Indian myna cull program so popular it can’t keep up with demand

AN action group formed in Melbourne’s south to cull indian mynas has been so popular it can’t keep up with demand for traps.

Common Indian mynas for Don's On the Wing column for TasWeekend.

BAYSIDE’S newly formed Indian Myna Action Group have been inundated with requests for help following their call-to-arms in the Leader.

The council-organised group has become so popular that requests for traps have exceeded supply, with a waiting list of more than 50 people wanting them, and more devices on the way.

Volunteers set up traps to catch Indian mynas, then take them to vets to be euthanised.

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Member Bryan Huntley said the response has been “very enthusiastic”.

“We’ve got close to 300 people signed up now,” Mr Huntley said.

In fact, the response has been so enthusiastic that BIMAG has been able to launch its own website to deal with the wealth of new inquiries.

But the group still has a long way to go — according to their figures, a yearly decrease of 25 Indian mynas per square kilometre is needed to reduce the flying-pest plague to a point where native birdlife can regenerate.

Indian myna birds were introduced to Australia in Melbourne in 1862, intended to control pests in market gardens.

They are aggressive, destructive and highly territorial, often taking out smaller local birds such as wagtails, wrens and finches.