DIRK HARTOG ISLAND SANCTUARY IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Dirk Hartog Island, a National Park in the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, is Western Australia’s largest island.  It is 80 km long and 15 km at its widest point with an area of about 63,000 ha.

The island is named after its first European visitor, a captain with the Dutch East India Company,  who landed there in 1616.  Scientists have established that at that time there were 13 native mammal species living there.  These included the Woylie, Chuditch (Western Quoll), Dibbler and Western Barred Bandicoot.

The island became a pastoral lease in 1869. When it became a national park in 2009, there were only three of the native mammal species still living there.  The local extinctions were the result of human activity including the introduction of goats, sheep and cats. By 2009 the island’s goat population had expanded to an estimated 10,000 and the impact of these animals grazing and trampling on the native vegetation had been severe.

An ambitious twenty year project “Return to 1616” (costed at $16.3 million) has recently achieved its first major milestone – the removal of thousands of feral cats, goats and sheep. The way is now clear for the re-introduction of threatened native species to a sanctuary in which it is hoped they will thrive.

A fence was put across the island to divide it into two cells.  The island was then baited and the southern section was monitored to gauge its success and then this process was continued in the north.

The first native animals to be reintroduced were 140 Rufous and Banded Hare-wallabies from nearby Bernier and Dorre islands.  The remaining species will be reintroduced in the coming years.

Stephen Dawson, the WA Environment Minister, said that the project was part of a broader suite of measures the State Government was undertaking to create animal sanctuaries for threatened species around the state.

“Over the past 200 years, we’ve seen our species threatened because of land clearing, because of urbanisation, so to have arks like this available in the state where we can restore the animals is very important,” Mr Dawson said.        

            - Leonie Blain

 This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on October 22, 2018.  

Relocating Banded Hare Wallabies on Dirk Hartog Island

REMOVAL OF FERAL PESTS FROM WESTERN AUSTRALIA'S DIRK HARTOG ISLAND

Four hundred years ago Dirk Hartog, a captain with the Dutch East India Company, landed on the Western Australian coast on what is now called Dirk Hartog Island. The island was visited by further explorers including Willem de Vlamingh and William Dampier.

 

Dirk Hartog Island, now a national park in the Shark Bay World Heritage Area, is Western Australia’s largest island. It is 80 km long and 15 km at its widest point with an area of about 63,000 hectares.

When these early explorers landed on the island there were, according to subfossil records, 13 native mammal species living there.  Today there are just three.  The local extinctions have been the result of human activity including the introduction of goats, sheep and cats.  By 2009, when it became a national park, the island’s goat population had expanded to an estimated 10,000 and the impact of these animals grazing and trampling on the native vegetation had been very severe.

“Return to 1616” is an ambitious $16.3 million project to eradicate all feral animals from the island and return the 10 locally extinct species – including the Woylie, Chuditch (Western Quoll), Dibbler and Western Barred Bandicoot – to the island. There are also plans to introduce two other threatened species, the Banded Hare-wallaby and the Rufous Hare-wallaby, from neighbouring islands in order to aid their conservation.

Two-thirds of the funding for the project comes from an offset which was a condition for Chevron’s Gorgon gas project on Barrow Island and a third from Western Australia’s Department of Parks and Wildlife.

The project has used a variety of methods to remove the feral animals.  “Judas” goats wearing radio collars have been used to locate goats for aerial shooting programs. Methods such as pheromone lures and mouse sound effects have been used to trap cats while baiting has also eradicated many of these pests.  Infra-red motion cameras and cat-detector dogs have also been used to detect cats.

Species introduction will only take place after the project operators are sure that the cat menace has been completely removed and the native vegetation has had time to recover.

            -  Leonie Blain

This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on September 26, 2016