Context. Improving the welfare outcomes for captured animals is critically important and should underpin 'best-practice' trapping. Most Australian States and Territories have regulations and guidelines that form a legal framework for the maximum number of hours an animal can be restrained in a trap. Because servicing all traps within preferred time frames (less than 24 h) can be logistically difficult or is considered undesirable for efficacy reasons, some jurisdictions have adopted relatively long trap-checking intervals (up to 72 h).

Aims. We developed and tested the signal transmission and alert efficacy of a foot hold-trap alert system, based on Celium technology, so as to advise trappers of the activation of individual foot-hold traps, even in remote locations.

Methods. We refined the Celium trap-alert system and designed a below-ground wireless node that transmits a message via satellite or by using the cellular system when a foot-hold trap is sprung. We tested signal transmission and alert efficacy in three locations, with a focus in Australia.

Key results. Transmission of signals from nodes to hubs and to a smart-phone application were used to resolve interference problems and to identify signal limitations and strengths. During the capture of 34 dingoes, 91% of captures resulted in an alert being received. False negatives were attributed to technical issues with nearby transmitters swamping signals, and software problems that have since been resolved. In 40 captures of dogs and foxes, only one trap-alert transmitter (mole) was uncovered by a target animal and no devices were damaged by animals post-capture.

Conclusions. This cable-less trap-alert system successfully uses both cellular and satellite networks to transmit messages from desert and coastal locations to trappers, in Australia. We confirmed that this trap-alert system is not detected by target predators in the areas tested and can be effectively used to alert trappers when traps have been sprung.

Implications. This trap-alert system provides a tool to improve welfare outcomes for trapped target and non-target animals through Australia and New Zealand and wherever trapping occurs. It, furthermore, provides a solution to checking traps daily when the distance to and between traps cannot be covered within an appropriate time frame. Although trap alerts can never replace the value of daily trap checking by the trapper, they provide a solution to a management problem, namely, one of accessibility to sites.

Feral horses, also known as brumbies, are widely distributed across Australia with some populations being managed largely by human intervention. Rehoming of suitable feral horses following passive trapping has wide community acceptance as a management tool. However, there is little information about the number and relative economic value of feral horses compared with cohorts in the riding horse market. We examined 15,404 advertisements of horses for sale in 53 editions of Horse Deals, published from February 2017 to July 2022. Despite the considerable media attention and public scrutiny surrounding feral horse management, rehomed feral horses represented only a tiny fraction of the horse market in the current study. Of the 15,404 advertisements examined, only 128 (0.0083%) were for feral horses. We recorded phrases used to describe behavioural characteristics and other variables. The following variables were found to be not independent: Ridden Status, Height, Age, Sex, Colour, and Warning terms/more work. Using descriptive statistics to describe basic features of the data, the average price for feral horses ($1408) was lower than that for domestic horses ($1790) with the maximum price for a domestic horse being nearly twice the maximum for a feral horse. Univariate analysis showed feral horses were over-represented among “Unbroken” horses and underrepresented among “Ridden”, “Broodmare” and “Harness” horses compared with domestic bred horses (p< 0.001). Feral horses appeared over-represented at shorter heights, among younger age groups (3 years or younger and 3.1 to 6 years) (p< 0.001) and in the dilute colour category (p= 0.008). The multivariable mixed model on price revealed that for domestic horses, the highest estimated marginal mean price averaged across the colour categories was for ridden horses aged 6.1–10-year-old at $1657.04 (95% CI $1320.56–$2074.66). In contrast, for feral horses, the multivariable mixed model demonstrated the similar highest estimated marginal mean averaged was for green broken 3–6-year-old horses that have undergone foundation training under saddle at $2526.97 (95% CI $1505.63–$4208.27). Australian feral horses were valued differently from similar domestic horses in the recreational riding horse market and further research is warranted to determine appropriate target markets and boost the sustainability of rehoming as a feral horse management tool.

GPS tracking collars were fitted to five free-ranging dogs (Canis familiarise) in the Arcadia Valley, Queensland to establish baseline movement data in this unique topographical landscape. Activity areas were generated with three home range methods using seasonally constrained fixes. Activity areas (Brownian Bridge and Utilisation Distribution) ranged from 2.9 to 689 km² in this landscape, and revealed that topographical features previously thought to confine free-ranging dog movement were no barrier to habitat use.

