Back from the Brink

Foxes and cats are making a meal of Western Australia's wildlife. These foreign predators have already contributed to the extinction of ten native mammals. Dozens more species are threatened and survive only in low numbers - six of the mammals are restricted to tiny islands. DEC has successfully pioneered programs to control foxes to prevent further extinctions.

This work has now been expanded into the world's biggest campaign against feral predators, to save native animals and return them to areas where they once thrived.

The campaign's name: Western Shield.

Over the past 100 years, more mammals have become extinct in Australia than in any other country. The loss of 18 Australian mammal species is a catastrophe caused predominantly by predators and competitors introduced from overseas. Loss of habitat has also led to extinctions, and changes to other habitats make some of the remaining native animals even more susceptible to predators. Our wildlife may now be facing a new danger from the release of rabbit calicivirus. Feral predators also hunt rabbits, so if the virus reduces their numbers significantly, hungry foxes and cats could turn more and more to native animals. While this threat is not expected to be serious, it will be yet another pressure on endangered species.

Shark Bay Mouse

The native mammals most at risk of being driven to extinction are easy prey - medium-sized animals weighing between 35 grams and eight kilograms. These animals, together with the reptiles and ground-nesting birds also at risk, are found nowhere else in the world.

That's not all. We don't know what effect the loss of particular species will have on our environment, on the natural processes on which plants, animals and humans depend. Any extinction or decline of species is of great concern for a whole range of environmental, moral and aesthetic reasons. There is strong evidence that further extinctions are inevitable unless we take urgent action to control foxes and feral cats and protect our wildlife. Western Shield is the Department of Environment and Conservation's program to do just that.