Post fire pest control continues in the Eurobodalla

14 Dec 2020

South East Local Land Services and local land managers, with support from the Australian Government’s Wildlife and Habitat Bushfire Recovery Program, are continuing to support the post fire recovery of local landscapes by undertaking targeted pest animal control in the Eurobodalla.

“It’s a good time to work on managing pest species so that native plants and animals stand a better chance of survival and land managers are not experiencing further loss” said South East Local Land Services’ Sonia Bazzacco.

“With the help of the community here in the Eurobodalla we’ve been targeting foxes, pigs, rabbits, wild dogs, deer and goats.

“It is critical to understand how pest animals are moving through the fire affected and unburnt landscape and how this is impacting on native wildlife and livestock and pastures.”

Photo: A fox observed by a camera trap near Moruya

South East Local Land Services is looking to work with both fire and non-fire affected land managers.

The unburnt areas can be places that pest and native animals take refuge and subsequently compete for resources, or where pest animals may prey on the native wildlife when both are concentrated together.

“We can provide monitoring cameras to land managers interested in finding out what native and pest species are present on their property.

“So far we have seen pests like foxes and natives including goannas, wombats, wallabies, brushtail possums and kangaroos,

“In time we hope to see a greater diversity of native animals including gliders, bandicoots, long nosed potoroos and more birds.

“The more land managers involved, the more cameras in place, the greater the understanding we will get about the prevalence and movement of these species across our fire and non-fire affected landscapes.” Sonia said.

Once it is known what pest species are there, control of the pest species can be undertaken in a variety of ways.

“We can also provide support to land managers in selecting and delivering the appropriate pest animal control methods for their situation.”

For more information about the program or how to get involved please contact Sonia Bazzacco on 0429 998 585 or sonia.bazzacco@lls.nsw.gov.au.

This project is supported through the Australian Government’s Wildlife and Habitat Bushfire Recovery Program.

ENDS

Media contact: Dave Michael, Local Land Services, 0418 513 880