Effects of bait-station design on the uptake of baits by non-target animals during control programmes for foxes and wild dogs

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alistair S. Glen ◽  
Chris R. Dickman
Keyword(s):  
Red Fox ◽  
New South ◽  
Ground Surface ◽  
Target Species ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Bait Station ◽  
Control Programmes ◽  
Substantial Risk ◽  
Bait Stations ◽  
Wild Dogs

The removal of non-toxic baits was monitored during a simulated trail-baiting programme for foxes and wild dogs in the central tablelands of New South Wales. Ninety-one buried baits were removed by a number of species including spotted-tailed quolls, Australian brush-turkeys, superb lyrebirds, small mammals, wild dogs and a red fox. Spotted-tailed quolls were significantly less likely to remove baits buried under the ground surface than baits buried in raised mounds of soil. By means of remote photography, individual quolls were identified removing 3–4 baits in one night from bait stations 400 m apart. The results of this study show that spotted-tailed quolls and other non-target species may face substantial risk of consuming baits intended for wild dogs and foxes. However, the risk of poisoning spotted-tailed quolls may be significantly reduced by appropriate planning. Recommendations are made to increase the target-specificity of baiting programmes in areas with populations of spotted-tailed quolls.

Does fox baiting threaten the spotted-tailed quoll, Dasyurus maculatus?

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerhard Körtner ◽  
Shaan Gresser ◽  
Bob Harden
Keyword(s):  
Rhodamine B ◽  
Red Fox ◽  
New South ◽  
Control Programs ◽  
North East ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
Bait Station ◽  
Radio Transmitters ◽  
Bait Stations

In Australia, baiting with 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate) is widely used to reduce predation of native wildlife by the red fox. However, such control programs may place some native carnivores at risk, particularly the spotted-tailed quoll in eastern Australia. We measured the mortality in a total of 57 quolls fitted with mortality radio-transmitters during four experimental fox baitings with Foxoff® 1080 baits containing Rhodamine B in north-east New South Wales. In all experiments quolls visited bait stations regularly and removed a total of 20 baits. All but one of these baits was found in the vicinity of the bait station, indicating that quolls did not ingest baits. This was confirmed by the absence of Rhodamine B in the vibrissae of all quolls retrapped after baiting. The only quoll that may have died from a bait had eaten a cached bait some six weeks after baiting concluded. Thus, baiting did not threaten any of the quoll populations sampled. Therefore it appears that most restrictions imposed to protect spotted-tailed quolls during fox baiting are unnecessary as long as this bait type is used.

scholarly journals A vertical bait station for black rats (Rattus rattus) that reduces bait take by a sympatric native rodent

2014 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frances Zewe ◽  
Paul Meek ◽  
Hugh Ford ◽  
Karl Vernes
Keyword(s):  
Field Trial ◽  
New South ◽  
Rattus Rattus ◽  
Target Species ◽  
Vertical Pipe ◽  
Black Rat ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Bait Station ◽  
A Site ◽  
Bait Stations

Novel bait stations can be used as a targeted method of delivering bait by exploiting behavioural traits of the target species. On Muttonbird Island, New South Wales, the black rat (Rattus rattus) has been baited to aid the conservation of the island’s wedge-tailed shearwater (Ardenna pacifica) colony, which may result in poisoning of the sympatric swamp rat (Rattus lutreolus). We aimed to design a bait station that R. rattus could reach, but that R. lutreolus could not. We found that 11 (92%) of 12 captive R. rattus reached the bait chambers by climbing a 50-cm vertical pipe, whereas only four (18%) of 22 R. lutreolus reached these bait stations. In a field trial on Muttonbird Island R. rattus entered the bait chamber on an average of 5.3 events per night of vertical bait station deployment, but R. lutreolus did not enter the stations. In a field trial on the mainland at a site with a high density of R. lutreolus, this species was detected in one vertical bait station five times, equating to an average of 0.017 events per night of vertical bait station deployment. We conclude that R. rattus readily climbs a 50-cm pipe to enter the bait station, whereas R. lutreolus rarely or never does on Muttonbird Island or at the mainland site.

Predation of livestock by wild dogs in eastern New South Wales.

