FERAL ANIMAL WANGKA AUGUST 2011 MATUWA

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1 FERAL ANIMAL WANGKA AUGUST 2011 MATUWA

2 Feral Animal Wangka The Feral Animal Wangka workshop took place at Martu ku Ngurra at Matuwa (Lorna Glen) in mid August. We had originally planned for it to be held at the Carnarvon Ranges but were rained out and decided not to chance it...much too boggy, much too far from home. The Parngurr ranger team travelled all of the way to Wiluna to take part in the discussions about feral animal management on Martu lands.

3 The conference centre!!

4 The aim of the workshop was to provide Martu rangers with some background on the relationship between feral animals and the native Australian animals of the desert region. We talked about camels, foxes, donkeys, wild horses and feral cats. The workshop was mainly conducted by Steve Eldridge and Don Langford, desert wildlife experts who have a long history of working to protect native animals in the desert and especially working with Aboriginal people in controlling feral animals.

5 Listening to the talks around the campfire

6 During the wangka part of the workshop we heard from Don and Steve about the animals that had been here before europeans arrived and how many had become extinct or endangered over the last 100 years. We learnt how rabbits were set loose in Australia and kicked all of the native animals out of their burrows, ate all of their food and took over; spreading out into the desert. We learnt about the fox who came from England and ended up doing pretty well eating rabbits and then moving out into the desert where they found more than just rabbits but lots of other small marsupials that were native to the desert. We heard about the feral cat who became one of the fiercest hunters in Australia, adapting to the desert environment so well that many scientists estimate their population across Australia as beyond 10 million. We heard about the other large hoofed animals like camels and donkeys and wild horses who pounded the ground destroying the homes of small animals, eating up all of the leaves on the trees and destroying all of the waterholes.

7 Steve giving his feral animal presentation talk

8 The talks were also about the animals that used to be here that were not here anymore. We talked about the marsupials (those little furry ones with the pouch young) who had lost their homes when the ferals stamped on their burrows, who had lost all of their food when the ferals ate it all up and who had been hunted down by cats, dogs, and foxes. One of the main things to come out was the story about how the problem of feral animals destroying the environment for the natives was a story about bad management by the whitefellas. Whitefellas have experimented with the environment over many years and made many, many mistakes in doing it. On the other hand, we talked about how Aboriginal people had worked out ways to manage the animals in the Australian environment so that everyone had a home, enough food and that things were in a balance. This discussion was a good one as it allowed everyone to think about feral animals as a management issue and that there are many ways to manage this problem.

9 Steve showing the audio lure that makes a sound similar to a cat s Meow.

10 We got the chance to see examples of some management techniques which are used to control feral cats. We learnt about the humane trapping methods used to get feral cats. Any feral animal management has to be humane, meaning that none of the animals can suffer if they are being trapped or killed. Lures are used to attract cats to an area in which either cage or soft jaw traps get the cat. The audio lures are a battery powered speaker which makes a miaow noise for days and days until the cat comes to investigate. The other lure is made of a paste that has certain smells which are attractive to cats and it is smeared on plants around where the cat trap is laid. We were told that it is important to return frequently to the traps so that the trapped animals are not left out in the sun without water for too long. Even if the animals are going to be put down it is important to make sure everything is done so that they are not in pain.

11 Steve with a soft jaw trap. Rangers from Parngurr and Wiluna looking on.

12 A well hidden feral cat cage trap.

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14 As usual when we travel to Matuwa it is important to check on the condition of the country. The fellas from Wiluna have become very familiar with the environment in this area and are always commenting on the health of the country as they travel through it. We went and looked at Mangkaltjarra claypan which was very healthy, lots of green Mangkaltjarra plants has blossomed on the shore line where the water had receded. At Mangkaltjarra is a breakaway ridge which is a good refugia for native animals and we decided that it would be a good place to put out some ellliot traps and pitfall lines. We also took some good photos of country here to help us build a picture of the country over time. Some of the rangers looked around for traces of feral animals. They found evidence of camel tracks on the claypan which were very fresh.

15 Looking out over Mangkaltjarra claypan. On the right are the breakaway gullies to northern edge of the claypan...possible fauna refugia.

16 Former home of now extinct stick nest rat. The black substance is known as the amber ; a mix of faeces and urine and vegetable matter which has combined and hardened over time.

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19 A little hopping mouse was caught in the Elliot trap. We let it go after recording it.

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23 Mangkaltjarra Plants

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27 Looking for traces of fauna in the area.

28 Parngurr fellas cooking up a Parnka they just caught.

29 The workshop was very helpful for the ranger groups for making us think about the reasons why we have been doing the Cybertracker work and the environmental monitoring. We talked about how we had seen lots of damage by ferals in the different countries and we compared stories of what we were doing about it or were planning to do. The Parngurr rangers had said that they were interested in finding out about the presence of Bilby in their part of the desert and thinking about ways of protecting them if the ferals were threatening them. For the Birrilburu rangers, the discussions about baiting in their area were brought up. We talked about how we might be able to get the DEC to help us out in a trapping program to get an idea of the amount of cats at places in the Birriliburu determined area. This info would help us work out how best to do a baiting programme.