Australia has suffered more than most countries from invasive species. Predators such as the red fox and feral cat have been especially destructive, threatening native wildlife and imposing huge costs on farming.
The usual response to these problems is “culling”: killing or otherwise removing pest animals from wild populations with the aim of reducing their abundance and impact, or even eradicating them.
But a recent study shows that culling can backfire badly. Wildlife biologists in Tasmania decided to test their ability to reduce abundance of feral cats. They surveyed cats in four large areas of native forest, and then trapped and removed animals for a year in two of those areas.
This seemed to go really well: at first they caught lots of cats, then trap success rapidly dropped off, suggesting most cats had been removed. The problem was that monitoring with remote cameras showed that as resident cats were taken out even more new cats appeared. These newcomers did not enter traps. As a result the abundance of cats actually went up in areas being trapped.
This is not an isolated bit of weirdness: similar effects have been found elsewhere. For example …
Read the rest of the article, with full hyperlinks, The Conversation HERE
• O’Brien, in Comments Why Minister Rockliff maintains rock solid faith in DPIPWE after receiving qualified advice to the contrary is anyone”s guess – Mercury HERE – Retiring DPIPWE officer Mr Cremasco felt strongly enough about the corrupt culture of DPIPWE to pen an open letter to Minister Rockliff. Any reasonable person would consider this letter plus previous similar representations from others sufficient for Minister Rockliff to initiate action. Well it seems the good Minister is content to add his name to a long shameful list of politicians more than happy to look the other way. Why are our elected representatives so reluctant to expurgate DPIPWE of it’s (cozy) cabal and give Tasmania a working conservation apparatus? Well, maybe because it’s necessary to have a compromised conservation apparatus if filthy industries like wood-chipping, salmon ‘farming’, WHA flogging and mass scale poisoning can continue. Business as usual in Tasmania.
