SA’s rare and endangered native wildlife culled by 86,250 in 2016-2017

TENS of thousands of native animals causing a nuisance for farmers, councils, businesses and the public are being put down.

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THE killing of more than 86,000 native animals and birds was authorised by the Environment Department last financial year.

The death toll has risen by 30,000 in only five years, as some species reach pest proportions and others cause havoc for businesses and scare children.

But the scale of the legal cull, including some rare and endangered species, has prompted calls for stricter controls on permits.

Greens MLC Tammy Franks, who monitors the figures, said it was pleasing that the number of wombats killed had declined, because there was community anger about the non-humane ways in which some were killed.

Wombats must legally be shot in the head but some farmers blow up their burrows, trapping them inside to die of asphyxiation.

Greens MLC Tammy Franks said there was community anger about the non-humane ways in which some wombats were killed.

“There were 803 wombats approved for killing in the 2016-17 year, which is down from the 901 about five years ago,’’ Ms Franks said. “Many animals are also killed without permits, of course.’’

Ms Franks said concerns remained following the department’s investigation of the killing of up to 10 wombats last year at a Sandleton property.

“What we need is better scrutiny of whether this killing of 86,250 animals is happening humanely and the department to be more active in monitoring the work,’’ she said.

Ms Franks also questioned the lax threshold permit applicants needed to meet, which was as minor as “scaring children (or the) elderly’’.

Using the Freedom of Information Act, the Greens have been forcing the department to release details of the killings since 2013. That year it was revealed the killing of 44,778 animals had been approved in 2010-11 and 56,499 in 2011-12.

Western grey kangaroos can occur in plague proportions.

Some species can occur in plague proportions, such as the western grey kangaroo (37,026 killed in 2016-17) and the tammar wallaby (10,650).

The tammar wallaby is endangered on mainland SA but in large numbers on islands.

Brushtail possums, listed as “rare”on the endangered scale, continue to be high on the culling list, with 6420 killings approved in 2016-17, the third highest number of any species.

Other “rare” species to be killed in large numbers were Cape Barren goose (241) and eastern grey kangaroo (1610).

Animals can be destroyed because the nuisance they cause overrides their status on the rare and endangered list.

The department polices the “humane” methods of killing which in most cases involves shooting, but in the case of flocks of birds, trapping then asphyxiation with carbon dioxide under an airtight cover.

The department said numbers fluctuated according to rainfall and other conditions. It said animals should be killed only when “conflict” with people could not be managed by other means.