ABC show reckons we should eat invasive species. It’s a recipe for disaster

Would you eat carp, deer or even camel? Eat the Invaders, a new ABC documentary series presented by Tony Armstrong and set to air in the new year, will invite Australians to reimagine invasive species as a “tasty solution”.

It’s an appealing pitch and well-intentioned, but the idea that eating Australia’s invasive species can help solve the problem is a fantasy and could make matters worse. This is something the Invasive Species Council raised with the makers of the show back when it was just a concept. Unfortunately, our biology-based message was not so delicious.

Tony Armstrong holds a cane toad in the ABC documentary series Eat the Invaders.Credit:

Australia is a world leader in invasion-led extinctions and host to some of the world’s largest populations of feral animals. They cause immense environmental and economic harm, from devastating native wildlife to ruining crops and spreading disease.

The show, by showcasing these animals as food, risks making their presence more desirable – creating a dangerous paradox that could lead to the further spread of some species. We have particular concerns about the show promoting carp, camels and deer.

At present, carp are not considered good eating. By challenging that view, the show could motivate fishers to shift them into new streams – as they have done with other fish, including tilapia, trout and sleepy cod. That is why the Queensland government is wise to ban the eating of noxious fish like carp and tilapia (those caught must be destroyed).

Promoting invasive species as a resource, whether for profit or pleasure, often entrenches problems. The creation of a market for feral goats has led to more goats degrading outback Australia, not fewer. For feral camels, years of talk about sending the meat overseas delayed plans to cull them, resulting in larger numbers. An industry could become a source of opposition to future control without doing much to reduce camel numbers.

The folly of outsourcing feral animal control to those who benefit from them is evident in the million or so feral deer now trashing forests and farms in south-eastern Australia. The protection of deer for hunters has waned only recently as the damage they cause has become undeniable. For decades the hunting lobby succeeded in stymying effective control, and maverick hunters wanting new hunting grounds have established many feral populations.

While it may be harmless to promote the eating of some species that have already spread to everywhere they can, we hope the show does not mislead the public about the difficulties of controlling invasive species. To suggest, as the show’s promo does, that “you could and should” eat some species into eradication would be laughable if it wasn’t so dangerously wrong.

For effective control, harvest rates must exceed the capacity of the species to recover from population losses by breeding and immigration. For rabbits, which can produce 50 to 60 offspring a year, this can require killing almost 90 per cent of a population each year. Even when Australians were eating more than 20 million feral rabbits a year (in the 1940s), it was futile for preventing landscape denudation.

Although the show’s talk of eating our way to eradication may be intended as a provocation, such “commonsense” proposals have an unfortunate appeal. Governments have already spent far too much of our taxes on futile programs such as bounties for foxes and pigs, and community whacking of cane toads.

Examples of successful “eat the problem” programs are rare. In New Zealand, commercial helicopter hunting of deer has reduced deer populations. But for those hunting deer recreationally, ground shooting has limited effectiveness. Nonetheless, committed skilled hunters can achieve localised reduction and supplement professional control programs.

Eat the Invaders might raise awareness, and the featured dishes will probably be delicious, but we hope it won’t foster any fantasies that we can cook our way out of a complex ecological crisis.

From our discussions with the series director and scriptwriter Matthew Bate, we think it possible the series will include warnings against the translocation of carp and other pests, but past evidence strongly suggests that warnings are often ignored.

An understanding of biology and psychology are both essential ingredients for effective control, and they tell us there are no easy fixes and that it can be a folly to promote the exploitation of invasive animals.

Dr Carol Booth is principal policy analyst at the Invasive Species Council.

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