The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) has marked the 25th anniversary of its Western Shield conservation program.
The Program works to protect Western Australia’s native wildlife through broad-scale management of introduced predators, including foxes and feral cats.
In a statement, the DBCA said these predators had been implicated in the extinction or decline of many of the State’s native mammals, birds and reptiles.
“Research has shown that feral cats kill more than 1.5 billion native animals each year in Australia and foxes are responsible for many more,” it said.
“One of the best ways to ensure the survival of these species is to control these introduced predators.
“Western Shield has achieved significant conservation outcomes for many threatened mammal, bird and reptile species in WA, including the recovery of populations and increases in distribution.”
The DBCA said more than 30 focal native species had directly benefited from the Program, including the numbat (pictured), quokka, quenda, chuditch, woylie, western brush wallaby and black-flanked rock wallaby.
“Dryandra Woodland, near Narrogin, has benefited significantly through long-term introduced predator control, which has resulted in an increased number of numbats in this area,” it said.
“Research has found a threefold increase in native animal numbers in forests where fox management occurs, including for threatened species like the chuditch and woylie.
“Fox density has also been reduced by up to 80 per cent in fox management areas in the State’s South-West.”
The Department said the management of introduced predators took place across around 3.8 million hectares of the DBCA’s Parks and Wildlife Service-managed land and associated partner areas, from Karratha in the north, through forests of the South-West to east of Esperance.
