news, local-news

FOX and cat baiting using meat baits will be carried out on up to 3.9 million hectares of conservation lands throughout the state, beginning this month. Local areas affected by the Department of Parks and Wildlife's Western Shield Wildlife Recovery program include Cape Arid, Cape Le Grand, Stokes, Jerdacuttup and Fitzgerald River national parks and part of the Ravensthorpe Range. A Parks and Wildlife spokesperson said the program aimed to reduce predation by introduced species such as foxes and feral cats to restore the numbers of endangered native animals that inhabit these areas and whose populations had been reduced through predation. "These include the critically endangered Western ground parrot and the numbat," the spokesperson said. The Western Shield program began in 1996 and involves a range of activities including monitoring of threatened native animals, fox control and trans-location of endangered animals back to areas they previously occupied. The Parks and Wildlife spokesperson said more recently, the department began trials to control feral cats at Cape Le Grand and Fitzgerald River national parks as part of an integrated fauna recovery project. "Monitoring suggests that introduced predators are in lower numbers in baited areas and that many threatened native animals are surviving as a result, while in other non-baited areas these animals no longer persist," the spokesperson said. The department said the trans-location of the black-flanked rock-wallaby to Cape Le Grand National Park over a decade ago was deemed a success. "The population continues to survive and recent monitoring confirmed that the rock-wallabies are even further afield in the granite hills of the national park than previously thought," the spokesperson said. Baiting will occur regularly through the next few months up to August, but baited areas should be considered toxic to pets at all times of the year. DPaW advised residents not to bring their dogs or cats to these areas. For advice on baited areas, check the DPaW website at dpaw.wa.gov.au or contact the Parks and Wildlife district office.

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/storypad-G6nzW6NQj89xSLQy4jfsbN/8c354248-c187-4a80-aee3-092db49a9e41.jpg/r17_96_1263_800_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg