tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/cull-9816/articlescull – The Conversation2020-03-15T11:40:52Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1312982020-03-15T11:40:52Z2020-03-15T11:40:52ZWhat lives, what dies? The role of science in the decision to cull seals to save cod<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319489/original/file-20200310-61127-13zq96c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=453%2C101%2C3330%2C2285&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Is it OK to cull grey seals if it helps bring back the cod on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Atlantic cod on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland supported one of the world’s greatest fisheries for over three centuries. Yet this seemingly inexhaustible resource is in bad shape. <a href="http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/virtual_sara/files/cosewic/sr_atlantic_cod_e.pdf">Some stocks are now endangered</a> and their survival could depend on removing a key predator, the grey seal. </p>
<p>This raises some difficult questions: How do we determine the value of one species over another, and what is the role of science in this conundrum?</p>
<p>My colleagues and I in the <a href="https://feru.oceans.ubc.ca/">Fisheries Economics Research Unit</a> at the University of British Columbia are fascinated by these questions. As an interdisciplinary group of economists, ecologists and social scientists, we commonly attribute values to animals in different ways. But determining whether to kill one animal to preserve another is less straightforward.</p>
<h2>A grim solution to a grim problem</h2>
<p>The collapse of the Grand Banks fisheries is considered <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/42629199">one of the most significant failures in the history of natural resource management</a> — akin to the ongoing degradation of the Amazon — and casts a long shadow over Canadian fisheries management.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319491/original/file-20200310-61120-1pjilwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319491/original/file-20200310-61120-1pjilwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319491/original/file-20200310-61120-1pjilwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319491/original/file-20200310-61120-1pjilwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319491/original/file-20200310-61120-1pjilwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319491/original/file-20200310-61120-1pjilwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319491/original/file-20200310-61120-1pjilwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319491/original/file-20200310-61120-1pjilwn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Cod being dried out on fishing flakes at Pouch Cove, Nfld., in 1948.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=4292667">(Library and Archives Canada)</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Subsequent limitations and closures to fishing have helped some stocks recover, but for others the outlook remains grim. In particular, the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence cod stock <a href="https://waves-vagues.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/362226.pdf">continues to decline despite fishery closures since 2009</a>. Scientists now forecast that if things don’t change <a href="https://waves-vagues.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/40805542.pdf">these cod will become locally extinct</a>.</p>
<p>One proposal, however, could reverse the cod’s fortunes. The solution is to cull the seals that prey on the dwindling stock. Researchers suggest that for a cull to be effective, the seal population, which numbers around 500,000, must be <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2017-0190">reduced by more than 65 per cent</a>.</p>
<p>This solution is not uncommon. The pros and cons of conservation-led culling have long been debated. Some culls are supported by conservationists and researchers alike, while <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10871209.2012.694014">more controversial culls such as that of the wolves of British Columbia</a> are opposed by both.</p>
<p>How then do we decide which culls are justified? Is the death of a colony of seals a fair price for the conservation of a cod stock?</p>
<h2>Are all animals equal?</h2>
<p>Clearly an innate ranking of species exists. For example, the tenacious <em>Homo sapiens</em> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00080510">populated New Zealand about 700 years ago</a>. At the same time <em>Rattus exulans</em> (Pacific rat) also made New Zealand its home. </p>
<p>In the following centuries <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24053254?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">New Zealand’s environment transformed</a> — <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biv012">a quarter of bird species went extinct</a>, and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/arco.1983.18.1.11">large-scale deforestation was rife</a>. Yet, the burden of compensation rests squarely with the rat. Their total extermination from the region is <a href="https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/new-zealand-be-predator-free-2050">scheduled for 2050</a>.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319492/original/file-20200310-61113-1g566s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319492/original/file-20200310-61113-1g566s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319492/original/file-20200310-61113-1g566s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319492/original/file-20200310-61113-1g566s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=462&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319492/original/file-20200310-61113-1g566s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319492/original/file-20200310-61113-1g566s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319492/original/file-20200310-61113-1g566s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The flightless kakapo is easy prey for rats, dogs and other species introduced to New Zealand by humans. It was thought to be extinct in the 1960s, but could be re-introduced if New Zealand becomes predator-free by 2050. An illustration from the <em>History of the Birds of New Zealand</em>, by Walter Lawry Buller, published in 1873.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kakapo#/media/File:Kakapo2.jpg">(Wikimedia)</a></span>
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<p>Evidently some animals are considered “<a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/564/56486/animal-farm/9780141036137.html">more equal than others</a>”, and some culls justifiable.</p>
<p>This brings us back to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. <a href="https://waves-vagues.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/40805542.pdf">According to fishery managers</a>, we now face a decision: “increase grey seal removals to allow Atlantic cod to recover, or accept the high extinction risk of these fish and allow grey seal abundance to remain high.”</p>
<p>Admittedly, the plight of bottom-dwelling fish does not evoke public interest like that of the unique wildlife of the New Zealand archipelago. However, cod have been <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/330809/cod-by-mark-kurlansky/">valued by humans for thousands of years</a>, pre-dating our knowledge of New Zealand altogether. Their continued productivity is a vital part of our <a href="http://www.fishharvesterspecheurs.ca/fishing-industry/history">shared cultural history</a>, <a href="https://oceana.ca/en/publications/reports/oceans-opportunity-economic-case-rebuilding-northern-cod">employs thousands of people</a> and feeds many more.</p>
<p>Cod are valuable. But are they more valuable than seals?</p>
<h2>Determining the ‘right’ course of action</h2>
<p>There are two ways to view culling decisions. Firstly, there is the technical viewpoint of identifying which animals to kill and when. The role of science here is relatively clear.</p>
<p>Science provides an analytical framework in which decisions to cull are made. We can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10818-010-9092-7">combine multiple measures of value</a> that consider economic, ecological and social aspects, to determine the relative “value” of species. We can run mathematical models or cost-benefit analyses, for example, to provide simplistic (possibly reductive) advice on the outcome of different options. Indeed, some options may be effective at reaching the intended goal, but hard to stomach!</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319929/original/file-20200311-116232-v762r1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/319929/original/file-20200311-116232-v762r1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319929/original/file-20200311-116232-v762r1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319929/original/file-20200311-116232-v762r1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=260&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319929/original/file-20200311-116232-v762r1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319929/original/file-20200311-116232-v762r1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/319929/original/file-20200311-116232-v762r1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hunting in the 1800s dramatically reduced the grey seal population off the coast of Newfoundland. It has since rebounded.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>The second viewpoint is the question of whether we should cull. This examines the morality of how humans operate and the consequences for nature. This is where the role of science becomes unclear, and has been <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/rationally-speaking/201004/about-sam-harris-claim-science-can-answer-moral-questions">debated quite vehemently</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wild-horses-or-pests-how-to-control-free-roaming-horses-in-alberta-122510">Wild horses or pests? How to control free-roaming horses in Alberta</a>
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<p>For me, culling decisions are not technical but moral, with multiple “right” answers. While I argue that this decision is for society, scientists are not passive actors. We can provide methods for <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0169281">gauging public opinion</a> and can identify alternative approaches to how humans might operate within our environment. It is important for scientists to reflect on whether they are presenting facts or feelings.</p>
