Review of the management of feral animals and their impact on ...

could have led to better protocols on fencing <strong>and</strong> sales, forbidding sales to anyone
who could not demonstrate that <strong>the</strong>y had a suitably fenced property.
The Queensl<strong>and</strong> Department <strong>of</strong> Natural Resources <strong>and</strong> Mines has recently conducted
a risk assessment <strong>of</strong> deer (Jesser 2005) that is likely to lead to some policy changes
along <strong>the</strong>se lines. Similar risk assessments should be conducted by o<strong>the</strong>r states, <strong>and</strong>
o<strong>the</strong>r industries such as big game hunting also need assessing.
RIRDC is also promoting aquaculture, including <strong>the</strong> culture <strong>of</strong> aquarium fish, <strong>and</strong> this
is ano<strong>the</strong>r alternative industry that could create dramatic pest problems. The RIRDC
Report, Integrated Agriculture Systems: A Resource H<strong>and</strong>book for Australian
Industry Development (Gooley & Gavine 2003), promotes in situ cage culture in
lakes, <strong>and</strong> combined crop irrigation <strong>and</strong> fish culture systems, listing aquarium fish as
one possibility. The report has nothing to say about pest issues apart from one
paragraph noting that non-endemic species should not be used in farm dams if
flooding is likely.
Ano<strong>the</strong>r concern is that new deer species will go <strong>feral</strong>. According to Anderson (1978)
white-tailed deer, Pere Davod’s deer, Wapiti <strong>and</strong> Muntjac are held in captivity in
Australia, <strong>and</strong> Jesser (pers. comm.) has heard that sika deer were imported recently
from New Zeal<strong>and</strong> to interbreed with red deer.
7.2.3 Hunting
The sport <strong>and</strong> business <strong>of</strong> hunting is contributing significantly to Australia’s <strong>feral</strong>
animal problems. During this study <strong>the</strong> following problems were noted:
• One hundred <strong>and</strong> twenty seven new <strong>feral</strong> deer populations have been created by
hunters Australia-wide (Moriarty 2004)
• Buffalo, deer <strong>and</strong> blackbuck have been freed on Cape York Peninsula
• The newly-created Game Council <strong>of</strong> New South Wales has been given a m<strong>and</strong>ate
to manage Californian quail, pheasant, chukhar partridge, peafowl <strong>and</strong> turkey,
even though not <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se species do not (yet) occur in <strong>the</strong> wild on mainl<strong>and</strong>
Australia.
New problems are emerging because <strong>the</strong> sport <strong>of</strong> hunting is changing in response to
<strong>the</strong> following influences:
• Hunters are losing access to state forests as <strong>the</strong>se are converted into national parks
• Hunters are losing access to private l<strong>and</strong>s because <strong>of</strong> public liability concerns <strong>and</strong>
bad experiences with irresponsible hunters
• Changes to gun laws after <strong>the</strong> Port Arthur massacre have led to many gun-owners
joining <strong>the</strong> Sporting Shooters Association, from whose newsletter <strong>the</strong>y learn about
hunting opportunities
• Big game hunting has been promoted as a business opportunity
• Deer have become readily available because <strong>of</strong> deer farming.
Hunters have responded to <strong>the</strong>se changes in various ways. Because hunting access to
private l<strong>and</strong>s has become more difficult, deer have been released into national parks,
state forests, catchment l<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r secluded places for future sport (Moriarty
2004, Jesser pers. comm.). Deer suitable for stocking have become readily available
from deer farms because <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> collapse in deer prices. L<strong>and</strong>holders are also buying
deer, releasing <strong>the</strong>m on <strong>the</strong>ir l<strong>and</strong>, <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong>n charging hunting fees (Jesser 2005).
According to Moriarty (2004), 127 <strong>of</strong> Australia’s 218 <strong>feral</strong> deer populations have
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