Rabbit numbers are as high as they've ever been Phillip and vegetation in
Sunset Country is taking a hammering.
Foxes, rabbits, pigs and goats (dare I mention cats) are not getting the
attention they should and the land managers' budgets are dwindling.
Adequate control measures are labour intensive and that is going to be a
problem for a while. Given adequate resources, know how and dedication,
problem species can be controlled; as they are at Neds Corner.
It must have been distressing to find the dead Mallee Fowl, particularly in the
circumstances you describe.
Writing to PV can't hurt but going direct to the Minister and/or Premier may be
more effective.
Cheers
David
Sent from my iPhone
On 17/01/2013, at 2:43 PM, Philip Maher <> wrote:
> Hello
>
> I was over at Hattah Kulkyne and Murray Sunset national parks in Victoria¹s
> northwest for the first few (very hot) days of this year and dismayed to
> find, next to a working malleefowl mound in Hattah Kulkyne, a newly dead
> malleefowl, killed, assumedly, by a fox. It was a female malleefowl probably
> in the process of laying an egg as a large chunk of eggshell was with the
> pile of feathers. I first came across this mound nearly thirty years ago and
> it¹s been in almost constant use since then. During the long drought, the
> current pair kept working this mound long after others had stopped and only
> gave it away towards the end of the drought.
>
> Foxes are now in huge numbers all through these mallee parks due to the
> mouse plague following the big rains over the last couple of summers. Just
> about every track in the parks has fox tracks along it. I think there was a
> serious fox baiting program in Hattah Kulkyne until about five years ago but
> seemingly nothing since. The mice have gone and the foxes are starving and
> now eating anything they can catch.
>
> Feral goats have also bred up over the last couple of summers and are all
> through Hattah Kulkyne and Murray Sunset. It would appear the parks¹
> management are putting their (undoubtedly meager) resources into managing
> rabbits and doing a good job but the fox and feral goat situation is out of
> control. Probably the only viable way of controlling goats is to trap them
> at feeding or watering points. I read somewhere that 80 percent of a goat
> population had to be eradicated each year just to stop the population from
> increasing. Baiting is the only effective way to control fox numbers. We
> cannot afford to lose adult malleefowls.
>
> I've written a letter to Parks Victoria about this situation.
>
> There is a photo of the malleefowl remains in the trip report.
> http://www.philipmaher.com/MalleeJan2013DecieandDan.html
>
>
> Regards
>
> Philip Maher
> Deniliquin
> +61 3 58813378
>
> Australian Ornithological Services Pty Ltd
> PO Box 385
> South Yarra 3141
> Victoria
> Australia
> Tel: + 61 3 98204223
> Mobile: 0417310200
> http://www.philipmaher.com
> http://www.youtube.com/user/AOS3141
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Australian Ornithological Services Pty Ltd
> PO Box 385
> South Yarra 3141
> Victoria
> Australia
> Tel: + 61 3 98204223
> Mobile: 0417310200
> http://www.philipmaher.com
> Skype: patricia.maher3141
> http://www.youtube.com/user/AOS3141
>
>
>
>
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