<p>Science, in my opinion, should not answer moral questions but should describe the facts behind each option. <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/261026/a-treatise-of-human-nature-by-david-hume/">Science should not derive values from facts</a>.</p>
<h2>Caught between a rock and a hard place</h2>
<p>Regardless of whether you agree with this opinion or not, it is important to reflect on the commonality between culling decisions: the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2009.05.012">unbalancing of ecosystems</a>.</p>
<p>At some point we must accept that recreating pristine environments, that of before <em>Homo sapiens</em>, via further intervention is impossible. <a href="https://dark-mountain.net/about/manifesto/">We cannot separate ourselves from nature</a>. While culling may restore a sense of what was lost, we cannot reverse our impact altogether, especially as climate change promises a world of fewer unperturbed environments.</p>
<p>As such, society will no doubt face an ever-increasing number of moral decisions.</p>
<p>Treating the decision to cull as a technical problem with a technical solution denies the Canadian public its say and possibly contributes to maintaining the (destructive) way that humans currently operate, leaving the moral questions unanswered.</p>
<p>How we decide the value of grey seals and cod in the coming years, while seemingly insignificant on one level, sets a precedent for our future decision-making processes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131298/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Skerritt does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cod could become locally extinct in the southern gulf of St. Lawrence. One solution is to cull the grey seals that feed on the floundering stock.Daniel Skerritt, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Fisheries Economics Research Unit, University of British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/739832017-03-08T00:10:57Z2017-03-08T00:10:57ZIn defence of the grey squirrel, Britain’s most unpopular invader<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159869/original/image-20170308-14966-kvh4eq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jason Gilchrist / jasongilchrist.co.uk</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Furry, fast, occasionally chubby. Small, whiskered, bushy tailed. An expert climber. A nut eater. And grey.</p>
<p>For those in the UK, everything was going great until that last trait. You were probably thinking “cute” and “cuddly”, and feeling positive about this mystery mammal. Until you discover it is the grey and not the red squirrel.</p>
<p>Grey squirrels are a contradiction. They have all the characteristics of animals that people tend to love, and yet they are actively persecuted by humankind. BBC presenter Chris Packham calls them Britain’s “most unpopular non-native invader” – and one of their unflattering nicknames is the “<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-390805/Damn-tree-rats.html">tree rat</a>”. </p>
<p>The Wildlife Trust has recently announced plans to recruit <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/feb/24/red-squirrels-5000-volunteers-sought-to-save-species-and-help-kill-invasive-greys">an army of 5,000 volunteers</a> to monitor their endangered native relative, the red squirrel – and kill the greys.</p>
<h2>Cute but criminal</h2>
<p>So why such a bad press for grey squirrels? Firstly, they ain’t from around here: greys were deliberately introduced from North America in the late 19th century as an exotic addition to country estates. They soon spread across the UK, however, and today the invaders are the dominant squirrel across almost all of England and Wales and much of Scotland and Ireland.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"835126115362619398"}"></div></p>
<p>But hostility towards invasive animals can’t explain the grey squirrel’s unpopularity – as other non-native species don’t get the same negative attention. The UK’s <a href="http://www.mammal.org.uk/species-hub/uk-mammal-list/">naturalised mammals</a> include the brown hare, the edible dormouse, and sika deer. Even the much-loved rabbit is a <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/6574709/Mouse-and-rabbits-among-non-native-species.html">Roman import</a>.</p>
<p>Instead, grey squirrels are disliked, by foresters due to the damage that they inflict upon trees, and more generally because of the harm they cause to their native relatives, red squirrels. Studies have shown that <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00265-001-0446-y">greys can outcompete reds</a> – the two species do not directly fight for resources, it is just that the greys are better at gathering the nuts and berries that both live off. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159587/original/image-20170306-20749-82nt7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159587/original/image-20170306-20749-82nt7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159587/original/image-20170306-20749-82nt7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159587/original/image-20170306-20749-82nt7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159587/original/image-20170306-20749-82nt7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159587/original/image-20170306-20749-82nt7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159587/original/image-20170306-20749-82nt7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159587/original/image-20170306-20749-82nt7q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Red squirrel: across the UK greys now outnumber these reds by around 17 to 1.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jason Gilchrist/www.jasongilchrist.co.uk</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Grey squirrels are also unknowingly the carrier of a disease, squirrel pox, to which they are immune, but sadly the red is not. For red squirrels, the pox means painful scabs, ulcers and <a href="http://www.northernredsquirrels.org.uk/squirrels/squirrel-pox-virus/">almost certain death</a> (although some are finally <a href="http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/ukrsg_advice_note_E1.pdf/$FILE/ukrsg_advice_note_E1.pdf">developing resistance</a>). The pox itself may actually be the chief “evil immigrant” in this eco-relationship, with the grey squirrel simply moving into vacant habitat following an epidemic among local red squirrels.</p>
<h2>Ethics and welfare of killing</h2>
<p>Whatever the true ecological relationship between red and grey squirrel, the human species has for many years been waging war on the unfortunate invader. Human nature is such that, the moment we label a species as a “pest”, the welfare of individual animals is often ignored. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159856/original/image-20170307-14934-qg84ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159856/original/image-20170307-14934-qg84ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159856/original/image-20170307-14934-qg84ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159856/original/image-20170307-14934-qg84ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159856/original/image-20170307-14934-qg84ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159856/original/image-20170307-14934-qg84ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159856/original/image-20170307-14934-qg84ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159856/original/image-20170307-14934-qg84ga.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Watch out! The grey squirrel is under attack.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jason Gilchrist/www.jasongilchrist.co.uk</span></span>
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<p>The grey squirrel is not so different from the red. How would we feel if we were to trap, poison and shoot the red squirrel? Greys did not come over here of their own accord and did not ask to be introduced. Neither do they have any control over the pox that they carry. They do what they do; which is to be grey squirrels. In response, what we do, is kill them by the tens of thousands, year after year. The killing is “humane” – but how free of pain and suffering is it for the squirrels? We poison them. We trap them. We shoot them. We bludgeon them to death.</p>
<p>How many dead greys is a live red worth? The success of this sustained massacre is debatable. Nobody seriously believes that the grey squirrel could be exterminated in the UK. A report by Stephen Harris and colleagues at the University of Bristol concluded that culling greys to save reds is <a href="https://www.onekind.scot/wp-content/uploads/0811_grey_squirrel_populations.pdf">neither viable nor economic</a>. Harris has instead suggested that we should move the reds to <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5238462.stm">protected islands</a> and let nature take its course on the mainland. We could <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/11301638/Millions-of-pounds-of-public-money-to-pay-for-grey-squirrel-cull.html">save ourselves a lot of time, money and effort</a> by not persecuting grey squirrels.</p>
<h2>We don’t need to kill to conserve</h2>
<p>I don’t want Britain to lose its native red squirrel. But neither do I take any joy from the thought of the tens of thousands of culled grey squirrels and the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/feb/24/red-squirrels-5000-volunteers-sought-to-save-species-and-help-kill-invasive-greys">infinite number that we will have to kill</a> if current plans are to continue in perpetuity. </p>
<p>We need to show a bit more respect to this highly successful species and there are alternative options to culling. We could start by managing forests to favour conifers (which reds prefer) over deciduous trees (the grey’s favourite).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159585/original/image-20170306-20739-1199mrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159585/original/image-20170306-20739-1199mrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159585/original/image-20170306-20739-1199mrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159585/original/image-20170306-20739-1199mrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159585/original/image-20170306-20739-1199mrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159585/original/image-20170306-20739-1199mrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159585/original/image-20170306-20739-1199mrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159585/original/image-20170306-20739-1199mrs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pine marten: the smaller and more agile red squirrel evolved alongside this predator and may be better at escaping it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Cairns/scotlandbigpicture.com</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The resurgence of the native pine marten could also swing the balance in favour of reds over greys. A conservation success story in itself, these ferret-like predators were recently spotted in England for the first time in more than a century. In areas of Ireland where pine martens are thriving, grey squirrels have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/30/how-to-eradicate-grey-squirrels-without-firing-a-shot-pine-martens">almost disappeared</a>, allowing reds to reestablish themselves.</p>
