Invasive Animals CRC
Uptake of Products
and Strategies
Program
Uptake Update
Kangaroo Island demonstration site
Key partners:
V o l u m e
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I s s u e
2
A u g u s t
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World’s largest island goat eradication
program
Kangaroo Island
Natural Resources
Management Board
Department of Water,
Land and Biodiversity
Conservation
Department for
Environment
and Heritage
Goats were one of the early introductions to
Kangaroo Island, arriving with the sealers and
later the first settlers. Over the years the
coastal environment on the western end and
north coast of Kangaroo Island has become a
population stronghold.
In the past, goats have been controlled by
the Department for Environment and Heritage, landholders, and recreational hunters.
In the Flinders Chase National Park (FCNP)
goat control consisted of opportunistic ground
shooting, conducted once a year by the
Sporting Shooters SA Hunting and Conservation Branch.
Hunting exercises such as this can reduce the
population, but it is not an effective means of
eradicating goats.
Eradication: how?
In 2006 the island was divided into seven
areas that contained feral populations of
goats. These areas (see FIGURE 2) are called
Management Units (MUs). The boundaries of
the MUs were created with natural barriers to
assist with a systematic eradication of one MU
at a time and to limit reinfestations.
Meet the team:
Pip Masters
Robert Henzell
The method chosen to eradicate the feral
goats is called the ‘Judas goat’ method. Judas
goats are goats captured, fitted with radiotelemetry tracking collars (see FIGURE 1) and
Nick Markopoulos
Brenton Florance
Mark Morris
Jeanette Gellard
Bill Haddrill
Project contact:
Dr. Pip Masters
Kangaroo Island Natural
Resources Management
Board
PO Box 665
Kingscote SA 5223
Phone: (08) 8553-4375
Fax: (08) 8553-4399
E-mail:
[email protected]
FIGURE 2:
Map of Kangaroo Island outlining
goat management units targeted
for goat eradication.
released.
This method
has
been
very successful
around
the world and
its
success
FIGURE 1: Judas goat wearing
can be attributed to
radio tracking device
the
natural
mob
behaviour of the feral goat. Once the Judas
goats have joined with feral mobs, the Natural Resource Management project officers are
able to radio track the Judas goats, and locate and destroy the feral goats.
Over the past three years 27 Judas goats
have been released into MUs 1, 2, 3, and 4.
Within the four MUs, 15 Judas goats still remain active, three of which are fitted with
satellite collars.
Results
The Judas goats have assisted in the location
and destruction of 631 feral goats. In 2009
an additional 21 Judas goats were released
into all Management Units. The feral goats
destroyed (see FIGURE 3) have provided
information on movements, population and
behaviour of the goats in specific areas.
Information collected on the location of wa(Continued on page 2)
(Continued from page 1)
tering points, shelter locations, and group size
will be used to assist in future control operations
making management more effective and efficient.
MU 1 (Parndana) is at the final stages of completion. It has been 18 months since the last
feral goats was destroyed and 12 months of
monitoring resulting in no feral goat sign.
P ag e
MU 4 (Torrens) and 5 (Western River) are currently in full operation. Large numbers of goats
have been removed from the Borda region and
eradication efforts have seen a large decline in
feral populations in the last 6 months.
MU 2 (Flinders Chase) and MU 3 (Ravine) are
nearing the final stages of eradication. The last
feral goats were sighted and destroyed 5 months
ago and no feral goats have been sighted since.
FIGURE 3: Nick Markopoulos and
Brenton Florance of the KI NRM Board
with culled goats.
Feral deer, cats & pigs
Feral deer, cats and pigs also impact negatively on
Kangaroo Island’s biodiversity, agriculture and
tourism.
The deer eradication program is continuing. Control
and monitoring is undertaken in summer to autumn when the rut is on and deer are easier to
detect. Ten individuals were shot between February
and April 2009. Genetic analysis supports the view
that around 30-50 deer remain in the area. New
restrictions on domestic deer are currently being
progressed.
The feral team has also been involved in trials of
new cat baits, the new pig bait, HOG-GONE®, as
well as developing the best method of using PIGOUT® for eradication attempts. A trial is underway
which is attempting to eradicate pigs from an isolated catchment on the Island. Landholders in the
area occupied by feral pigs are also being consulted
regarding issues relating to pig management.
This program has a strong community focus, aimed
at enabling public and private land managers to
control and eradicate pest species such as goats,
deer, pigs and cats using the most up to date products and techniques.
Future directions
The Judas goat program is now at a very exciting stage with total goat eradication now becoming more of a question of ‘when’ rather
than ‘if’. MUs 1, 2, and 3 are now in a monitoring phase and the VHF collared animals will be
removed leaving just satellite collared goats
which are checked monthly to determine if any
ferals have joined them.
The remaining distribution on the north coast is
now being targeted. Regular goat shoots will
be undertaken in the Cape Torrens Wilderness
Protection Area, and the Western River district.
Once all goats are removed and only the Judas
animals remain, we will repeat the exercise
moving west to east along the north coast of
the island.
In addition we have completed a survey of the community to determine public
opinion in relation to domestic goats because
for a successful eradication program we need
to be sure that domestic goats don’t escape
and threaten the success of the program.
Deer control and monitoring is continuing while
trialing new methods of detection.
We will continue to develop effective techniques to attract and eradicate feral pigs using
PIGOUT® baits and to trial new cat control
techniques as they become available.
Funding and project sponsors:
Thanks to the combined efforts of Kangaroo Island NRM Board, Department for Environment
and Heritage, the Invasive Animals Cooperative
Research Centre and the Kangaroo Island com-
munity, Kangaroo Island is likely to achieve the
world’s largest island goat eradication program
attempted so far.
www.invasiveanimals.com
FIGURE 4:
Feral pig
taking baits
during 2009
HOGGONE
trial.
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