Horses need to be removed from Australia’s mountains. The debate now is around ethics and their role in Australian culture.
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Articles on Feral animals
Displaying 21 - 40 of 43 articles
The alpine landscapes of Australia’s southeast and Tasmania are home to hundreds of rare plants and animals. They’re healthy for now, but need careful looking after.
Australia wants to kill off two million feral cats and momentum for similar plans is growing in the US. Is there a good case for killing or neutering outdoor cats to protect biodiversity?
There’s been a lot of talk about killing feral cats, with the government’s recently announced war on cats, with a goal to kill two million by 2020. But let’s embrace cats as part of Australia’s environment.
Cats and foxes are two of the greatest threats to Australian wildlife. Culling might be one solution, but sometimes culls do more harm than good.
Proposals to reintroduce Tassie devils to the Australian mainland have argued devils could help control feral cats. But new research shows there’s no simple answer.
Cane toads, introduced in 1935 to control cane beetles, have now spread across a huge swathe of Australia, from the Kimberley in northern Western Australia to northern New South Wales. They’re still spreading…
Feral cats are estimated to eat tens of millions of native animals each night in Australia. But what kinds of wildlife are they eating? In research published today in the Journal of Biogeography, my colleagues…
Bushfires are a part of life in Australia, and when they have run their course we pick up where we left off and carry on. But if you happen to be a small animal, surviving the bushfire is only the start…
During a speech in Parliament on October 17 1996 — 18 years ago today — then Liberal MP Richard Evans called for the “total eradication of domestic and feral cats from the Australian mainland and offshore…
Australia’s “ferals” — invasive alien plants, pests and diseases — are the largest bioeconomic threats to Australian agriculture. They also harm our natural ecosystems and biodiversity. Some, such as mosquitoes…
When you think of horses in the Australia high country, you might imagine noble brumbies galloping out from snowgums across grassy peaks, tails and manes trailing like streamers. But on a recent trip to…
Feral domestic cats are a global threat to biodiversity and were recently named as the biggest threat to endangered Australian mammals. But what about your pet cat, or the local stray? While any kind of…
Ninety nine per cent of the poisoned baits set up to catch feral red foxes in Western Australia are being eaten by other…
Almost a third of Australia’s mammals have become extinct or are facing extinction, largely thanks to introduced predators such as cats and foxes. But what is the best way to save the species still alive…
Thousands of unowned cats wander Australian streets every night. Some are feral, existing in self-sustaining populations not reliant on people, while others are semi-feral and are either fed by people…
The sad reality of human-dingo relations is that blood will be shed, as Brad Purcell recently reminded us in these pages with his article about non-violent co-existence, The Australian Dingo: to be respected…
The Victorian government has introduced bounties for foxes and wild dogs, $10 for the scalp of a fox, and $50 for that of a dog. Bounties have been tried before, and failed to control these pests, but…
We feel we have to set the record straight after some of our (Bradshaw’s) comments were taken grossly out of context, or not considered at all (Ritchie’s). A bubbling kerfuffle in the media over the last…
Last week I published an opinion piece in Nature attempting to crystallise debate on a number of issues in Australian environmental management: bushfires, weeds, feral animals, management of Aboriginal…
Top contributors
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Professor in Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University
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Honorary Research Fellow, University of Sydney
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Professor in Terrestrial Ecology, Deakin University
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Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology and Models Theme Leader for the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, Flinders University
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Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of Tasmania
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Future Fellow, Queensland University of Technology
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Associate Professor in Biological Sciences, Murdoch University
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Associate professor, University of Canberra
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Professor of Conservation and Sustainable Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University
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Professor of Wildlife Conservation, University of Tasmania
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Adjunct Associate Professor, University of Canberra
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Professor, Charles Darwin University
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Associate professor, University of New England
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Senior lecturer, University of Sydney
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Professor Emeritus in Terrestrial Ecology, University of Sydney