<p>The occurrence of <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/wildlife/11516777/Squirrel-Nutkin-fights-back-in-battle-against-grey-rivals.html">pox-resistance</a> within some red squirrel populations is also a reason for hope for red over grey. Last but not least is the development of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/shortcuts/2017/feb/26/grey-squirrels-prince-charles-nutella?CMP=twt_a-environment_b-gdneco">an oral contraceptive for grey squirrels</a> together with plans to bait them using Nutella.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159874/original/image-20170308-14932-n1fsc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159874/original/image-20170308-14932-n1fsc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159874/original/image-20170308-14932-n1fsc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159874/original/image-20170308-14932-n1fsc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159874/original/image-20170308-14932-n1fsc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=394&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159874/original/image-20170308-14932-n1fsc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159874/original/image-20170308-14932-n1fsc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/159874/original/image-20170308-14932-n1fsc6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=495&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The humane way to reduce grey squirrel numbers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jason Gilchrist / jasongilchrist.co.uk</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some would describe the grey squirrel as criminal. Others would describe the way they are treated by humans as criminal. Ultimately, we don’t necessarily need to kill to conserve.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73983/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Gilchrist does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Grey squirrels have lots of attractive characteristics, yet they are actively persecuted by humankind.Jason Gilchrist, Ecologist, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/646022016-09-05T20:11:43Z2016-09-05T20:11:43ZThe ethical and cultural case for culling Australia’s mountain horses<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136385/original/image-20160902-20247-10gosfh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wild horses are wreaking havoc in Australia's mountains</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/affers/14447882178/">Long Road Photography (formerly Aff)/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The fate of wild horses in Australia’s alps is once again stirring passions, particularly the idea of shooting them. The suggestion has prompted <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-02/protest-outside-nsw-parliament-against-kosciusko-brumbies-cull/7681444">street protests</a> against it, and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/19/culling-5000-brumbies-41-scientists-back-controversial-kosciuszko-proposal">public statements from academics (including myself)</a> endorsing the idea. </p>
<p>Victoria and New South Wales have not yet made decisions on what to do about the horses. In New South Wales, public comment has closed on the <a href="https://engage.environment.nsw.gov.au/wild-horse-management-plan">Kosciuszko National Park Draft Wild Horse Management Plan 2016</a>, and now public servants have to weigh up the comments, take heed of political fears and sensitivities, and come up with a way forward. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/victorian-high-country-horses-cull-plan-20160901-gr6pmo.html">Victoria’s Greater Alpine National Parks management plan </a> has been tabled in parliament, arguing for feral horse control but leaving options open. </p>
<p>The evidence that <a href="http://www.ecolsoc.org.au/hot-topics/feral-horses-australia">wild horses</a> need to be removed from Australia’s alps because of their <a href="https://theaustralianalps.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/2015-feral-horse-impacts-report.pdf">impact</a> on high country <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/protectsnowies/knp-wild-horse-plan-draft-160271.pdf">ecosystems and species</a> is very strong. The debate now revolves around the ethics of how to remove horses, and their role in Australian culture.</p>
<h2>Horse welfare</h2>
<p>This issue of horse welfare has recently been <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/protectsnowies/knp-sssessing-humaneness-wild-horse-management-methods-2804.pdf">substantially clarified in a report</a> as part of reviewing the Kosciuszko plan. The report, prepared by an <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/research/independent-technical-reference-group.htm">Independent Technical Reference Group</a>, scores the welfare outcomes of a full range of horse control, considering pursuing horses, capturing and transporting them, and their ultimate fate.</p>
<p>Although a common perspective is that it would be nice to round up the horses and move them out of the national park, it turns out that this would result in one of the worst animal welfare outcomes. </p>
<p>The vast majority of horses captured (82%) in Kosciuszko National Park are not re-homed, but killed in abattoirs. The long journey to abattoirs in South Australia and Queensland was ranked as having a severe impact on horse welfare, rated seven out of a maximum score of eight. </p>
<p>In contrast, aerial shooting, when properly implemented by well-trained pilots and marksmen, had a moderate effect on horse welfare during the short chase (rated four out of eight), and there were no concerns about suffering when the horse is shot, as it is quickly killed.</p>
<p>Even fertility management had an impact rated six out of eight (and <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/protectsnowies/knp-wild-horse-plan-draft-160271.pdf">cannot be implemented at the scale needed</a> to solve the Kosciuszko horse problem).</p>
<h2>Animal welfare in the environment</h2>
<p>There are around 10,000 wild horses in Australia’s alps, and 6,000 in Kosciuszko. By eating and trampling habitat, horses likely cause many individual native animals to suffer. These impacts are generally unseen, and are typically neglected when considering the ethics of culling horses. </p>
<p>Horses have a negative impact <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/protectsnowies/wild-horse-plan-management-report-160221.pdf">on alpine ecosystems</a>, upon which native species depend, including the <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/protectsnowies/knp-wild-horse-plan-draft-160271.pdf">broad-toothed rat</a> and the <a href="http://www.depi.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/247004/Alpine_Water_Skink_Eulamprus_kosciuskoi.pdf">alpine water skink</a>(critically endangered in Victoria). </p>
<p>In all arguments about culling invasive animals <a href="https://www.ecolsoc.org.au/hot-topics/high-densities-kangaroo-grazing-can-reduce-biodiversity">(or over-abundant native animals)</a> it is a fundamental logical mistake
to ignore the impacts of pests on the welfare of other animals, on the viability of populations and on the risk of species’ extinction. </p>
<p>In his article <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10806-011-9353-z">A “Practical” Ethic for Animals</a>, animal welfare expert <a href="http://www.landfood.ubc.ca/person/david-fraser/">David Fraser</a> proposes four principles that, if applied, would ensure full consideration of the ethics of culling horses. </p>
<p>There are:</p>
<p>(1) to provide good lives for the animals in our care</p>
<p>(2) to treat suffering with compassion</p>
<p>(3) to be mindful of unseen harm</p>
<p>(4) to protect the life-sustaining processes and balances of nature. </p>
<p>This set of principles gives weight to both humane control methods, as well as suffering of other species if the culling is not undertaken, impacts on populations and risks of extinction. </p>
<p>While it is nicer if you don’t have to kill horses, when you weigh up <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-grim-story-of-the-snowy-mountains-cannibal-horses-31691">the misery horses suffer if left in the wild</a>, the unseen impacts on native animals, the damage to ecosystems and the likely heightened risk of extinction of already threatened species, leaving horses in the Australian alps is not a choice with ethics on its side.</p>
<h2>Part of Australian culture</h2>
<p>A cultural affiliation with horses is widespread around the world, including in the <a href="http://www.indianhorse.com/?page_id=46">US</a>, <a href="https://prezi.com/kmxiobu7rwja/significance-of-the-andalusian-horse-in-spanish-culture-and-society-throughout-history/">Spain</a> and many <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaucho">South American countries</a>. </p>
<p>Australia is no exception, epitomised by the poem “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_from_Snowy_River_(poem)">The Man from Snowy River</a>” by Banjo Paterson. This stock horse culture is widely celebrated in Australia. We saw it at the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony where <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBbkxoU5D_8">stock horses were celebrated</a> alongside those other classic Australian icons of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa8f8L0lH4A">lawnmowers</a> and clothes lines. </p>
<p>Culture can be celebrated in a range of ways. We don’t celebrate the Gallipoli landing using actual violence, we don’t celebrate anniversaries of the moon landing by sending astronauts there. </p>
