Covering about 4350 square km, Kangaroo

Island is the third-largest offshore island in

Australia (after Tasmania and Melville Island)

and lies 15 km off the South Australian

coast.

Kangaroo Island is nationally important for

biodiversity conservation, primary production

and tourism, with nearly 50% of the native

vegetation remaining. The Island is free of

foxes and rabbits but has an abundance of

other feral pests including pigs, goats, deer,

and cats.

Repel the Invaders is a regionally-focused

package of actions addressing priorities for

managing pests, diseases and problem ani-

mals threatening biodiversity and primary

production across Kangaroo Island. The pro-

gram aims to prevent and detect new intro-

ductions of pests, diseases and problem ani-

mals to the Island as well as identify, moni-

tor and manage pests already present.

The Island provides an ideal location to trial

feral animal control strategies for a number

of reasons. Firstly, border protection, biodi-

versity monitoring and management of exist-

ing priority feral animals is already under-

way, providing an important framework for

additional projects looking at

feral animal control.

The Island also has a simple

social and political framework

with only one council, NRM

Board and DEH region and a

small human population making

communication relatively sim-

ple. Thirdly, once a species is

eradicated, natural re-invasion

by terrestrial species is not

possible.

The proposed additional work

will move the aims of the pro-

gram from control of targeted

species to trial eradication.

The CRC component of the Repel the Invad-

ers program aims to:

• Expand the targeted species from cats,

pigs and deer, to include goats.

• Add essential baseline data on the move-

ments, habitat use and social structure of

pigs, deer and goats.

• Trial Judas animals as a control technique

on Kangaroo Island.

• Trial, and adopt where applicable, new

control products and strategies for pigs

and cats which are being developed by

the IA CRC & partners.

Kangaroo Island will be the first trial site for

the new feral pig toxin, and will also assess

the efficacy and target-specificity of the WA

feral cat bait ERADICAT® later this year.

This project is a collaboration between the

Kangaroo Island Natural Resources Manage-

ment Board (KINRMB) and the South Austra-

lian Departments for Land, Water and Biodi-

versity Conservation (DLWBC) and Environ-

ment and Heritage (DEH).

Feral pigs in Flinders Chase NP Photo: IA CRC

Repel the Invaders

U p t a k e o f P r o d u c t s a n d S t r a t e g i e s P r o g r a m

Uptake Update

M a y 2 0 0 7 V o l u m e 1 , I s s u e 2

I n v a s i v e A n i m a l s C R C

10.U.2 KI Demonstration Site

Project contact: Dr. Pip Masters Kangaroo Island Natural Re-sources Management Board PO Box 665 Kingscote SA 5223 Phone: (08) 8553-0111 Fax: (08) 8553-0251 E-mail: pip.masters@kicouncil.sa.gov.au

Program contact: Dr. Steve Lapidge Invasive Animals CRC 48 Oxford Terrace Unley SA 5061 Phone: (08) 8357 1222 Fax: (08) 8357 1238 E-mail: uptake@invasiveanimals.com

Key partners

Kangaroo Island Natural Resources Management Board

Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity

Conservation

Department for Environment and Heritage

P a g e 2

Feral Pigs: KI’s oldest pest French explorer Nicholas

Boudin released the first pigs

on the island in 1802. Domes-

tic pigs have also been kept

since the mid-1800s and to-

day feral pigs are well estab-

lished.

Impacts include substantial

pasture damage; predation of

lambs; spread of stock dis-

eases; spread of weeds; com-

petition with native animals and destruction

of habitat. Pigs can consume more than 90%

of earthworms while rooting up pastures.

Current management by the KINRMB con-

sists of coordinated pig trapping and hunting,

as well as data collection on the distribution

and reproductive success of pigs.

This demonstration site will investigate:

• whether the feral pig population consists

of more than one sub-population, and if so,

the location of the boundaries and hence

management areas .

• the movements and habitat use of pigs.

• Assess the level of impact of pigs on pas-

ture.

• better control techniques including the trial

of new methods such as the PIGOUT® baits

and Judas pigs.

So far, the pig control program has been lim-

ited to co-ordinated shooting and trapping

with the KI NRMB, local hunters, DEH and

forestry all participating.

Genetic samples from pigs across the Island

have been collected for analysis to determine

genetic diversity, population size and move-

ments.

