Woinarski et al (2015) reported that more than 10% of the endemic Australian mammal fauna had become extinct in the last 200 plus years, a further 21% of Australian endemic land mammals are now assessed as threatened, two species have become extinct in the past decade and the rate of extinction is not slowing. Clearly, Australians […]

Phascogales are dasyurid marsupials, related to antechinus, mulgara and quolls. There are three species of phascogale, the larger, approximately 230g, brush-tailed and northern brush-tailed phascogales (Phascogale tapoatafa and P. pirata) and the small, 40g red-tailed phascogale (P. calura), also known as the wambenger (Van Dyck and Strahan 2008). The brush-tailed phascogale species are distributed around […]

Baiting is an effective method of controlling feral cats. To date two types of cat baits have been developed, Eradicat® (dosed with 1080) and Curiosity® [containing an encapsulated pellet known as the ‘Hard Shell Delivery Vehicle’ (HSDV), which contains the toxicant ‘PAPP’ (Para-aminopropiophenone)]. There are other baits in trial programs at the moment (i.e. Hisstory) […]

I worked on a development site where dust was a significant issue. How did I know that, well there were red plumes of fine powdery material continuously wafting through the air, machinery increased the presence of this red material, I had grit in my eyes and ears, and at the end of the day my […]

One of the roles of my day-to-day life is the protection of vertebrate fauna, and in particular threatened fauna. This may be through mitigating impacts of a development or infrastructure project on a particular species or ecosystem or it by the management of feral or introduced pest species. I was sitting with friends over Easter […]

Bush Stone-curlews (Burhinus grallarius), or Bush Thick-knees, are a relatively large but slim, mainly ground dwelling, nocturnal bird. Although it looks a bit like a wader it is related to the oystercatchers, avocets and plovers and is a terrestrial predator filling an ecological niche similar to that of the road runner in North America (Wikipedia […]

Carp (Cyprinus carpio) is native to Eastern Europe and central Asia and has been bred as an ornamental and aquaculture species for many years. Translocations have now resulted in carp invading waterways in other parts of Europe, Asia, North, Central and South America, Australia and Oceania (Koehn 2004). Carp were first introduced into Australia in […]

March has just started and throughout Australia migratory shorebirds are getting ready to leave for their breeding grounds. Australia is part of the East Asian – Australasian Flyway (EAAF), a migratory route which extends from within the Arctic circle southwards through east and south-east Asia to Australia and New Zealand. Migratory shorebirds spend their non-breeding […]

On 30 July 2013, DPaW hosted a workshop to determine the highest-priority research needs to ensure the survival of viable populations of Northern Quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus) in the Pilbara, WA. It was a very successful workshop with participants from government, universities, environmental consultants and the mining industry participating. An independent facilitator did a great job in […]

Conservation detection dogs are widely used in New Zealand and US, and over the past 10 years have been used a little in Australia. The traditional use of detection dogs was for explosive, drugs and weapon detection, or search and rescue dogs. Many professionals undertaking explosive, drugs and weapon detection, or search and rescue programs […]