<p>We don’t need to celebrate Australia’s stock-horse culture by having horses in fragile alpine ecosystems where they cause environmental damage. There are other ways to celebrate culture, including through the network of mountain huts, many originally built for men rounding up cattle or horses. Indeed, there is already extensive signage highlighting this cultural history at huts around Victoria.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136396/original/image-20160902-20213-8zo5l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136396/original/image-20160902-20213-8zo5l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/136396/original/image-20160902-20213-8zo5l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136396/original/image-20160902-20213-8zo5l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136396/original/image-20160902-20213-8zo5l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136396/original/image-20160902-20213-8zo5l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136396/original/image-20160902-20213-8zo5l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/136396/original/image-20160902-20213-8zo5l2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The mountains’ cultural history can be preserved in other ways.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Don Driscoll</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There may also be ways to maintain small wild-horse populations through collaborations across private properties around the mountains of NSW and Victoria. These would open up opportunities for tourism by providing “man-from-snowy-river” cultural experiences in places more appropriate than our national parks.</p>
<p>Australia has one of the <a href="http://www.ecolsoc.org.au/hot-topics/feral-horses-australia">largest feral horse populations on the planet</a>, with <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/resources/b32a088c-cd31-4b24-8a7c-70e1880508b5/files/feral-horse.pdf">400,000 horses roaming the country</a>. Areas set aside for nature cover less than 10% of New South Wales and 17% of Victoria. There is plenty of space outside reserves for horses, but conversely, very little area set aside for our natural heritage.</p>
<p>Considering the ethics of balance, one that takes into account humane treatment of horses, native wildlife, species and ecosystems, horses should be rapidly and humanely removed from alpine parks in Victoria and New South Wales.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64602/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Don Driscoll is affiliated with the Ecological Society of Australia and the Society for Conservation Biology.</span></em></p>Horses need to be removed from Australia’s mountains. The debate now is around ethics and their role in Australian culture.Don Driscoll, Professor in Terrestrial Ecology, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/491952015-10-15T19:18:27Z2015-10-15T19:18:27ZA cull could help save koalas from chlamydia, if we allowed it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/98466/original/image-20151015-15135-1idsxkz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Koalas are again in the firing line. But should diseased animals be culled for the greater good?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/moon-dog/2476981414">moon-dog/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whether it’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/wa-shark-cull">sharks</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/crocodile-culls-wont-solve-crocodile-attacks-11203">crocodiles</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-evidence-culling-kangaroos-could-help-the-environment-30795">kangaroos</a>, culling animals is always a contentious topic. But when the iconic koala is the species for which culling is being advocated, it sparks even more interest and debate.</p>
<p>Such was the case this week when researchers from Queensland and New South Wales <a href="http://www.jwildlifedis.org/doi/abs/10.7589/2014-12-278?journalCode=jwdi">published a study</a> recommending that koalas be culled in the name of conservation.</p>
<p>Their proposal is for the selective culling of individual koalas suffering from chlamydia in an attempt to reverse the disease’s impact on vulnerable populations.</p>
<h2>Koala chlamydia</h2>
<p>Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted bacterial disease (a different strain to that which afflicts humans) that causes infertility and blindness in koalas, and is one of several factors thought to be behind the decline of koala populations in the eastern states. Koalas suffering the disease gradually become weak, stop eating, and die.</p>
<p>Although affected koalas sometimes may be found and taken into care, to date there have not been any systematic programs to combat the disease in wild populations. Given the negative effects of chlamydia on koala populations in some regions there is an urgent need to look at management options, including one that may seem quite radical – culling diseased individuals.</p>
<p>The current study considered a declining population on the “Koala Coast” of south-east Queensland. The researchers used computer simulations to model several disease management scenarios. The simulation that had the most positive effect on long-term population growth involved culling chlamydia-infected koalas that were already sterile and dying, and treating other infected koalas with antibiotics.</p>
<p>The study found that, to grow the Koala Coast population, around 10% (or 140 individuals) of koalas would need to be captured and culled or treated each year.</p>
<h2>Killing for conservation</h2>
<p>The idea of culling diseased individuals to manage disease and its impacts on wildlife populations is not new, and has met with both <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167587713002894">success</a> (such as with Chronic Wasting Disease in deer in North America) and <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2011.02060.x/abstract">dismal failure</a> (in the case Devil Facial Tumour Disease in Tasmanian Devils).</p>
<p>The effectiveness of these programs depends largely on the behaviour and ecology of the host species, and the distribution and nature of the disease. When enough is known about these aspects, computer modelling is useful for determining the potential effectiveness of a selective culling approach and for helping guide management actions.</p>
<p>But while modelling may inform us that culling is <em>scientifically</em> the best management approach, deciding whether and how to go ahead is complex, even more so when koalas are involved. </p>
<p>Koala management is closely scrutinised both nationally and internationally. The koala is the only native Australian species for which culling has been consistently dismissed as a management option (for overabundant populations in the southern states).</p>
<p>Although the current proposal for selectively culling diseased koalas isn’t “culling” as defined in the <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/publications/national-koala-conservation-mgt-strategy-2009-2014">National Koala Conservation and Management Strategy</a>, it still raises a question about killing koalas for conservation.</p>
<p>In 1997, culling was proposed as a component of an integrated strategy to manage high density populations of koalas on <a href="http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/mps-want-to-kill-koalas/story-e6frea83-1111117042447">Kangaroo Island</a>, South Australia. Despite having a sound scientific basis and the endorsement of many experts, it sparked much outrage and ultimately led to a decision at the Commonwealth level that culling will not be considered for management of koalas.</p>
<p>This decision has resulted in millions of dollars being spent on fertility control and translocation programs in Victoria and South Australia over the last two decades. These programs attempt to address situations where overpopulation of koalas is causing significant damage to local ecosystems.</p>
<p>Although some have brought positive outcomes after many years of intensive effort (for instance at Kangaroo Island and Mount Eccles in Victoria), these interventions are logistically challenging, extremely costly, and sometimes may have <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jwmg.401/abstract">poor welfare outcomes</a> for individual koalas.</p>
<p>Consequently, “do nothing” is the default management approach for many situations. But this can have drastic consequences for koalas, their habitats, and the other species that rely on those habitats.</p>
<p>Such was the <a href="https://theconversation.com/victorian-koalas-are-eating-themselves-out-of-house-and-home-38585">case at Cape Otway</a> in late 2013 when the Victorian government’s “do nothing” approach led to unsustainably high koala population densities, causing widespread defoliation of trees and the starvation of thousands of koalas. Around 700 koalas in irreversibly poor condition were killed when the government <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/killing-of-700-otway-koalas-the-right-thing-to-do-scientists-say-20150304-13v25p.html">finally intervened</a> on animal welfare grounds. Meanwhile, thousands of koalas likely suffered a slow death out-of-sight.</p>
<p>Although some trees recovered following the dramatic decline in koala numbers, high fertility has resulted in the population increasing again, and another imminent starvation event.</p>
<h2>We do it for other animals, why not koalas?</h2>
<p>Many wildlife researchers and managers would argue that a better approach for these situations would be to cull some koalas when it is clear that even more koalas will die if no action is taken.</p>
<p>This is not to suggest that culling be undertaken indiscriminately, nor in all situations. But it should be considered in circumstances where science indicates that it is the most effective approach to maintaining a healthy ecosystem and population of koalas. </p>
<p>It is the same approach that is used for numerous other native species in Australia and worldwide, so why shouldn’t it be considered for koalas, too?</p>
<p>Considering the <a href="http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/13200/20150305/secret-koala-culling-results-700-deaths-australia.htm">outrage</a> over killing Cape Otway’s starving koalas to reduce suffering, it seems that there may be little public support for culling koalas for any reason. It will be interesting to see how this new proposal to cull diseased koalas in Queensland and New South Wales will be received.</p>
