Areas across Canberra will be closed this month for an animal control program targeting vertebrate pests. Photo: EPSDD.
Annual cull operations targeting feral animals damaging Canberra’s reserves and farmland are underway.
Vertebrate pest species are culled from key conservation areas, water catchments and semi-urban areas in the ACT in the Thermal Assisted Aerial Control (TAAC) program.
Executive branch manager for the ACT Parks and Conservation Service Michaela Watts said it was the “most efficient and effective way” to keep feral animal populations at manageable levels.
“[It occurs in] river corridors and some of the nature reserves that have some endangered ecological communities we want to protect from hooved animals and feral species,” she said.
“We’re talking about quite a diverse landscape that can get quite rugged, and we’ve also got quite low density [of the pest species]. We want to target them before it becomes a problem.”
The closures started on 8 May and run until the end of the month across the different sites.
Parts of Namadgi National Park, Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, the Murrumbidgee River Corridor and Molonglo River Reserve, along with some adjacent land, are closed.
During the program, a helicopter carrying firearms and camera operators sweeps the area to find the animals.
“They have the thermal imaging technology, which is a bit like a camera or binoculars,” Ms Watts said.
“They’re both scanning the ground for the target species: deer, pig, goats.
“They use the same tech to make sure the animal’s killed humanely, and to make sure it is dead, not just wounded.”
She said the program focussed on hooved animals (such as deer and pigs) because they left visible marks in the landscape that the program could track, such as trampled stream beds and ground turned over by hooves.
“Deer have been becoming an increasing threat [in the ACT],” Ms Watts said.
The team also records “what’s been shot and where” to help track where the animals are living in the Territory.
“All carcasses are left in the landscape,” she said.
“We leave them in situ to decompose in the landscape. It’s just the ones in the way of something else or in a waterway [that are removed].”
Sambar deer can be found throughout NSW and areas of the ACT. Photo: Rod Hart.
Ms Watts said the TAAC program began when the government received funding in 2021, after feral animal populations increased in other areas of Australia.
The program is currently fully funded by the ACT Government.
“Eradication can be incredibly difficult, which is why it’s so important to keep these [animal control] programs repeating, year after year,” she said.
“We’ve got every intention of continuing. We know some deer species reproduce really quickly, and a break for a year or a couple of years means we could see really rapid population increases.”
She said landholders, the team’s “eyes and ears”, and rangers were also involved in designing the program.
“This program is one of the control mechanisms that’s keeping the numbers so low and in such low densities,” she said.
“That’s our goal – to keep densities low and protect these key ecological features. To date, I’m really pleased with the work the team is doing.”
Check the list of land closures on the website and plan before heading out.
“Don’t enter closed reserves. It might look safe while you’re standing there at the gate, but we will be operating across the closed reserves,” Ms Watts said.
For more information on closures or to find out about parks and reserves in your area, visit ACT Parks.
