Introduced pest animals such as foxes, feral pigs, feral cats and rabbits cause damage estimated at approximately $1 billion across Australia each year, and impact heavily on Australia’s unique native plants and animals, ecosystems and wild places. Pest animals also degrade landscapes, damage cultural sites, impact on agricultural production and can pose a serious human health risk.
You can help to protect Australia’s native flora and fauna, farmers and the environment by reporting whenever you see introduced pest animals to local authorities.
First, learn how to identify which introduced pest animals are around. Recently developed by the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre, the “Field Guide to Pest Animals of Australia” phone app (available for Apple devices) can be downloaded onto your phone and used while bushwalking to help you to identify up to 52 of Australia’s worst introduced pest animals, and the signs they sometimes leave behind such as tracks and scats. The app contains pest animal photos, and even audio calls for some species such as foxes barking in the night, or the alarm calls of feral deer. Once installed on your phone, the app isn’t reliant on an internet connection or phone reception, making it ideal for bushwalking in remote areas.
Once you are familiar with identifying pest animals, you can also record sightings of pest species into the FeralScan program. FeralScan is an Australia-wide resource (also developed by the Invasive Animals CRC) that farmers, community groups, and bushwalkers can easily use to report sightings or problems caused by introduced pest animals. Local land managers need
to know where pest species occur, how many there are, and what problems/damage they’ve caused in order to implement management programs to protect our landscapes and natural areas.
You can help by recording the locations where you see pest animals into FeralScan. Information you provide about sightings can be used to improve the way pest species are managed, and help protect our wild places and environment.
FeralScan is available as a website feralscan.org.au and as a dedicated mobile app that can be downloaded free from the AppStore or Google Play store. The app contains over 50,000 community records of pest animals, including photographs supplied by over 25,000 people Australia-wide.
Species that can be mapped include rabbits, feral cats, foxes, feral pigs, wild dogs, feral goats, Indian Myna birds, European starlings, cane toads, plague mice, feral camels, and even pest fish such as carp – all of which cause significant impact to our environment, people and our economy. Soon the resource will be available to report feral deer.
So, next time you spot a pest animal, use the Field Guide App to confirm the species, and record your observation into FeralScan. For further information, go to the website feralscan.org.au or contact the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre at feralscan@feralscan.org.au.
Bushwalk