<p>There likely will be opposition to culling and more support for a “treatment only” approach, despite its lower predicted effectiveness. However, one would hope that decision-makers place more weight on the scientific rigour of the research behind the proposal rather than the emotive argument that it is wrong to cull koalas.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49195/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Desley Whisson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research has shown that culling koalas could help stop the spread of deadly chlamydia. But how open will Australians be to killing one our favourite animals?Desley Whisson, Lecturer in Wildlife and Conservation Biology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/435502015-07-08T20:05:25Z2015-07-08T20:05:25ZKanganomics: it’s not worth killing kangaroos<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/87685/original/image-20150707-1279-12i5w0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Over a million kangaroos were killed in 2012 for their meat. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/john-schilling/356324891/">John Schilling/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recently there has been a renewed push to expand Australia’s kangaroo meat industry. Queensland Senator Barry O'Sullivan in February raised a <a href="http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/genpdf/chamber/hansards/7b131f75-a581-43c8-8045-70a726332d15/0106/hansard_frag.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">Senate motion</a> to support the kangaroo industry and just last week led a <a href="http://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/news/agriculture/general/news/new-roo-deal-brews/2735898.aspx?storypage=0">delegation to China</a> to expand the export market. </p>
<p>O'Sullivan and the industry <a href="http://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/news/agriculture/general/news/new-roo-deal-brews/2735898.aspx?storypage=0">claim</a> that the commercial kangaroo industry provides jobs for struggling regional centres. According to the <a href="http://www.kangaroo-industry.asn.au/morinfo/kangaroo_industry_background.pdf">Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia</a>, kangaroo meat provides 4,000 full time jobs and generates A$250-280 million to the economy. </p>
<p>But there has never been a comprehensive economic analysis of the worth of the industry. In a <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800915001408">recent paper</a> published in published in Ecological Economics, we show that the industry is worth far less than the industry states. </p>
<p>And that’s not including the costs of killing kangaroos, such as the value of kangaroos to the tourism industry. Therefore we argue that we need to regulate the industry in a new way that accounts for these costs. </p>
<h2>The kangaroo economy</h2>
<p>Kangaroos are an iconic species belonging to the family Macropodidae, which also includes wallabies, tree-kangaroos, pademelons and the quokka. The family is critical to ecosystem health as animals fertilise nutrient-poor soils and spread the seeds of native grasses and plants, and they are a major draw-card for international tourists. </p>
<p>Despite this, 1.61 million adult kangaroos were killed in 2012 to provide domestic and export products such as meat for human or animal consumption, and hides and skins for the production of leather goods.</p>
<h2>How many jobs?</h2>
<p>The employment and value numbers have never been justified and have never been revised downwards despite, for example, government figures showing that the value of kangaroo exports <a href="https://rirdc.infoservices.com.au/items/14-069">fell by A$52.6 million</a> or 53% between 2007 and 2012. This reduction occurred when the export market to the Russian Federation closed due to hygiene and animal welfare concerns.</p>
<p>The 4,000 jobs figure has further been promoted recently by Senator O’Sullivan who cites the kangaroo industry stating that the opening of the China market would add <a href="http://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/news/agriculture/general/news/new-roo-deal-brews/2735898.aspx?storypage=0">an additional 4,000 jobs</a>. </p>
<p>In our <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800915001408">recently published study</a> on the economics of the kangaroo industry we attempted to replicate the industry’s figures but were unable to do so. </p>
<p>Using data gathered by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, and valuing domestic supply at export prices (due to data limitations), we estimated the value of the industry at A$88.8 million in 2011-12. </p>
<p>Moreover, we suggested, generously, that given the Australian economy employs around <a href="http://www.tai.org.au/node/1813">10 workers per million dollars of output</a> (when both direct and indirect labour is considered), the total employment supported by the commercial kangaroo industry is 888 full-time equivalent jobs.</p>
<p>This is generous because some industries in Australia employ far more workers per million dollars of output than others. For example, the <a href="http://www.tai.org.au/node/1813">healthcare sector</a> creates 9.95 direct jobs per million dollars of output while the mining sector creates 1.04 direct and 3.56 direct and indirect jobs per million dollars. </p>
<p>In fact, using Australian Bureau of Statistics <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/5209.0.55.0012008-09?OpenDocument">input-output tables</a> and 2008-9 figures, the hunting, fishing and trapping industry directly employs only 3.8 workers per million dollars of output. Using this figure, total direct (full-time equivalent) employment in the kangaroo industry is only 337 people. </p>
<p>This suggests that for the sake of jobs, the government would be better served by focusing its attention on industries that have a high labour requirement.</p>
<h2>There are costs as well</h2>
<p>But it is not just the overstated benefits that concern us as economists. In Economics 101 we teach students that an economic justification requires a comparison of benefits and costs. </p>
<p>In contrast, the Senator’s motion and industry’s focus on employment numbers considers only the benefits of the industry. If we truly wanted to expand jobs at any cost, we could expand the whaling or sealing industry, overfish our endangered marine species and log the country’s old-growth forests as well. </p>
<p>Thus, we need to balance the actual (and transparently-derived) economic benefits with the costs. For example, these costs could include potential negative effects on ecotourism. But commercial harvesting of kangaroos creates an external cost on anyone concerned with conservation and animal protection or anyone who feels an obligation to protect these iconic species. An external cost occurs when producing or consuming a good or service imposes a cost upon a third party. </p>
<p>Processors and exporters have never been required to pay for this cost. This creates an implicit subsidy, which is a cost that processors and exports should pay but don’t have to. Similarly, the absence of carbon pricing creates an implicit subsidy for coal-fired power plants. </p>
<p>We suggest that the way forward is to allow all concerned citizens of the world to have a say in the industry by using a tradeable permit scheme. Processors, shooters, ecotourism operators and ordinary citizens would be able to purchase the right to the kangaroo harvest from landholders. For instance, this would allow ecotourism operators to purchase a permit to reduce the killing of kangaroos and wallabies. Tradeable poermit systems are commonly used in both fisheries and carbon markets amongst other industries.</p>
<p>At the moment, the small number of processors and exporters pay only for the labour and capital resources needed to shoot, transport and process a kangaroo carcass. </p>
<p>Under this new regime, processors and exporters would need to compete with other legitimate interests, such as conservationists and animal protection advocates, for the right to harvest kangaroos. </p>
<p>This would result in the costs discussed above being factored into the decision to harvest kangaroos and the industry would achieve a more socially optimal level. The future of the industry would then be determined by what is good for everyone.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43550/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Neil is a non-paid Associate Academic Member of the Centre for Compassionate Conservation, UTS</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise is a researcher for the Centre for Compassionate Conservation based at the University of Technology Sydney. The research for this report was partly provided by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. </span></em></p>The kangaroo meat industry is worth far less than the industry states.Neil Perry, Research Lecturer, Western Sydney UniversityDr. Louise Boronyak, Senior Research Consultant, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/240732015-04-12T20:33:11Z2015-04-12T20:33:11ZCulling is no danger to the future of dingoes on Fraser Island<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44680/original/wgj55k8q-1395729158.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rangers have mostly killed young male dingoes on Fraser Island, new research shows.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/44460990@N04/13295561455/in/photolist-mfTedc-mfTmmZ-mfSFxP-mfU9ti-mfT3vZ-mfTVrX-mfTg5g-mfSjba-mfTRMn-mfTbKB-mfUZ5h-mfTsxM-mfSLBV-mfU6ey-mfT69p-mfUWf9-mfSXjt-mfT7tZ-mfSYAg-mfUMd1-mfUhSU-mfULc3-mfTSZd-mfSDeR-mfUoU3-mfSYL4-mfTY8Z-mfU9Uu-mfTr6P-mfTa9k-mfSyeF-mfSkA4-mfU7dM-mfSVBt-mfS2Na-9bnv5G-aXD1sX-brEnY4-brEqva-brEpbg-brEmVF-axd9vw-7Z9EEo-ahtm1V-aXD1sP-aXELRP-aXD1t6-aXD1sF-aXD1sM-au8F8J-frhioK">Jane Drumsara/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>New research shows that culling dingoes on Queensland’s popular Fraser Island has not harmed the sustainability of the dingo population.</p>
<p>The research, published recently in a special issue of the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14486563.2014.999134">Australasian Journal of Environmental Management</a>, shows that 110 dingoes have been humanely euthanised for unacceptable or dangerous behaviour on Fraser Island between January 2001 and September 2013, with between 1 and 32 dingoes killed in any given year.</p>
<p>The conservation of dingoes on islands is important for protecting them against substantial levels of <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/determinations/feraldogsFD.htm">hybridisation with domestic dogs, which threatens the future of pure dingoes on the mainland</a>. </p>
<p>But if there were any <a href="http://m.frasercoastchronicle.com.au/news/dingoes-extinct-by-2016/2500962/">concerns that the destruction of dingoes may compromise the population’s conservation</a>, the available data make it clear that dingoes are doing just fine under current management practises.</p>
