SSAA Queensland speaks with ABC Far North about feral animals in Queensland
ABC Far North, Mornings, 24/11/08 09:33am
Interview with SSAA Queensland President Geoff Jones about the damage feral animals are doing to Queensland
Fiona Sewell: Well, some used to say that feral animals like foxes, rabbits, pigs and cats are a big nuisance, but when you actually assess the total cost of the damage they do, the fear is mind blowing. The Sporting Shooters’ Association of Australia reckons the bill surpasses $720 million and that's a conservative estimate. Geoff Jones is the Queensland President of the Sporting Shooters’ Association. Geoff, good morning.
Geoff Jones: Good morning, Fiona.
Fiona Sewell: What sort of damage are we talking about here from feral animals?
Geoff Jones: Fiona, it's a broad-ranging issue and extends from the economic impacts of damage to agricultural, both crops and production in animals, right the way through to serious and severe damage to our general delicate ecosystem here in Australia both involving flora and fauna and because the small animals, but the delicate flora of course and the small animals, the mammals we have here in Australia have very few natural defences against this sort of invasion and are being impacted steadily over a period of years, but there is an escalating issue at the moment with the spreading populations and the like. The problem as you mentioned, and we base our figures purely on research done by the Cooperative Research Centre, the CRC in Canberra for pest and animal control, and that was in 2004, the last numbers. That's being constantly updated and we're waiting for the figures, but obviously a real problem acknowledged by environmental groups, governments and groups like ourselves who are becoming more and more environmentally aware of the fact.
Fiona Sewell: So that $720 million figure I mentioned was a conservative figure, but it could be a whole lot worse now because that was from three years ago.
Geoff Jones: Oh absolutely, that's right. We're talking four years ago. It could be much, much worse now. Of course, that varies with the type of rural production at a given period in time, but the cost to, but it will simply move from one preeminent pest species to another and the impact on the environment of course will simply continue to be an exponential issue to be quite frank.
Fiona Sewell: I suppose the biggest problem animals here in the Far North, I mean pigs are a big one and probably dogs. Given that we don't see too many camels I suppose, feral camels in this part of the world, what can be done about those particular pests?
Geoff Jones: Well, there are a number of issues and I think the recent pest animal symposium, scientific symposium, was held there in Cairns has identified that the control measures must be done in a cooperative sense using the combination of baiting, trapping, shooting, fencing, whatever can be used, but there is no one solution. And that's where we've probably in the past made some errors and mistakes in trying to find alternative solutions to the sort of things that we wouldn't prefer, but there is a reality here and we can no longer ignore the matters at hand in fact.
Fiona Sewell: Well, the Sporting Shooters’ Association is calling for more of its members to help cull numbers of feral animals, what sort of things are you doing already?
Geoff Jones: Well we've been involved both nationally and in Queensland. Nationally, we've been running these programs very, very successfully for over 15 years now, but in Queensland, we've been involved for seven or eight years in some relocation of endangered species in Central Queensland, particularly for the bridled nail-tailed wallaby, they've been under threat from cats and dogs, Avocet Station in conjunction with Parks & Wildlife at Taunton Scientific Park and also in conjunction with the EPA Parks & Wildlife Service on Curtis Island with experimental programs in combination with their offices with trapping and shooting of pigs, so it's been a staged program. Of course, a number of private groups and ourselves including Bush Heritage, WWF, numerous local authorities, Queensland Herbarium, Birds Australia, CSIRO, so we've been steadily working with these people as a cooperative community group in offering a skill set and services literally at no cost. Professional services, if you like, without the professional costs that go with it.
Fiona Sewell: Right. Do you have the support say of the Department of Primary Industries?
Geoff Jones: Yes, we're working with them through, we've had talks and we're identifying some regions through Biosecurity Queensland, that's the aspects we've been in discussion with them on some invasive species and we're monitoring and we're actually a sponsoring partner in a research program in combination with the University of Queensland. At the moment we're getting that off the ground.
Fiona Sewell: Where's that happening?
Geoff Jones: Well, that will be happening next year. We'll be commencing next year. As I say, we're still undergoing talks and that will be happening in relation to some deer, trying to assess the impacts of some deer. Probably at an earlier stage rather than a later stage and deer can be a problem if they're not controlled in inappropriate areas. North Queensland, of course, is a very, as you mentioned, a very difficult area because if feral animals and invasive species get away up there, we've got some real problems, you mentioned pigs and dogs, particularly up there they're real problems.
Fiona Sewell: Now Geoff, is your message that you'd like to see more sporting shooters helping to cull feral animals?
Geoff Jones: Well, we would, Fiona. We have the skill set. We have the management and control mechanisms in place. The situation being we do have nationally access to over 120,000 members, in Queensland we have 40,000 members. Not all of those are necessarily either suitable or available for this type of work, but they do bring a skill set with responsible safety processes well already entrenched, with bushcraft skills, with their shooting skills, with the knowledge of having a minimum impact of their own presence in the environment. So this is something that can be used. Not on its own, it's not the solution by any stretch of the imagination, but with a properly managed and controlled strategy and we're very, very happy to work with and under the control of the representative authorities in these areas as we have been in some experiments already and they've been exceptionally successful. We're very, very pleased with the way the departments, the Government departments have taken this on board as well.
Fiona Sewell: Have you been working with, I think, the Environment Protection Agency?
Geoff Jones: Yes, yes, they're the ones that we've been doing our principal work with, both in their estates and areas of responsibility.
Fiona Sewell: So National Parks?
Geoff Jones: Yes, yep, that's right. There is a number of levels of parks and the like. I always have difficulty getting my head around all of those as they run, but yes, with some limited access to National Parks and with some private programs, as well where they've been private nature reserves where the parks have been undertaking scientific programs and then we've been working in conjunction with those two authorities under the owner of the properties and in conjunction with the research the parks are doing. And contributing to the research and monitoring, so it's not just shooting, our people on the ground are actually trying to contribute as a manpower resource to some of the higher level operations that these people undertake.
Fiona Sewell: Geoff, just finally, what should volunteers do to take part in the culling of feral animals?
Geoff Jones: Well, they contact us, we have a subgroup that's managed under our organisation and then they're specifically, for access to parks, they're specifically trained in the higher level. They all come with basic training, but they're then trained to a higher level and then they may become part of our program and they're identified program to program and they undergo specific training and higher level accountability and it's only a matter of basically contacting the Sporting Shooters’ Association through their local branch and feedback through our state offices and we can direct them from there.
Fiona Sewell: Geoff, thanks so much for joining us today.
Geoff Jones: You're welcome, Fiona. All the best.
Fiona Sewell: Bye, bye. Geoff Jones is the Queensland President of the Sporting Shooters’ Association.
Home > Media monitoring > 2008 > SSAA Queensland speaks with ABC Far North about feral animals in Queensland