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

Drakonorchis drakeoides Hinged Dragon Orchid
Eriocaulon carsonii Salt Pipewort
Perceived threat
Mammals
Petrogale lateralis Black-footed Rock-wallaby
Petrogale xanthopus Yellow-footed Rock-Wallaby
The goat problem is becoming worse in temperate Western Australia <strong>and</strong> western
New South Wales because l<strong>and</strong>holders in degraded sheep country are encouraging
goats to multiply on <strong>the</strong>ir l<strong>and</strong> as an alternative source <strong>of</strong> income. This serious
problem is considered fur<strong>the</strong>r in section 6.
Goats may have some positive value because <strong>the</strong>y will eat woody weeds.
3.7.17 Blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra)
Summary
An antelope that may occur in <strong>the</strong> Rangel<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> Western Australia <strong>and</strong> Queensl<strong>and</strong>
which will cause environmental degradation if allowed to multiply.
Distribution
The presence <strong>of</strong> blackbuck in <strong>the</strong> Rangel<strong>and</strong>s needs confirming, but <strong>the</strong>re is thought
to be one population near Wiluna in Western Australia <strong>and</strong> ano<strong>the</strong>r on Cape York
Peninsula.
Feral blackbuck previously occurred around Newmarracarra <strong>and</strong> Geraldton in
Western Australia, <strong>the</strong> latter population surviving up until <strong>the</strong> 1980s.
Native to India, Nepal, Bangladesh <strong>and</strong> Pakistan.
Impacts
Nothing is known about <strong>the</strong> <strong>impact</strong> <strong>of</strong> blackbuck in Australia because it has never
been investigated. However, one wild herd that was established early in <strong>the</strong> nineteenth
century about 480 kilometres north <strong>of</strong> Perth, multiplied so greatly that thinning was
required (Long 2003).
The presence <strong>of</strong> blackbuck within <strong>the</strong> Rangel<strong>and</strong>s requires confirming. There was an
early release at Wiluna in Western Australia, <strong>and</strong> unconfirmed reports are
occasionally received <strong>of</strong> visitors seeing or shooting <strong>the</strong>m in that district (P. Mason,
pers. comm.).
In Queensl<strong>and</strong>, a hunter recently told a government pest <strong>of</strong>ficer he was flying low
over Cape York Peninsula <strong>and</strong> saw a herd <strong>of</strong> 100-200 blackbuck. This report was
taken seriously <strong>and</strong> some enquiries were made to try to locate <strong>the</strong> herd, without
success. In 2004 a h<strong>and</strong>ful <strong>of</strong> blackbuck were released onto a Cape York property in
an attempt to establish a herd for safari hunting. The <strong>animals</strong> soon died or were killed.
Blackbuck were trialed as livestock by <strong>the</strong> University <strong>of</strong> Queensl<strong>and</strong> at Gatton, <strong>and</strong>
when this work ended <strong>the</strong> <strong>animals</strong> were sold to a game park under strict license
conditions that forbade resale. Blackbuck cannot legally be held by anyone else in
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