Once this analysis is undertaken, manage-

ment units can be identified and actions for

each region developed.

Activities to be undertaken over the next 12

months include:

• Continued trapping, shooting and collec-

tion of genetic samples.

• Collect population and condition data.

• Assist with trials of new toxins.

• Improve management with more inte-

grated control activities.

U p t a k e U p d a t e

Pasture damage by feral pigs rooting. Photo: Steve Lapidge

Feral pigs are

widely distributed

across the

western end of

the island.

The exact

population size is

unknown but is

estimated at

more than 800

individuals.

Deer tracks

P a g e 3 V o l u m e 1 , I s s u e 2

Meet the Team Kangaroo Island Natural Resource Management Board:

Pip Masters

Nick Markopoulos

Brenton Florance

Dept. Land, Water & Biodiversity Conservation:

Robert Henzell

Pip Masters

Nick Markopoulos

Brenton Florance

The breeding

population,

estimated at 70-

200 individuals, is

currently

contained on the

north-western

end of the island.

Occasional

sightings occur

over a much

larger area.

Activities to be undertaken over the next 12

months include:

• Continue control activities

• Assess the possibility of

restricting deer farms on KI

• Ensure that domestic deer

are being managed effec-

tively and escapes are not

occurring

• Undertake the annual

monitoring program

• Trial other attractants if the feeders do not

work

• Trial cameras for population assessment

and to assist with control activities.

The first documented release of fallow deer

on Kangaroo Island occurred in 1999 when

an unknown number of farmed animals,

mostly females, escaped. Landholders coordi-

nated control action from 2000-2002. 70

animals had been shot by December 2001.

The community is supportive of eradication

and a management strategy is being imple-

mented on the island which includes: deter-

mining their distribution annually; collecting

data on their population structure and repro-

ductive success; checking deer farm fencing;

a coordinated destruction program which

destroyed 70 deer in 2006.

Genetic samples have been taken to deter-

mine whether it is possible to estimate popu-

lation size using DNA. A feeding trial has also

been implemented to determine if corn feed-

ers can be used to attract deer.

Fallow Deer: a new invader

Uptake of Products and Strategies

www.invasiveanimals.com

Together, create and apply solutions

The Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre (IA CRC) was

funded by the Commonwealth Government in the 2004 CRC Selec-

tion Round. The centre aims to counteract the impact of invasive

animals through the development and application of new technolo-

gies and by integrating approaches across agencies and jurisdic-

tions. The CRC is headquartered at the university of Canberra.

The Uptake of Products and Strategies Program facilitates national

and international registrations, commercialisation, market research

and delivery of IA CRC market ready products to industry partners.

Demonstration sites also showcase new ways of looking at cross-

tenure and cross-discipline pest animal control techniques. The

Program Leader is Steve Lapidge and the Uptake office is based in

Adelaide.

Feral Goat Eradication Goats have been on Kangaroo Island for ap-

proximately 200 years and were introduced by

sealers as a food source.

Impacts of goats include fouling of water holes;

weed dispersion; damage to bushland by tram-

pling & grazing native plant species; competi-

tion with stock for food & water; spread of dis-

ease; soil erosion; and destruction of the aes-

thetics at tourist destinations.

In the past, goats have been controlled by

landholders, recreational hunters and DEH.

Two trial goat eradication sites are currently

underway using Judas goats, one in Flinders

Chase National Park (FCNP) in association with

DEH, and the other located north of Parndana.

Data is regularly collected on goat location,

group size, physical characteristics and repro-

duction.

So far 90% of goats have been removed from

the Parndana site and at least 50% from the

FCNP site. A third site has four satellite collars

ready for deployment once goats are obtained.

Vegetation monitoring plots have also been

established to track changes in the vegetation

following a reduction in goat

numbers.

Activities to be undertaken over

the next 12 months include:

• Investigating additional sight-

ings

• Determining the number and

location of domestic goats

• Investigating domestic goat

management and implications for biosecurity

• Continuation and possible expansion of the

trial eradication sites

• Tracking the movements and habitat use of

collared goats.

P a g e 4

Female Judas Goat.

The estimated

population size

on the island is

800-2400, mainly

confined to

coastal

environments in

Flinders Chase

National Park and

the north coast.