Recording pest animals with FeralScan- Free online and Covid safe face-to-face training
October 2020
Emma Sawyers and Peter West- FeralScan Coordinators
Pest animals are a significant problem across the South East region. FeralScan is a free community resource that can be used by farmers, landholder-groups, volunteers, community groups, local government, and biosecurity organisations to monitor, map and manage established pest species, such as wild dogs, foxes, rabbits, feral deer, or myna birds etc. The resource can also be used to record sightings of new incursions such as red-eared slider turtles and corn snakes.
People can record sightings, evidence, impacts, control activities or photos of 13 established pest species in their local area. Information recorded into FeralScan helps local groups and biosecurity organisations to implement well-planned local management programs.
The FeralScan resource consists for a website, database, community map of pest animal information, and a mobile App (Apple and Android) for smart-phone users. It now hosts over 250,000 records and photos submitted by people across Australia. It also supports over 400 private land manager and biosecurity groups, who are using the software for planning and coordinating pest control.
People currently use FeralScan for mapping problem hotspot areas, recording pests in remote areas, and planning where to undertake future control programs.
Throughout the South East LLS region, land managers and community groups are currently recording sighting and problems caused by wild dogs, feral deer and feral pigs into FeralScan, to help inform their local community group and Biosecurity Officers about current pest animal activity to guide local coordinated control programs.
Several FeralScan groups are already active across the South East. So please contact the Biosecurity Team at your nearest Local Land Services Office, or call 1300 799 295, to see if there is an established group in your local area.
Alternatively, FeralScan Coordinators, Peter West and myself, are available to help people or groups to use FeralScan. Free small group training sessions are currently being offered face-to-face and online.
If you and your group are interested in learning more, please contact feralscan@feralscan.org.au, or phone Emma on 0455 633 112 or Peter on 0407 622 191.