1989 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
PJS Fleming ◽  
TJ Korn
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Coastal Region ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
East Region ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Control Programmes ◽  
June July ◽  
Wild Dogs

A monthly survey involving officers from eastern New South Wales Pastures Protection Boards was conducted over four years from 1982 to 1985. Information was collected on the number and type of livestock attacked within each board district, sightings of wild dogs, the number of wild dogs kiied, the method by which they were kiied and the locations at which the observations occurred. A total of 25,644 livestock animals were reported killed or wounded from four regions; the North-East Coastal Region, the North-East Tablelands Region, the Central-East Region and South-East Region. Sheep were the most commonly attacked domestic animals followed by cattle and goats. Regional differences were apparent in the type of livestock killed and seasonal patterns of predation were evident. We recommend that annual control programmes be brought forward from June/July to late April in order to precede predation peaks.

Effects on Nontarget Animal Populations of Wild Dog Trail-Baiting Campaigns With 1080 Poison

1986 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 447 ◽  
Author(s):  
JC Mcilroy ◽  
EJ Gifford ◽  
RJ Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Small Mammals ◽  
New South ◽  
Canis Familiaris ◽  
Mountain Forest ◽  
Target Species ◽  
Dietary Preferences ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Wild Dog ◽  
Wild Dogs

Populations of birds and small mammals in a mountain forest area of New South Wales were not significantly affected by two trail-baiting campaigns involving 1080 poison that were carried out against wild dogs, Canis familiaris, during the winters of 1980 and 1981. Factors which probably minimized the effect on the non-target species were the sparse distribution of baits, the placement of the baits in habitats not favoured by small mammals, their initially rapid rate of removal by foxes, Vulpes vulpes, the dietary preferences of the non-target animals and the low risk they would face if they did consume a bait.

scholarly journals Opuntia stricta (erect prickly pear).

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Pasiecznik ◽  
Julissa Rojas-Sandoval
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Biological Control ◽  
Mediterranean Basin ◽  
New South ◽  
North African ◽  
African Countries ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Control Programmes ◽  
North African Countries ◽  
The Mediterranean Basin

Abstract Opuntia stricta is a cactus species native to the Americas that has been introduced worldwide as a popular ornamental. This species escaped from cultivation and has become invasive in many countries across Africa and Australia, but also more recently in the Mediterranean basin. Large and serious invasions have been reported in Australia, South Africa, Namibia, Yemen, India, Sri Lanka, Madagascar and lately also Spain and some North African countries. It has also become naturalized in many other regions (primarily in Africa and Asia) where it has not yet been recorded as a pest. In South Africa and Namibia large infestations have been reported, mainly in dry savanna bushlands, while in Australia all states are invaded with widespread populations invading southeastern Queensland and northeastern New South Wales. Successful biological control programmes have, however, severely reduced the spread of this species in many areas where introduced, though there continues to be a risk of further introduction through the nursery trade.

Camera trap evidence of red fox (Vulpes vulpes) predation attempts on adult macropods

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Meek ◽  
Jason Wishart
Keyword(s):  
Pest Management ◽  
Vulpes Vulpes ◽  
Red Fox ◽  
New South ◽  
Camera Trap ◽  
Camera Traps ◽  
Critical Weight ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Photographic Evidence ◽  
Management Project

Camera traps provide a novel and quasicovert method of gathering information on animal behaviour that may otherwise remain undetected without sophisticated and expensive filming equipment. In a rangelands pest management project at Mt Hope in the central west of New South Wales, Australia, we recorded foxes seemingly hunting kangaroos on three occasions. While we did not record direct instances of predation, our observations provide camera trap photographic evidence suggesting that foxes will attempt to tackle mammals above the critical weight range, including large macropod species such as western grey kangaroos.

An analysis of bait-take and non-target impacts during a fox-control exercise

1998 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Dexter ◽  
Paul Meek
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
The Other ◽  
Target Species ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Poison Baiting ◽  
Heath Forest ◽  
Free Feeding ◽  
Fox Control ◽  
Control Exercise

The effectiveness of a fox-control exercise at the Beecroft Peninsula, New South Wales, was evaluated by examining the change in proportion of baits taken during free-feeding and after lethal baiting in four different habitats (heath, forest, coastal scrub, beach), and the change in number of radio-collared foxes alive during the course of the baiting exercise. The change in proportion of baits taken by non-target species was also examined over the course of the study. Bait take declined by 97% from the initiation of poison baiting to the final day of poison baiting eight days later with significantly more baits being taken in heath than in any other habitat. Four out of six radio-collared foxes died on the first day of poison baiting while the other two foxes died within ten days of the start of the poison-baiting session. Black rats, currawongs and ravens took a small number of baits throughout the baiting exercise.

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