<h2>Life and death on the island</h2>
<p>Comprehensive remote-camera and satellite tracking studies undertaken in 2012 showed that there are between 76 and 171 adult dingoes on Fraser Island. </p>
<p>Perhaps as few as 19 of these are adult females that successfully raise a litter each year, with an average of 4.5 pups per litter. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71000/original/image-20150204-25554-tvnrb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71000/original/image-20150204-25554-tvnrb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/71000/original/image-20150204-25554-tvnrb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71000/original/image-20150204-25554-tvnrb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71000/original/image-20150204-25554-tvnrb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71000/original/image-20150204-25554-tvnrb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71000/original/image-20150204-25554-tvnrb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/71000/original/image-20150204-25554-tvnrb0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This means that at least 80-90 new pups are born on the island each year, and about the same number must die each year to keep a stable population (for dingoes generally, it is normal for only about 30% of pups to survive to reach 2 years of age).</p>
<p>Hence, since 2001, perhaps as many as 1,300 dingoes have been born on the island, yet only 110 dingoes have been humanely destroyed for unacceptable behaviour.</p>
<p>Of the destroyed dingoes for which we know their age (95 dingoes) and/or gender (97 dingoes), two-thirds were sexually immature, young males.</p>
<p>No more than four female dingoes of any age were destroyed during dingoes’ annual breeding season. On only one occasion was a subordinate adult female dingo destroyed during this season, and at a time when two litters were successfully raised by her pack.</p>
<p>It’s difficult to see how the removal of usually only a few juvenile males each year is going to affect the long-term breeding capacity of the island’s adult females. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43540/original/nxmjcm96-1394506667.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43540/original/nxmjcm96-1394506667.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/43540/original/nxmjcm96-1394506667.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43540/original/nxmjcm96-1394506667.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43540/original/nxmjcm96-1394506667.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43540/original/nxmjcm96-1394506667.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43540/original/nxmjcm96-1394506667.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/43540/original/nxmjcm96-1394506667.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tatiana Larkin</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Perhaps the best evidence of this is the persistence of the most heavily persecuted pack on the island, at Eurong. If we were going to see negative effects of culling on Fraser Island’s dingo packs then this is where we would expect to see it best.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45004/original/2z7y9dkp-1395987958.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45004/original/2z7y9dkp-1395987958.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/45004/original/2z7y9dkp-1395987958.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45004/original/2z7y9dkp-1395987958.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45004/original/2z7y9dkp-1395987958.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45004/original/2z7y9dkp-1395987958.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45004/original/2z7y9dkp-1395987958.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/45004/original/2z7y9dkp-1395987958.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fraser Island, off Queensland’s coast.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Fraser_island_locator_map.svg/2000px-Fraser_island_locator_map.svg.png">Wikimedia commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Up to four dingoes have been humanely destroyed at Eurong each year since January 2001, yet the Eurong pack persists and has continued to successfully produce one to two litters of up to 8 pups each almost every year. </p>
<p>These data do not suggest that humanely destroying a few individuals from a dingo pack each year will inhibit their reproductive output or alter the stability and persistence of packs or populations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44679/original/hd5h7z68-1395729043.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44679/original/hd5h7z68-1395729043.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44679/original/hd5h7z68-1395729043.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44679/original/hd5h7z68-1395729043.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44679/original/hd5h7z68-1395729043.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44679/original/hd5h7z68-1395729043.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44679/original/hd5h7z68-1395729043.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44679/original/hd5h7z68-1395729043.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A dingo pack on Fraser Island.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/68911449@N05/7272148880/in/photolist-c5BEvf-dEGnww-mfTUCo-mfUNdC-mfS3Pi-mfT8oe-mfUH2W-mfUqsU-mfSHtc-mfTW1y-mfSrTV-mfUCsf-mfU3xS-mfTZyq-mfT7Ap-mfUQAo-mfSTGZ-mfV9fm-mfVgkU-mfTnBK-mfUjE1-mfSJpF-mfT2tt-mfUvrS-mfURMS-mfViN9-mfTmDp-mfTuFe-mfTibH-mfTCA2-mfV15o-mfVk1j-mfTAmH-mfTedc-mfTmmZ-mfSFxP-mfU9ti-mfT3vZ-mfTVrX-mfTg5g-mfSjba-mfTRMn-mfTbKB-mfUZ5h-mfTsxM-mfSLBV-mfU6ey-mfT69p-mfUWf9-mfSXjt-mfT7tZ">Cédric Larouche/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The big picture</h2>
<p>Humane destructions represent a very minor fraction of all the dingo deaths on the island each year, which occur mostly from normal natural causes such as starvation or fighting.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44682/original/swgqvt59-1395729331.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44682/original/swgqvt59-1395729331.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/44682/original/swgqvt59-1395729331.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44682/original/swgqvt59-1395729331.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44682/original/swgqvt59-1395729331.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44682/original/swgqvt59-1395729331.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44682/original/swgqvt59-1395729331.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/44682/original/swgqvt59-1395729331.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A “Be Dingo Safe” sign on the island.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50249220@N00/3200275287/in/photolist-5SNfm8-5V2fBj-5VYtzv-6kR6BK-6kRkHT-6kRkHZ-6kRkJ2-6oJWrj-6xjgXZ-6xjj7x-6xjmMv-6xooiJ-6xoqu5-6xoA8U-6yde3H-6ydfaH-6ydTEZ-6G1xMz-6Qm39y-6QSAk6-6QSAvt-6QWE3o-715TYC-7fcFZc-7fcGdZ-7fgyN1-7fgz1o-7fgzfq-7fgznW-7fgzJb-7qEydb-7smaRc-c5BCKu-c5BMiu-836ZvG-833Qyp-c5BJXh-c5BGDY-c5BEvf-dEGnww-mfTUCo-mfUNdC-mfS3Pi-mfT8oe-mfUH2W-mfUqsU-mfSHtc-mfTW1y-mfSrTV-mfUCsf-mfU3xS">Chris Lewis/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite this, the management of dingoes on Fraser Island is one of the most heavily scrutinised (by the public) wildlife management issues in Australia, as described in a <a href="https://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/wildlife/livingwith/dingoes/pdf/fidms-review-final-report.pdf">recent review of dingo management practises there</a>, which was <a href="https://www.ehp.qld.gov.au/wildlife/livingwith/dingoes/pdf/rcs-peer-review-ecosure-report.pdf">independently reviewed</a>.</p>
<p>The death of any dingo on Fraser Island is unfortunate. However, some dingoes do become dangerous to people. This is considered an unacceptably high risk to the public, which is why some dingoes are humanely destroyed. </p>
<p>This research uses the available data on humane destructions (<a href="http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Benjamin_Allen2">which can be freely downloaded here</a>) to simply describe the likely effects of culling on the dingo population. Whether or not dingoes should or shouldn’t be humanely destroyed is a separate issue not addressed in the study.</p>
<p>Fraser Island is a beautiful place to visit, and the dingoes there are beautiful too. It’s reassuring to know that both can be preserved, even if a few high-risk dingoes must be destroyed from time to time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/24073/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Benjamin Allen is a dingo ecologist at the University of Queensland. He is also currently employed by Biosecurity Queensland (with funds provided by the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre) to investigate the ecology and management of dingoes and other wild dogs in peri-urban areas. Ben's work on Fraser Island dingoes was undertaken while employed only by Ecosure Pty Ltd, and in his own time subsequently. Biosecurity Queensland and the Invasive Animals CRC had no part in the research, which represents the views of the authors only. </span></em></p>The famous dingoes of Fraser Island are not threatened by the practice of culling dangerous dingoes, says new research which shows the numbers killed are too small to harm the population’s sustainability.Benjamin Allen, Dingo ecologist, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/307952014-12-11T22:21:47Z2014-12-11T22:21:47ZNew evidence: culling kangaroos could help the environment<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/66945/original/image-20141211-6027-1fp0wty.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=411%2C2%2C881%2C634&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How many kangaroos is too many?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/birdsaspoetry/15223446926">David Jenkins/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each year rangers in the Australian Capital Territory cull kangaroos as part of the territory’s <a href="http://www.tams.act.gov.au/parks-recreation/plants_and_animals/urban_wildlife/local_wildlife/kangaroos">Kangaroo Management Plan</a>. This year they killed a few over 1,500 kangaroos. </p>
