calls for a strong, nationally coordinated response to one of Australia’s most damaging invasive species.
The Albanese Government’s $20 million to help Australia’s wildlife survive the escalating bird flu crisis is a deeply unserious response to the seriousness of the problem.
The Invasive Species Council has welcomed the South Australian Government’s announcement of a parliamentary inquiry into buffel grass, calling it a crucial opportunity to expose the true scale of the invasive weed crisis and map out the urgent resources needed to combat it.
The Invasive Species Council says the arrival of H5 in Tasmania makes urgent investment in wildlife resilience even more critical – including reducing existing pressures from feral cats, pigs and deer and protecting important offshore islands and breeding sites.
The detection of a fire ant nest at Forest Glen on the Sunshine Coast is further proof Australia cannot afford to lose momentum on eradication,
The Australian Government invests in building community resilience to natural disasters and supporting recovery. What should we expect of our governments when it’s native wildlife facing catastrophe?
New DNA analysis has revealed feral cats are eating significantly more native mammals than traditional methods have detected. The Invasive Species Council says the findings reinforce the urgent need for governments to accelerate feral cat control across Australia.
Following the release of government risk ratings revealing the potential devastation facing Australian wildlife from H5 bird flu, the Invasive Species Council is calling on the Albanese Government to immediately commit $200 million to boost the capacity of species to survive and recover from disease outbreaks.
Australians know kangaroos and wombats are native, but recognition falls dramatically for quolls and bandicoots, new research has revealed.
As many of us wind down for the weekend, agriculture ministers from across the country will sit down this Friday for a meeting that will decide the future of Australia’s fight against fire ants.
The Invasive Species Council is backing calls from Townsville City Council for ongoing funding from the Queensland and Australian governments for the Townsville Yellow Crazy Ant program.
The first confirmed death of an Australian sea lion from H5 bird flu has raised fears about what could happen if the virus takes hold in the threatened species, as the Invasive Species Council warns Australia needs a much greater investment in helping wildlife survive and recover.
The latest independent veterinary assessment of aerial shooting in Kosciuszko National Park has again found a “notable absence of adverse animal welfare events” and “no feral horses observed were non fatally wounded”, providing further evidence against misinformation being spread about the feral horse control program.
The Invasive Species Council has welcomed the South Australian government’s $4.6 million announcement to restore the River Torrens (Karrawirra Parri) and bring the platypus – among other species – back to Adelaide.
Queenslanders are checking for fire ants at 13 times the usual rate, demonstrating strong community backing for eradication efforts as Australian governments remain yet to commit funding beyond June 2027.
A new Northern Territory government-commissioned economic assessment has found the costs of allowing buffel grass to spread are around 60 times greater than the benefits, adding further weight to calls for a strong, nationally coordinated response to one of Australia’s most damaging invasive species.
The Albanese Government’s $20 million to help Australia’s wildlife survive the escalating bird flu crisis is a deeply unserious response to the seriousness of the problem.
The Invasive Species Council has welcomed the South Australian Government’s announcement of a parliamentary inquiry into buffel grass, calling it a crucial opportunity to expose the true scale of the invasive weed crisis and map out the urgent resources needed to combat it.
The Invasive Species Council says the arrival of H5 in Tasmania makes urgent investment in wildlife resilience even more critical – including reducing existing pressures from feral cats, pigs and deer and protecting important offshore islands and breeding sites.
The detection of a fire ant nest at Forest Glen on the Sunshine Coast is further proof Australia cannot afford to lose momentum on eradication,
The Australian Government invests in building community resilience to natural disasters and supporting recovery. What should we expect of our governments when it’s native wildlife facing catastrophe?
New DNA analysis has revealed feral cats are eating significantly more native mammals than traditional methods have detected. The Invasive Species Council says the findings reinforce the urgent need for governments to accelerate feral cat control across Australia.
Following the release of government risk ratings revealing the potential devastation facing Australian wildlife from H5 bird flu, the Invasive Species Council is calling on the Albanese Government to immediately commit $200 million to boost the capacity of species to survive and recover from disease outbreaks.
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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.
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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.