Feral animal control

Introduced herbivores

The groundwork for Project Eden began in 1990, when a de-stocking program was initiated after the Peron pastoral station was purchased by the department. Over the next 4-5 years, more than 15,000 sheep and 11,000 feral goats were removed from the peninsula, principally using mustering plus aerial and ground shooting programs. Relatively small numbers of goats still persist on Peron and are the target of ongoing control measures.

The use of diseases such as the myxomatosis virus to control excessive rabbit numbers has long been in use to protect agricultural and pastoral properties from this foreign plague. Project Eden encouraged the spread of this already present disease, early in the program, and followed it up by releasing the Rabbit Calicivirus to try to control the local rabbit populations. The most effective control however, has proven to be the seasonal variations in climate, which usually severely restricts the rabbit population in late summer in Shark Bay.

Feral predators

Like Western Shield, control of fereal predators has proven to be one of the most critical roles of Project Eden in trying to recreate a friendly environment in which local fauna can re-establish itself, and marked the official beginning of the project in 1995. Enormous numbers of foxes (estimated at 2,500) and an unknown number of feral cats prowled the peninsula at that time. Road kills were rarely seen as they were scavenged almost immediately, and studying the animal tracks on the sandy roads gave no sign of what other animals were living there, as nothing but fox tracks could be observed.

Poison baiting

Virtual elimination of foxes was achieved in the first year of the fox control program with the use of dried meat baits containing the poison '1080' (monofluoroacetate), that were dispersed by hand or dropped from aircraft across the whole peninsula. Baiting of the peninsula continues to occur several times a year in a comprehensive program, which lays approximately 50,000 baits annually, and removes any new foxes that may migrate into the protected area.

1080 is a naturally occurring toxin found in many native south-west Western Australian plants known as 'poison peas'. These plants, like York Road poison, heart-leaved poison, and Stirling Range poison, were the bane of many early farmers' lives, causing heavy mortality in their cattle and sheep that ate it. Western Australia's native fauna, however, evolved with these plants over thousands of years and developed a high tolerance to the poison. This has given DEC a valuable ally in its battle to control foxes in WA, as '1080' baits can be used to selectively kill introduced predators without endangering our native wildlife.

Cat trapping

Feral cats are also susceptible to the 1080 poison, but are reluctant to eat a dried bait if there is plenty of other live prey to be had. Because of this behaviour, it has proven much more difficult to control feral cats on the Peron Peninsula. DEC staff have spent a great deal of time in refining the baits to make them more palatable to cats and have been successful in an increased, but variable rate of kill, depending on the prevailing seasonal conditions and prey availability. However, a second method of control has been developed and employed during the last four or five years, which involves using innovative lures such as sound and smell to capture cats. These cats are providing us with a huge database of biological information, which is helping us to better understand the lifestyle and behaviours of the feral cat.