<p>Even though millions of kangaroos are killed for their skin and meat in other parts of Australia, the kangaroo cull never fails to provoke <a href="http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberras-kangaroo-cull-to-begin-after-challenge-fails-20140611-zs3w1.html">controversy</a>, with opponents suggesting there is no evidence that reducing kangaroos numbers helps the environment. </p>
<p>For many years, Australian conservationists have expressed concern over the potential harm large kangaroo numbers could have on other wildlife. But evidence for such impacts has been limited.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0105966">new research</a> published today in the journal PLOS One we show there’s a link between kangaroo numbers and the quality of habitat for reptiles in temperate grassland and grassy woodlands in south-eastern Australia.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qgIqLY1VdCc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Brett Howland describes the impact of kangaroos on reptiles.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Culling kangaroos</h2>
<p>Kangaroos are a group of large grazing marsupials. Iconic Australian species include the common wallaroo, eastern grey kangaroo, western grey kangaroo and red kangaroo.</p>
<p>Every year, millions of kangaroos have been harvested for their skins and meat. Farmers have also been permitted to shoot them to reduce competition with domestic livestock for food and water.</p>
<p>While this number seems large, large-scale population surveys over large parts of the Australian continent have reported the total number of kangaroos is in excess of <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/wildlife-trade/natives/wild-harvest/kangaroo-wallaby-statistics/kangaroo-population#2011">25 million animals</a>. Those results show kangaroos are one of the most abundant large land mammals on the planet.</p>
<p>Historically, Aboriginal hunting, drought and predators such as dingoes have controlled kangaroo populations. The loss of these controls in many areas has allowed kangaroo populations to flourish. </p>
<p>In some areas, there are more than 300 kangaroos per square kilometre.</p>
<p>At such large numbers kangaroos graze on grassy vegetation until it is like lawn, which leaves no shelter for other animals, such as insects, birds and reptiles.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58557/original/cyfcw2ww-1410249717.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58557/original/cyfcw2ww-1410249717.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58557/original/cyfcw2ww-1410249717.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58557/original/cyfcw2ww-1410249717.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58557/original/cyfcw2ww-1410249717.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58557/original/cyfcw2ww-1410249717.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58557/original/cyfcw2ww-1410249717.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58557/original/cyfcw2ww-1410249717.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Result of high kangaroo numbers on ground cover.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brett Howland</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Managers of conservation areas have resorted to culling to reduce kangaroo numbers in several areas. This lethal control was in response to pressure to stop kangaroos harming biodiversity. The operation of these “conservation culls’” has been relatively small-scale to date. For example, <a href="http://www.tams.act.gov.au/parks-recreation/plants_and_animals/urban_wildlife/local_wildlife/kangaroos/2013-kangaroo-control-program-questions-and-answers">1,601 kangaroos were culled in ACT nature reserves in 2014</a>.</p>
<p>But these actions have caused an enormous amount of controversy, such as protests, vandalism and court challenges to government policy. Opponents of lethal control of kangaroo numbers have claimed there was insufficient evidence of the harmful effects of kangaroo grazing to justify culling a native animal.</p>
<h2>Look to the reptiles</h2>
<p>Native reptile populations are an excellent indicator of grassland health. This is because they depend on grass-cover for food and shelter. Reptiles are an important part of the food web, being prey for birds and small mammals. They also eat insects, which helps control pests.</p>
<p>Our recent study examined reptiles living in different grassy habitats across south-eastern Australian. These habitats also supported kangaroo numbers ranging from 25 to 360 kangaroos per square kilometre.</p>
<p>The study looked at whether kangaroos change grassy habitats, and how these changes might affect reptiles. </p>
<p>In habitats with low kangaroo grazing, reptiles were more than three times as abundant, and contained twice as many species of reptile than compared to areas with high kangaroo grazing levels.</p>
<p>The study showed no one single level of grazing was good for all species. Legless lizards, including the threatened striped legless lizard, were most common in areas of moderate kangaroo grazing (50 to 100 kangaroos per square kilometre in grasslands). </p>
<p>But the eastern three-lined earless skink was more common in areas with low kangaroo grazing (fewer than 50 kangaroos per square kilometre in grasslands). Importantly, no reptile species were more common at high kangaroo grazing. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58556/original/vdwwzgt5-1410249392.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58556/original/vdwwzgt5-1410249392.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/58556/original/vdwwzgt5-1410249392.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58556/original/vdwwzgt5-1410249392.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58556/original/vdwwzgt5-1410249392.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58556/original/vdwwzgt5-1410249392.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58556/original/vdwwzgt5-1410249392.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/58556/original/vdwwzgt5-1410249392.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Striped legless lizard - a threatened grassland species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brett Howland</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The need for different kangaroo-grazing levels for different reptile species has created a problem for reserve managers. Do they manage grazing to increase species abundance and diversity? Or do they manage grazing to increase abundance of a threatened species?</p>
<p>The answer might be to create a mix of areas subject to light and moderate grazing across the landscape. This may require a variety of approaches, such as fencing, culling and fire.</p>
<h2>Culling for conservation</h2>
<p>Control of kangaroo numbers has been undertaken in all of the states and territories in Australia, however, only the ACT has a published government policy on kangaroos and conservation – <a href="http://www.tams.act.gov.au/parks-recreation/plants_and_animals/urban_wildlife/local_wildlife/kangaroos">the ACT Kangaroo Management Plan</a>.</p>
<p>Under this policy, kangaroo numbers are controlled across several high-value conservation reserves. The new results support this policy and suggest expanding the program beyond a few high conservation reserves could benefit a range of reptiles, especially where there is a mix of areas subject to low intensity and moderate grazing within reserves.</p>
<p>This research adds to a growing body of evidence that too many kangaroos can harm the environment — just like too many sheep, cattle, horses or any other large herbivores can.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30795/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brett Howland has consulted for the ACT Government, the Australian Government, and Bush Heritage. Financial support was provided by Canberra Birds Conservation Fund, Bush Heritage Andyinc Foundation Environmental Research Postgraduate Scholarship and the Australian Government’s Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education Australian Postgraduate Award. Financial support was also provided by the Australian Government for biodiversity monitoring activities at a single research property, and by the ACT Government to conduct several kangaroo counts that formed part of this research.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lindenmayer has received funding from the ARC. He is a member of Birdlife Australia and the Canberra Ornithologists Group</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Iain Gordon receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Each year rangers in the Australian Capital Territory cull kangaroos as part of the territory’s Kangaroo Management Plan. This year they killed a few over 1,500 kangaroos. Even though millions of kangaroos…Brett Howland, Phd candidate in conservation biology, Australian National UniversityDavid Lindenmayer, Professor, The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityIain Gordon, Chief Executive, James Hutton InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/307222014-08-21T20:16:49Z2014-08-21T20:16:49ZOpen season on crocodiles is not the solution to attacks on people<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/57013/original/4v9hk7d2-1408592318.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C667%2C486&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Crocodiles are highly efficient predators, occasionally to our cost.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adam Britton</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="http://www.ntnews.com.au/news/northern-territory/crocodile-victim-identified-as-berry-springs-local-and-farmer/story-fnk0b1zt-1227029878834">death of Berry Springs farmer Tran Van Lanh</a> is the third confirmed crocodile-related fatality in the Northern Territory this year, and has left many people anxious about what they see as a growing problem.</p>
<p>They may well be right. Crocodile numbers have bloomed in the Territory over the past four decades, and <a href="http://www.crocodile-attack.info">crocodile attacks on humans</a> seem to be gradually getting more common.</p>
<p>It’s natural to ask what we can do to prevent future tragedies like this. But one of the most common suggestions – widespread culling – risks throwing away hard-won gains in crocodile conservation, without necessarily removing the danger.</p>
<h2>A brief history of crocodiles</h2>
<p>Visit any local pub or boat ramp and you’re likely to hear long-term Territorians claiming that they’ve never seen so many crocodiles. That’s probably because few have been around long enough to remember the time before unregulated post-war hunting for skins and trophies reduced wild populations by <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jwmg.191/abstract">more than 97%</a>.</p>
