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| Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife |
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Pest animals
They are often more successful hunters and reproduce faster than native animals. Moreover, in Australia, feral animals have few natural predators or fatal diseases. As a result, their populations are not naturally controlled and they can multiply rapidly if conditions are favourable. The Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife focuses its efforts on the most urgent cases, where native species are pushed towards extinction through feral pests. Introduced to Australia as a biological pest control, the South American Cane Toad soon became one of Australia's most devastating pest species. The Cane Toad is highly adaptable and occurs in many habitats from forests, woodlands, grasslands and beach dunes to suburban gardens from the Northern Territory throughout Queensland and northern NSW. They can survive the loss of half their body water and temperatures ranging from as low as 5 to as high as 40ºC. Male toads call from spring to autumn and breeding increases after rain. A female will lay up to 35,000 eggs twice a year. The small, black tadpoles move together in huge numbers, forming schools like a black carpet in the water. Tadpoles eat other tadpoles dead or alive. As adults they will eat a wide range of insects and frogs, rats and anything small enough to eat. It is little wonder that the population is increasing steadily, with scientists estimating the total Cane Toad population of Australia up at the 200 million mark. While scientists are searching for long-term solutions to the problem, the toads continue to kill native wildlife and volunteer 'toad busters' across three states and territories hit back. The Foundation has funded a 'Trap that Toad' school kit that arms Australia's youngsters with the knowledge and tools to join in the fight - tips on how to trap them, pictures and sounds and even a stuffed toad to identify the offenders and advice on how to dispose of them. The kits have been sent to primary schools in northern NSW and are already helping fight back the toads frontline. Foundation funds also went towards an information kit to assist the public to identify cane toads in the wild so as to avoid confusion with native species. The brochure is available on the national parks website http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/content/identifying+a+cane+toad Foxes Pigs and goats Rats Feral cats Rabbits Gambusia (Mosquito fish) The Gambusia is a small fish but it has several competitive advantages over small native fishes and frogs. Gambusia can tolerate a wide range of temperatures (from under ice to 44°C) and water conditions, from freshwater to seawater. Its food range is wide and includes ants, flies, aquatic bugs and beetles. It has a high reproductive rate of an average of 50 young per brood, with up to nine broods per year. It matures quickly and displays aggressive fin-nipping behaviour. To date there is no measure to control Gambusia that does not bear the risk of harming other native species or their habitat. The best way to protect our native frogs and fish species is therefore to avoid the introduction of non-local fish in the first place. Exotic species can escape from ponds when their water overflows after heavy rain. Placing screened overflows that control where water runs off and stop possible escapees are a simple yet efficient measure. The Foundation for National Parks & Wildlfie funded the poster 'Freshwater Fishes of the Sydney Basin' to rasie awareness of the threat that exotic fish such as Gambusia pose for our ecosystems and wildlife. Sydney Water's 'Stream Watch' has been equipped with Gambusia identification blocks that contain a specimen preserved in clear glue. These blocks help identify any Gambusia caught during regular water monitoring activities. |
Introduced animals such as feral cats, dogs, goats and rats are responsible for many species extinctions since European settlement.