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Rewilding program moves to Invasive Species Council to scale up wildlife revival

The Invasive Species Council’s mission for a wildlife revival is entering an exciting new chapter, officially joining forces with Rewilding Australia.

The move aims to tackle the biggest barrier to successful rewilding – invasive species – by combining Rewilding Australia Program Manager Rob Brewster’s hands-on expertise with the Council’s national leadership in driving landscape-scale invasive species control.

Over the past 5 years, with the backing of WWF-Australia, Rewilding Australia has helped return eastern quolls, platypuses, bettongs and bandicoots to their former homes and laid the groundwork for future wildlife returns by building strong coalitions of researchers, Traditional Owners, governments and communities.

Jack Gough, CEO of the Invasive Species Council said:

‘Rewilding is an exciting new addition to fulfill our mission. We advocate for stronger border protection, eradication where it’s possible and better management of established pests – all with the aim of ensuring thriving Australian wildlife and landscapes.

‘We want Australians to start thinking big about what this country could be. If we brought back the bounce – the species we’ve lost, the plants we’ve smothered – and tackled invasive species with real investment and innovative technology, imagine what this land could look like again. That’s the vision of Australia we are working towards.

‘We’re grateful to WWF for supporting this program with us for the next year. That gives us a chance to build on Rob Brewster’s incredible work and explore how we can be the catalyst for bigger, bolder thinking. We’ll be looking for passionate and ambitious partners to make sure it continues well beyond that.’

Rob Brewster, Rewilding Australia Program Manager said:

‘I am enormously proud of everything Rewilding Australia has achieved over the last 5 years and grateful to WWF-Australia for making the growth of this rewilding movement possible.

‘The fox management in Booderee National Park has shown us what’s possible – when you remove predators, quolls can return and thrive. On Lungtalanana, Traditional Owners are preparing to welcome Bass Strait Islands wombats back to Country. 

‘These successes prove that when you control invasive species and build partnerships across tenures, you can bring life back to the land.’

Invasive Species Council Indigenous Ambassador Richard Swain said:

‘This is about creating what Australia could be if we were courageous enough to change the way we care for Country. If we removed the invasive species that don’t belong here and brought back the animals and plants that do, this land could finally heal. 

‘Country has been disrespected for too long. We need to think big about what’s possible, because that’s what Country deserves.’

WWF-Australia’s Chief Regenerative Officer Nicole Forrester said:

‘Since WWF-Australia and Rewilding Australia joined forces at the end of 2020, we have reached some important milestones together. Rob’s deep expertise in species recovery has helped shape a powerful legacy of conservation impact. We look forward to seeing Rewilding Australia’s impact continue to grow through this new collaboration and focus on tackling invasive species.’

Media inquiries: (02) 8006 5004

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Your support to protect critically endangered and vulnerable species from extinction is vital. Together, we can ensure governments prioritise action on invasive species and protect our wildlife and iconic places.

The Invasive Species Council was formed in 2002 to seek stronger laws, policies and programs to protect nature from harmful pests, weeds and diseases.

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.

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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.

    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]