<p>Since being protected in 1971, saltwater crocodiles have <a href="http://theconversation.com/crocodile-culls-wont-solve-crocodile-attacks-11203">bounced back</a> with a vengeance. They are now considered almost fully recovered, with populations in most tidal rivers at or near their <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jwmg.191/abstract">carrying capacity</a>. </p>
<p>Crocodiles are integral to the Territory’s economy, attracting tourists and supplying the world’s best crocodile leather. The NT government also oversees a sustainable wild egg harvest (increasingly by indigenous people), while removing “problem crocodiles” from high-risk areas and funding the <a href="http://www.parksandwildlife.nt.gov.au/becrocwise#.U_SfPUgu7DE">CROCWISE</a> community education and awareness campaign.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56962/original/92mk2668-1408580516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56962/original/92mk2668-1408580516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56962/original/92mk2668-1408580516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56962/original/92mk2668-1408580516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56962/original/92mk2668-1408580516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56962/original/92mk2668-1408580516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56962/original/92mk2668-1408580516.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A saltwater crocodile on the Adelaide River, site of the recent crocodile attack.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Campbell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Territory is rightly considered a world leader in <a href="http://www.lrm.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/7417/crocmanagementplan_2009.pdf">crocodile management</a>, and has fewer attacks on humans than <a href="http://theconversation.com/croc-attacks-a-new-website-with-bite-20671">other countries nearby</a> despite having healthier crocodile populations.</p>
<p>True, the number of attacks has increased, but it’s important to keep some perspective. Since 1971 there have been 117 <a href="http://www.crocodile-attack.info">confirmed attacks</a> by saltwater crocodiles in northern Australia, 71 of them (60%) in the NT. Twenty of those were fatal. An average of one death every two years is low compared with other causes of accidental death, or even with other animal-related fatalities. The Gates Foundation <a href="http://www.gatesnotes.com/Health/Most-Lethal-Animal-Mosquito-Week">reminds us</a> that, globally, dogs kill 25 times more people than crocs do, and mosquitoes kill 750 times more.</p>
<p>Crocodile attacks make big headlines, perhaps because in many people’s minds they are a more chilling prospect than the idea of catching malaria.</p>
<h2>How do we keep people safe?</h2>
<p>First, we need to recognise that these attacks are outliers. The existing NT crocodile management program works remarkably well and undoubtedly saves many lives. Almost all documented attacks would have been avoidable with better safety awareness and less risky behaviour. Typically, people become victims because they <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16209470">underestimate risks</a>. Unsurprisingly, alcohol is often a contributing factor, although we are not suggesting that was the case in the most recent attack.</p>
<p>We also need to recognise that attacks are random. As with <a href="https://theconversation.com/shark-bite-statistics-can-lie-and-the-result-is-bad-policy-21789">shark bites in Western Australia</a>, clusters of incidents do not necessarily mean the problem is becoming dramatically worse. They might just be a blip in the numbers.</p>
<p>Within 24 hours of the most recent attack, NT Chief Minister Adam Giles wisely <a href="https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/24748148/croc-cull-a-long-term-possibility-nt-govt">ruled out</a> a “knee-jerk reaction” to the death, although understandably the crocodile involved was killed.</p>
<p>Giles flagged the need for a well-developed plan that balances conservation and public safety, but suggested that culling and safari hunting are long-term policy options.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56966/original/ftshr6sk-1408581087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56966/original/ftshr6sk-1408581087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56966/original/ftshr6sk-1408581087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56966/original/ftshr6sk-1408581087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56966/original/ftshr6sk-1408581087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56966/original/ftshr6sk-1408581087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56966/original/ftshr6sk-1408581087.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Saltwater crocodiles are also found in freshwater areas, a fact everyone needs to know.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Campbell</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Hunting and culling?</h2>
<p>Safari hunts, typically run by private operators under government tender, are <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-11/controversy-over-croc-safari-hunting-plan/3824746">highly contentious</a>. They can have local benefits, particularly for Aboriginal landowners. But the proposal to hunt on private land, typically removing low numbers of crocs, would do little to improve human safety in popular areas.</p>
<p>The other proposed option is culling. The NT already culls up to 500 crocodiles a year, mostly from the exclusion zone around Darwin. The low frequency of attacks in this area seems to support this approach, yet it does not exist in a vacuum; it is complemented by the <a href="http://www.parksandwildlife.nt.gov.au/becrocwise#.U_SksUgu7DE">CROCWISE</a> campaign that saturates the local community, schools and media with crocodile safety information. It’s simply not feasible to do this across the whole Territory.</p>
<p>The main problem with culling crocodiles centres around perceptions of safety. Culling advocates are fond of citing a time when it was considered safe to swim in rivers, yet such a time never existed. Even in the early 1970s, when crocodiles had been all but eliminated, there was still a risk, and the lower attack numbers presumably also reflected the smaller human population 40 years ago. </p>
<p>Attacks following protection in the NT began in 1979, when the crocodile population was estimated to be around 20,000. History tells us that reducing the current population (about 100,000) by 80% would still not ensure public safety. It would undoubtedly reduce risk, but at what point does that risk become politically and socially acceptable?</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56964/original/t2kndb39-1408580808.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/56964/original/t2kndb39-1408580808.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56964/original/t2kndb39-1408580808.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56964/original/t2kndb39-1408580808.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56964/original/t2kndb39-1408580808.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56964/original/t2kndb39-1408580808.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/56964/original/t2kndb39-1408580808.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Crocodiles are a powerful tourism drawcard in northern Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Adam Britton</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Widening the cull would also hit tourism and crocodile farming. Would the benefit of reducing the current population to a level where attack risk falls to a lower (but not zero) level justify the economic and ecological costs? Many people would <a href="http://theconversation.com/crocodile-culls-wont-solve-crocodile-attacks-11203">say no</a>. </p>
<p>The WA shark cull is a lesson in how not to manage risk. It was implemented <a href="http://theconversation.com/the-great-shark-debate-to-cull-or-not-to-cull-9550">without any evidence that it would actually work</a> and came at the cost of a huge hit to Australia’s international reputation for good <a href="http://theconversation.com/why-were-opposing-western-australias-shark-cull-scientists-28653">endangered species management</a>.</p>
<h2>A suggested strategy</h2>
<p>The NT already has a good crocodile management program, backed up with a public safety and awareness campaign. Rather than white-anting all that with a cull of questionable value, we should instead build on proven strengths.</p>
<p>We still need to ramp up community awareness about the risk of crocodile attack, focusing on high-risk groups. This could begin with extra training for tour operators, fishing charter crews and other local employers who are in regular contact with high-risk groups. We need better understanding of who those high-risk groups are, and why their risk is high. We could invest further in providing safe means to live and work around rivers, including safety barriers around boat ramps and popular fishing spots.</p>
<p>We shouldn’t rule out widening targeted trapping and removal programs from areas where interaction between crocodiles and people is most likely, but we should consider the potential impacts on local tourism operators. After all, tour operators are a significant source of education and awareness about crocodiles.</p>
<p>Australia should be rightly proud of its crocodiles and what it has done to bring them back from the brink. Now is not the time to undo the progress we’ve made.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/30722/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Britton received a grant in 2013 from Innovation@CDU (Charles Darwin University) to develop a not-for-profit educational website called CrocBITE to catalog crocodile attacks worldwide and help address human-crocodile conflict.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods has received funding from diverse sources including the Commonwealth and Northern Territory governments and the crocodile industry for research into crocodile biology and management.</span></em></p>The death of Berry Springs farmer Tran Van Lanh is the third confirmed crocodile-related fatality in the Northern Territory this year, and has left many people anxious about what they see as a growing…Adam Britton, Senior Research Associate, Charles Darwin UniversityAndrew Campbell, Director, Research Institute for Environment and Livelihoods, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.