Aerial baiting for wild dogs has no observable impact on spotted-tailed quolls (Dasyurus maculatus) in a rainshadow woodland

2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew W. Claridge ◽  
Douglas J. Mills
Keyword(s):  
Rhodamine B ◽  
Canis Lupus ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Canis Lupus Familiaris ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Feral Cats ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Radio Transmitters ◽  
Wild Dogs

The short-term impact of 1080 aerial baiting for wild dogs (Canis lupus dingo, Canis lupus familiaris and hybrids of the two) on spotted-tailed quolls (Dasyurus maculatus) was investigated at a rainshadow woodland site in southern New South Wales, Australia. Sixteen quolls were trapped and fitted with radio-transmitters containing mortality sensors. Three feral cats were also opportunistically trapped and radio-collared. One week after trapping ceased, meat baits nominally containing 6 mg of 1080 poison and 50 mg of the biomarker rhodamine B were deployed aerially over a 10-km transect across the study area. Following bait deployment, collared quolls and cats were monitored daily over four weeks for evidence of mortality. During this time, one quoll and two cats died. The quoll did not die from 1080 but both cats showed clear signs of poisoning. Whisker samples were obtained from trapped quolls 5–8 weeks after baiting to determine whether they had been exposed to baits. Of the 15 remaining collared quolls, 12 were retrapped. Four of these tested positive for rhodamine B. Three individuals originally collared were not retrapped but confirmed alive at least seven weeks after bait deployment. A further six non-collared quolls were also trapped, with two of these positive for rhodamine B. Of the 19 quolls from which whisker samples were tested for rhodamine B then, 13 (68%) were negative and six (32%) were positive. Aerial baiting had no observable impact on the local radio-collared quoll population, a finding consistent with results from a similar study recently conducted in northern New South Wales.

Diets of sympatric red foxes Vulpes vulpes and wild dogs Canis lupus in the Northern Rivers Region, New South Wales.

2006 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 101 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Glen ◽  
A. R. Fay ◽  
C. R. Dickman
Keyword(s):  
Canis Lupus ◽  
Vulpes Vulpes ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Red Foxes ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Northern Rivers ◽  
Wallabia Bicolor ◽  
Wild Dogs ◽  
Swamp Wallaby

In the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales the diets of sympatric foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and dogs (Canis lupus) were determined from analysis of oportunitically collected scats. Mammalian prey dominated the diet of both species but foxes had a more diverse diet than dogs. The red-necked pademelon (Thylogale thetis) had the highest occurrence in both predators. the northern brown bandicoot (Isoodon macrourus) was the second most common prey of the fox but did not occur in dog scats. Swamp wallaby (Wallabia bicolor) was more common in dog scats than fox scats.

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.

scholarly journals Short-Term Spatio-Temporal Drought Forecasting Using Random Forests Model at New South Wales, Australia

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhirup Dikshit ◽  
Biswajeet Pradhan ◽  
Abdullah M. Alamri
Keyword(s):  
Random Forest ◽  
Time Scales ◽  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Drought Forecasting ◽  
Short Term ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Drought Classes ◽  
Statistical Metrics

Droughts can cause significant damage to agriculture and water resources, leading to severe economic losses and loss of life. One of the most important aspect is to develop effective tools to forecast drought events that could be helpful in mitigation strategies. The understanding of droughts has become more challenging because of the effect of climate change, urbanization and water management; therefore, the present study aims to forecast droughts by determining an appropriate index and analyzing its changes, using climate variables. The work was conducted in three different phases, first being the determination of Standard Precipitation Evaporation Index (SPEI), using global climatic dataset of Climate Research Unit (CRU) from 1901–2018. The indices are calculated at different monthly intervals which could depict short-term or long-term changes, and the index value represents different drought classes, ranging from extremely dry to extremely wet. However, the present study was focused only on forecasting at short-term scales for New South Wales (NSW) region of Australia and was conducted at two different time scales, one month and three months. The second phase involved dividing the data into three sample sizes, training (1901–2010), testing (2011–2015) and validation (2016–2018). Finally, a machine learning approach, Random Forest (RF), was used to train and test the data, using various climatic variables, e.g., rainfall, potential evapotranspiration, cloud cover, vapor pressure and temperature (maximum, minimum and mean). The final phase was to analyze the performance of the model based on statistical metrics and drought classes. Regarding this, the performance of the testing period was conducted by using statistical metrics, Coefficient of Determination (R2) and Root-Mean-Square-Error (RMSE) method. The performance of the model showed a considerably higher value of R2 for both the time scales. However, statistical metrics analyzes the variation between the predicted and observed index values, and it does not consider the drought classes. Therefore, the variation in predicted and observed SPEI values were analyzed based on different drought classes, which were validated by using the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC)-based Area under the Curve (AUC) approach. The results reveal that the classification of drought classes during the validation period had an AUC of 0.82 for SPEI 1 case and 0.84 for SPEI 3 case. The study depicts that the Random Forest model can perform both regression and classification analysis for drought studies in NSW. The work also suggests that the performance of any model for drought forecasting should not be limited only through statistical metrics, but also by examining the variation in terms of drought characteristics.

