Ethical Eradication

Feral pigs arrived in Australia with the First Fleet as a source of food for the first settlers and today inhabit around 40% of Australia.

Pigs were kept by settlements unrestrained and in semi-feral conditions.

Stock could readily escape and wander, and by the 1880s pigs had run wild through out NSW. They now cause agricultural damage by
reducing crop yields, water sources, damaging fences, and competing with stock for feed by consuming or damaging pasture.
Millions of feral pigs roam around large parts of New South Wales and Queensland and bumper grain harvests are providing perfect for
conditions for a feeding and breeding frenzy.

Wild dogs are a significant pest animal in Australia. They are widespread in Queensland, the Northern Territory and much of Western Australia and South Australia, as well as being present in parts of New South Wales and Victoria. Wild dogs are known to have a significant detrimental effect on the agricultural sector, but they also cause adverse social impacts and are perceived to cause environmental damage.

Six species of deer are known to exist in the wild in Australia, having been introduced by Acclimatisation Societies, Hunt Clubs, and private individuals, mainly during the mid 1800s. Feral deer are probably Australia’s worst emerging pest problem, set to cause increasing damage to the natural environment and agricultural businesses. They also loom as a potential road safety threat.

Feral cats are cats that operate in the wild and can survive without human reliance or contact. The science shows that feral cats are the
main driver of extinction for Australia’s mammals. They also put extinction pressure on many birds, lizards and frogs.

That’s why the Threatened Species Strategy targets feral cats. Cats have been in Australia since European settlement, and may have arrived as early
as the 17th century with Dutch shipwrecks. Feral cats were established in the wild by the 1850s. It’s estimated that feral cats kill 75 million native animals every night across Australia, including birds,
frogs, small mammals, and reptiles.

Rabbits were introduced to Australia in the 18th century with the First Fleet and eventually became widespread. Such wild rabbit populations are a serious mammalian pest and invasive species in
Australia causing millions of dollars’ worth of damage to crops. Their spread may have been enhanced through the emergence of strong
crossbreeds. Prolific breeders, the feral rabbits relatively quickly became established over much of Australia, with the exception of more northerly regions. Their populations rise and ebb with the
seasons and, unless controlled, they can reach plague proportions in favorable times.

Feral rabbits eat crops and compete with livestock
for pasture. Hares can cause significant damage when gnawing the bark of young trees and shrubs. Hares also chew off the stems of young trees, damaging or killing the plant. Hares can cause severe damage to revegetation sites.

Red foxes were introduced to the British colonies of Van Diemens Land (as early as 1833) and the Port Phillip District and Sydney Regions of New South Wales (as early as 1845) for the purpose of the
traditional English sport of fox hunting.

Curiously a permanent fox population was not established on the island of Tasmania and it is
widely held that they were outcompeted by the Tasmanian devil.

On the mainland, however, the species was successful as an apex predator.

In 2016 researchers documented that some red foxes in Australia had learned to climb trees to look for baby koalas and other unsuspecting creatures such as gliders, dispelling the long-held belief that tree-dwelling creatures were safe from them.

Fox hunting is legal in all states and they are typically shot with the aid of spotlighting at night or attracted using fox whistles during the day.
The eyeshine signature of foxes, and body shape and silhouette are used to identify them.