
Victorian landholder blocked from controlling hog deer under outdated laws
A Victorian landholder says she has been blocked from controlling invasive hog deer on her property due to restrictive and outdated state laws.
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A Victorian landholder says she has been blocked from controlling invasive hog deer on her property due to restrictive and outdated state laws.

New research has revealed nearly half of Sydney’s urban trees could be vulnerable to one of the world’s most destructive invasive species – the polyphagous shot-hole borer – prompting urgent calls for surveillance and preparedness as it proliferates in the west.

The Invasive Species Council has warned the federal budget fails to match the scale of Australia’s invasive species crisis, with cuts to key pest and weed programs and ongoing short-term funding locking in uncertainty for frontline efforts.

If you followed the headlines, you could be forgiven for thinking Australia’s environmental debate begins and ends with climate targets, logging battles and development fights. But that’s not the whole picture.

Victoria’s natural environment will suffer and communities will be left to bear the cost of worsening invasive species threats after the state budget entrenched cuts to frontline roles and failed to deliver meaningful new investment in pest control.

The Invasive Species Council is encouraging the state government to make the most of the opportunity to remove feral deer from Deep Creek National Park, as part of its recovery plan from the bushfire that burnt thousands of hectares earlier this year.

The Invasive Species Council has slammed Tasmania’s draft Threatened Species Strategy as a missed opportunity to stop extinctions, warning it fails to address the biggest threats of biodiversity loss – including invasive species.

New satellite images released by NASA showing Australia’s Red Centre turning green should not be mistaken for good news, the Invasive Species Council has warned, with much of the growth likely to be invasive buffel grass – a fast-spreading weed that is priming the landscape for future bushfire disasters.

A winter blitz to remove feral cats is now underway on Kangaroo Island – and it could deliver a world-first.

An independent review of Australia’s fire ant eradication program has confirmed the nation is on track with its plan to eliminate one of the world’s worst invasive species – but the Invasive Species Council warns progress will be at risk if funding is not continued beyond next year.

The Invasive Species Council has welcomed a major yellow crazy ant eradication milestone in Far North Queensland, saying the success shows what sustained investment can achieve – and why the federal government must prevent a looming Saving Native Species funding cliff in the budget in a few weeks.

The Invasive Species Council has appointed Gayle Austen as its new President, as the organisation steps up its push to tackle invasive species – the leading driver of animal extinctions in Australia.

Recent significant rainfall across South Australia has triggered an extensive and dangerous surge of buffel grass, prompting urgent calls for the state government to release its long-delayed government-wide strategy and commit to a $2 million per year, multi-year plan.

The Invasive Species Council has welcomed the incoming Victorian Ministry, urging the Allan Government to use the Cabinet reshuffle as a circuit breaker moment to tackle the state’s growing invasive species crisis.

The Invasive Species Council has welcomed moves by Kangaroo Island Council to ask the South Australian government to consider a ‘last cat policy’, saying it could be the decisive step needed to finish one of Australia’s most ambitious feral cat eradication efforts.

A Victorian landholder says she has been blocked from controlling invasive hog deer on her property due to restrictive and outdated state laws.

New research has revealed nearly half of Sydney’s urban trees could be vulnerable to one of the world’s most destructive invasive species – the polyphagous shot-hole borer – prompting urgent calls for surveillance and preparedness as it proliferates in the west.

The Invasive Species Council has warned the federal budget fails to match the scale of Australia’s invasive species crisis, with cuts to key pest and weed programs and ongoing short-term funding locking in uncertainty for frontline efforts.

If you followed the headlines, you could be forgiven for thinking Australia’s environmental debate begins and ends with climate targets, logging battles and development fights. But that’s not the whole picture.

Victoria’s natural environment will suffer and communities will be left to bear the cost of worsening invasive species threats after the state budget entrenched cuts to frontline roles and failed to deliver meaningful new investment in pest control.

The Invasive Species Council is encouraging the state government to make the most of the opportunity to remove feral deer from Deep Creek National Park, as part of its recovery plan from the bushfire that burnt thousands of hectares earlier this year.

The Invasive Species Council has slammed Tasmania’s draft Threatened Species Strategy as a missed opportunity to stop extinctions, warning it fails to address the biggest threats of biodiversity loss – including invasive species.

New satellite images released by NASA showing Australia’s Red Centre turning green should not be mistaken for good news, the Invasive Species Council has warned, with much of the growth likely to be invasive buffel grass – a fast-spreading weed that is priming the landscape for future bushfire disasters.

A winter blitz to remove feral cats is now underway on Kangaroo Island – and it could deliver a world-first.

An independent review of Australia’s fire ant eradication program has confirmed the nation is on track with its plan to eliminate one of the world’s worst invasive species – but the Invasive Species Council warns progress will be at risk if funding is not continued beyond next year.

The Invasive Species Council has welcomed a major yellow crazy ant eradication milestone in Far North Queensland, saying the success shows what sustained investment can achieve – and why the federal government must prevent a looming Saving Native Species funding cliff in the budget in a few weeks.

The Invasive Species Council has appointed Gayle Austen as its new President, as the organisation steps up its push to tackle invasive species – the leading driver of animal extinctions in Australia.

Recent significant rainfall across South Australia has triggered an extensive and dangerous surge of buffel grass, prompting urgent calls for the state government to release its long-delayed government-wide strategy and commit to a $2 million per year, multi-year plan.

The Invasive Species Council has welcomed the incoming Victorian Ministry, urging the Allan Government to use the Cabinet reshuffle as a circuit breaker moment to tackle the state’s growing invasive species crisis.

The Invasive Species Council has welcomed moves by Kangaroo Island Council to ask the South Australian government to consider a ‘last cat policy’, saying it could be the decisive step needed to finish one of Australia’s most ambitious feral cat eradication efforts.

A Victorian landholder says she has been blocked from controlling invasive hog deer on her property due to restrictive and outdated state laws.

New research has revealed nearly half of Sydney’s urban trees could be vulnerable to one of the world’s most destructive invasive species – the polyphagous shot-hole borer – prompting urgent calls for surveillance and preparedness as it proliferates in the west.

The Invasive Species Council has warned the federal budget fails to match the scale of Australia’s invasive species crisis, with cuts to key pest and weed programs and ongoing short-term funding locking in uncertainty for frontline efforts.

If you followed the headlines, you could be forgiven for thinking Australia’s environmental debate begins and ends with climate targets, logging battles and development fights. But that’s not the whole picture.

Victoria’s natural environment will suffer and communities will be left to bear the cost of worsening invasive species threats after the state budget entrenched cuts to frontline roles and failed to deliver meaningful new investment in pest control.

The Invasive Species Council is encouraging the state government to make the most of the opportunity to remove feral deer from Deep Creek National Park, as part of its recovery plan from the bushfire that burnt thousands of hectares earlier this year.

The Invasive Species Council has slammed Tasmania’s draft Threatened Species Strategy as a missed opportunity to stop extinctions, warning it fails to address the biggest threats of biodiversity loss – including invasive species.

New satellite images released by NASA showing Australia’s Red Centre turning green should not be mistaken for good news, the Invasive Species Council has warned, with much of the growth likely to be invasive buffel grass – a fast-spreading weed that is priming the landscape for future bushfire disasters.

A winter blitz to remove feral cats is now underway on Kangaroo Island – and it could deliver a world-first.
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.