Aerial baiting with 1080 to control wild dogs does not affect the populations of two common small mammal species
Sally Fenner A , Gerhard Körtner B C and Karl Vernes AA Ecosystem Management, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
B Centre for Behavioural and Physiological Ecology, Zoology, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
C Corresponding author. Email: gkoertne@une.edu.au
Wildlife Research 36(6) 528-532 https://doi.org/10.1071/WR08134
Submitted: 23 September 2008 Accepted: 14 July 2009 Published: 29 September 2009
Abstract
More than most other animal control techniques, toxic baiting is fraught with the potential impact on non-target species. In the present study, we investigated the effect of aerial baiting with 1080 to control wild dogs in north-eastern New South Wales (NSW), Australia, on populations of southern bush rats (Rattus fuscipes assimilis) and brown antechinus (Antechinus stuartii), using a controlled experiment. Six populations, three each within widely spaced baited and unbaited trapping grids, were monitored before and after bait laying. To develop capture–mark–recapture indices, separate 4-day trapping surveys were undertaken twice before and twice after meat baits (250 g containing 6 mg sodium fluoroacetate, 1080) were delivered from a helicopter at 40 baits per kilometre. To assess non-fatal bait consumption, all baits contained rhodamine B (RhB), which gets incorporated into the vibrissae of animals that have ingested this marker. Neither mammal population decreased in size after baiting, nor was there any increase in population turnover rates or changes in the movement patterns of either species. Furthermore, no trapped animal tested positive for RhB, suggesting that these small mammals rarely consume meat baits, and that, at the population level, the impact of baiting on them was likely negligible. It is therefore unlikely that the current practise of aerial baiting in NSW, although effective in reducing dog activity, threatens populations of these two common species and perhaps small mammals in general.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful for the assistance of Stuart Green and Peter Watson during the fieldwork and thankful for the active support from NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change (formerly DEC) staff, the Jeogla Wild Dog Control Association, the Armidale Rural Lands Protection Board, NSW State Forests (now part of the DPI). We also thank Harold and Shirley Heffernan for providing accommodation. Michael Johnston from Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment and David Backhouse from the University of New England helped with the vibrissae analysis, and Nigel Andrews (University of New England) and Joanne Lello (Cardiff University) assisted with some of the statistical procedures. Peter Fleming and two anonymous referees provided valuable comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript. Baiting was approved by the NSW Department of Primary Industries and by NSW DECC following a Conservation Risk Assessment. Further licences were issued by the UNE Animal Ethics Committee (AEC05/050), DECC Wildlife Licensing (S11537), Special Purpose Permit, Forestry Commission of NSW (Styx River State Forest, No: XX23591), Australian Pesticide and Veterinary Medicine Authority (Ref. No: 8232) and Department of Environment and Heritage under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Ref. 2005/1962).
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