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.

Zoonotic and economically significant pathogens of peri-urban wild dogs across north-eastern New South Wales and south-eastern Queensland, Australia

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lana Harriott ◽  
Matthew Gentle ◽  
Rebecca Traub ◽  
Ricardo J. Soares Magalhães ◽  
Rowland Cobbold
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
Bacterial Pathogens ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
Parasitic Infections ◽  
Zoonotic Pathogens ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Intestinal Pathogens ◽  
Wild Dog ◽  
Wild Dogs

Context Peri-urban wild dogs are known to reside within high-risk and densely populated regions and are capable of harbouring a variety of zoonotic pathogens. Despite recognising the potential of peri-urban wild dogs to carry zoonotic pathogens, limited prevalence data are currently available to assist in understanding the potential risks that peri-urban wild dogs pose within developed communities. Aims The aim of the present research was to establish the current status of key zoonotic and economically significant pathogens in peri-urban wild dogs. Methods Two hundred and one peri-urban wild dog cadavers were collected from south-eastern Queensland and northern New South Wales. In addition, whole blood, serum and faecal samples were also collected. Pathogens were identified through several morphological, microbiological and molecular methods. Key results Helminth parasites were detected within 79.6% of peri-urban wild dogs; Echinococcus granulosus was the most common pathogen, with adult worms being detected within 50.7 ± 6.9% of intestines, followed by Spirometra erinacei (36.6 ± 6.4%); hookworms, including Ancylostoma caninum and Uncinaria stenocephala (28.8 ± 7.1%); Toxocara canis (5.4 ± 3.1%) and Taenia spp., including T. serialis and T. pisiformis (4.5 ± 2.8%). Bacterial pathogens detected included methicillin-resistant Escherichia coli (20.0 ± 10.1%), Salmonella spp. (3.7 ± 4.0%) and methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (3.3 ± 2.7%). Conclusions The present study is the most comprehensive investigation of zoonotic pathogen carriage in peri-urban wild dogs in Australia. Parasitic infections in peri-urban wild dogs are common, with tapeworms representing the majority of intestinal pathogens. Important zoonotic bacterial pathogens are carried by peri-urban wild dogs, although at a much lower prevalence than are parasites. Implications The presence of these pathogens in free-ranging peri-urban dog populations suggests a strong potential for public health risk, most notably from E. granulosus. These data are inherently important as baseline information, which is essential to guide risk-based management of peri-urban wild dog impacts.

An experimental translocation of brush-tailed bettongs (Bettongia penicillata) to western New South Wales

2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 421 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Priddel ◽  
Robert Wheeler
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
New South Wales ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Release Site ◽  
Severe Drought ◽  
Source Population ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Bettongia Penicillata ◽  
Radio Transmitters ◽  
Low Incidence

A total of 85 brush-tailed bettongs (Bettongia penicillata) from Western Australia and two sites in South Australia were translocated to Yathong Nature Reserve (YNR) in western New South Wales in October 2001. Aerial baiting to control the introduced red fox (Vulpes vulpes) had been undertaken on YNR since 1996. Thirty-one bettongs were fitted with radio-transmitters at the time of release, and two subsequently. Trapping took place at irregular intervals after the translocation. In all, 73% of telemetered bettongs died within the first six months; all were dead within 13 months. Eight bettongs died within the first eight days immediately following their release, due to causes other than predation. These eight all originated from St Peter Island (SPI), South Australia. A low incidence of breeding on SPI supports the belief that this source population was in poor condition and unsuited for translocation. Overall, 19 of the 33 telemetered bettongs were killed by predators: 14 (74%) by feral house cats (Felis catus), two (11%) by birds, and three (16%) by predators, which, although they could not be fully identified, were not foxes. One month after release, surviving bettongs weighed less than they did at the time of their release (mean decrease in mass = 9.7%, range 2.6–22.4%, n = 11). Within two months of their release most had regained any lost mass (mean change in mass since release = –0.3%, range –5.9 to 10.5%). Food resources on YNR appeared sufficient to sustain adult brush-tailed bettongs, despite a period of severe drought. Small pouch young present at the time of release were subsequently lost. Females gave birth and carried small pouch young (up to 50 mm), but no young-at-foot were recorded. Bettongs did not disperse further than 10 km from their release site. Overall, 50% of aerial-tracking locations were no further than 3.2 km from the release site, and 92% no further than 7.0 km. This experimental translocation of brush-tailed bettongs failed due to predation by cats. It demonstrated that foxes were no longer a threat to wildlife on YNR and identified cats as the major impediment to the restoration of locally extinct fauna.

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