TheVeterinarian ■ October 2023
■ www.theveterinarian.com.au
Peregrine falcon chicks off to a cracking start A water tower in Orange, in the Central West of NSW, became the unlikely centre of international attention in October, when its resident peregrine falcons welcomed their latest arrivals. The nesting box was set up in 2007 when Charles Sturt University staff noticed the falcons in the area, and the first chick hatched in December 2008. Live streaming of the nesting box was introduced in 2011, and since then the audience has grown, with some 900 viewers accessing the stream at any one time. In parts of the world, the impacts of the use of certain pesticides saw the peregrine falcon become extirpated; however, recovery efforts proved successful, and the species is now found on every continent except Antarctica, having adapted well to man-made environments and the presence of humans. The FalconCam Project in Orange is run by a volunteer group of staff and ex-staff. It relies on donations and fundraising to cover the costs of the technical requirement and research. The current pair of mating falcons are thought to be around 10 years old, and in total, as of 2023, the project has tracked over 20 hatchlings, most of which survived to become fledglings. To view the webcams visit science health.csu.edu.au/ Julia Gardiner
Picture Charles Sturt University
■ JULIA GARDINER
Cat curfews considered to curtail killings In early September the Australian government released its threat abatement plan for predation by feral cats for public consultation. The plan, which has public backing from the Country Women’s Association (CWA), aims to implement measures to protect native animals, including giving councils the power to restrict pet numbers, ban cats outdoors and impose nighttime curfews on cats. The move comes after research has found that cats kill more than 500 million native animals each year and focuses on ways to manage Australia’s estimated 5.3 million pet cats, as well as the millions of feral cats. Domestic cats have come under scrutiny as they are typically found in higher densities than their feral counterparts, and therefore have a greater impact on their local environments. Non-desexed pet cats can also contribute to the feral cat population with unregulated breeding. One of authors of an Australian study into the environmental impact of cats, Sarah Legge of the Australian National University said Australia’s mammal extinction rate is the highest in the world, with cats being the leading cause of two-thirds of Australia’s mammal extinctions over the past 200 years. “On average, each feral cat in the bush kills a whopping 740 animals per year. In a year with average conditions there are about 2.8 million feral cats, but that figure can double when good rain leads to an abundance of prey animals,” Legge said. “On average each pet cat kills about 75 animals per year, but many of these kills are never witnessed by their owners.”
Sarah Legge
The NSW arm of the CWA announced earlier in the year that feral cats were their current pest project, working to raise awareness of the damage they caused to native species. “Domestic cats, for their own protection from feral cats and disease, as well as their contribution to the hunting of mammals and other native animals should, as a minimum be curfewed at night,” said CWA’s Heather Martin. “It is a huge task to eliminate feral cats but we can collectively reduce the native wildlife impact of cats generally by desexing our domestic cats and housing them at night.” The Australian government’s 10-year plan will have an estimated cost of $60 million in the first five years and is a significant element in the government’s global commitment to end extinctions.
Training to halt infectious disease progress The University of Sydney-led Asia Pacific Consortium of Veterinary Epidemiology (APCOVE) has launched a field training package to halt the progress of infectious diseases. The 36-module eLearning package was launched in Berlin in October, and it is designed to help vets and handlers detect and prevent diseases in the field before they potentially emerge as pandemics. The launch occurred during the Global Field Epidemiology Partnership (GFEP) meeting as part of events around the World Health Summit. APCOVE leader Navneet Dhand from the Sydney School of Veterinary Science announced the training modules at the meeting, and said they are the biggest resource for field veterinary epidemiology training, and they are now available “free of cost for anyone.” The risk of zoonotic diseases transferring from livestock and wildlife to humans is increasing, as shown by the COVID-19 pandemic. Funded by the Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security and DFAT, the training units have been prepared over three years and include modules on risk assessment, outbreak investigation, surveillance, biosecurity and communication. The modules include interactive features, case studies and scenarios to maximise engagement. They have been tested and developed in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Timor-Leste and Vietnam, and are available in several languages. More information, visit www.apcove.com.au/resources. ■ SAM WORRAD
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