Context. Outside its breeding season, the marsupial carnivore the spotted-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus) is apparently largely unaffected by aerial baiting for dingoes and other wild dogs (Canis familiaris). However, the potential impact of aerial baiting during spring on female spotted-tailed quolls carrying and weaning young remains unquantified.
Aim. The survivorship of female quolls and their pouch young was investigated after aerial baiting at two sites representing the northern and southern part of their New South Wales range. The null hypothesis was that aerial baiting would not lead to direct mortality of any adult females or higher pouch young mortality over that reported in the published literature under normal conditions.
Methods. In total, nine female quolls with pouch young and eight male quolls were trapped, fitted with GPS/VHF collars containing mortality sensors and released at their point of capture. After trapping ceased, meat baits nominally containing 6 mg of 1080 and 50 mg of the biomarker rhodamine B were deployed by helicopter at both sites at the maximal permissible rate of 40 baits km^-1. We monitored collared quolls daily for 4-5 weeks for mortality then retrapped animals and sampled whiskers for evidence of the biomarker. The fate of pouch young was also followed throughout our study by examining pouches of adult females and camera trapping at maternal den sites.
Key Results. No collared quolls died. After the daily monitoring period, 10 quolls, including all six collared female quolls, were trapped at the southern site, and whisker samples taken and assayed for Rhodamine B. Seven (4 females and 3 males) tested positive for rhodamine B, indicating consumption of baits. Separate bands of the biomarker in whisker samples indicated that most animals that tested positive had been exposed to multiple baits. At the northern site, four quolls (including two females and two males) tested positive for rhodamine B from the nine sampled. Post-baiting inspection of pouches of all trapped adult female animals, together with camera trapping at den sites, showed that the development of pouch young was unaffected by the baiting. Camera trapping arrays set across both sites continued to record the animals that were exposed to baits well beyond the baiting events, including evidence of breeding in a subsequent season.
Conclusion. Our aerial baiting programs had no observable impact on the collared female quolls, or their ability to raise and wean young. These findings are consistent with results from all previous field-based experimental studies, which show no population-level impacts of 1080 baits on spotted-tailed quolls.
Implications. Land managers should not be concerned about impacts of aerial baiting for wild dogs on spotted-tailed quolls, either in autumn or in spring during the breeding season.

Context. Dogs aid hunters in many parts of Australia. Because of close proximity, transfer of zoonotic disease between hunters, hunting dogs and wildlife can, and does, occur. Knowledge about cooperative hunting between humans and domestic dogs and interactions with wildlife in Australia is limited, but is necessary to improve zoonotic-risk mitigation strategies.

Aims. We aimed to describe the frequency and geographic distribution of hunting with dogs, and to document interactions between them and wildlife that could contribute to zoonosis transmission.

Methods.Australian hunters were invited via web-based hunting forums, hunting supply stores and government agency communications to complete an online questionnaire about their hunting activities.

Key results. Most of the 440 responding hunters resided on Australia's eastern coast. Pest animal management and recreation were their primary drivers for hunting with dogs. Most hunters used one or two dogs, and travelled ≥500 km to target feral pigs, rabbits, birds and deer. Almost a quarter of respondents (N = 313) had lost a dog while hunting, but most (93%, N = 61) were reportedly recovered within a few hours. Half the respondents indicated that they had encountered wild dogs while hunting, and reported a range of consequences from non-contact interactions through to attacks on the hunting dog or hunter.

Conclusions. Australian hunters frequently used dogs to assist in hunts of birds and introduced mammals, particularly where access was difficult because of rough terrain or thick vegetation. Interactions between hunters and non-target animals such as wild dogs were common, providing potential pathways for the spread of diseases. Furthermore, hunting expeditions >500 km from the point of residence occurred regularly, which could facilitate translocation of important zoonotic diseases between states and the creation of disparate foci of disease spread, even into highly populated areas.

Implications. Our improved understanding of hunting-dog use in Australia is essential to quantify the risk of disease transmission between wildlife and humans, identify transmission pathways and devise management plans to quash disease outbreaks. To promote rapid detection of exotic diseases, hunters should be encouraged to report unusual wildlife behaviour and interactions with their dogs.

Camera traps provide a valuable tool for surveying wildlife, but theft and vandalism can be costly and pose a constant threat to image data integrity and continuity. Permanent, secure posts represent one solution, but they need constant innovation to account for the persistence and ingenuity of camera trap vandals and thieves. Here we outline the progression of designs for a bollard-style housing used to mitigate theft and damage of camera traps placed for continuous monitoring of predators and other wildlife along tracks. The evolving design process over a 10 year period was driven by ongoing attacks on the posts and finally our endeavours to counter what we considered might be the next attack on our design. The current security posts have not been breached to date, producing a design that we consider the most formidable.

Context. Wildlife and pest managers and stakeholders should constantly aim to improve animal-welfare outcomes when foot-hold trapping pest animals. To minimise stress and trauma to trapped animals, traps should be checked at least once every 24 h, normally as soon after sunrise as possible. If distance, time, environmental or geographical constraints prevent this, toxins such as strychnine can be fitted to trap jaws to induce euthanasia. However, strychnine is considered to have undesirable animal-welfare outcomes because animals are conscious while clinical signs of intoxication are present. A toxin considered more humane, para-aminopropiophenone (PAPP), is available to induce euthanasia in trapped animals but is untested for presentation and efficacy.
Aim. We tested the efficacy of two types of lethal trap device (LTD's), each using a paste formulation of PAPP as the active toxin to replace the use of strychnine on foot-hold jaw traps.

Methods. Elastomer LTDs and PAPP-cloths were fitted to jaw traps set to capture wild dogs (Canis familiaris). Camera-trap data was used to record animal behaviours after capture and to determine the efficacy of both modalities.
Key results. Every trapped wild dog (n = 117) gnawed at the elastomer LTD's or PAPP-cloth attached to the trap jaws that restrained them; one dog failed to liberate the toxin. From the dogs caught in the main trial (n = 56), a mortality rate of 84% and 87% was reported respectively. The mean time from trap-to-death for elastomer LTDs was 64 min and 68 min for PAPP-cloths.

Conclusions. Elastomer LTDs and PAPP cloths combined caused the mortality of 85% of captured dogs. This efficacy could be improved by adopting the recommendations discussed in the present study for deploying PAPP-based LTDs during trap deployment.

Implications. PAPP-based LTDs offer an alternative option to the use of strychnine and improve the welfare outcomes for trapped predators, especially where traps are not checked within the recommended 24-h period.

An understanding of the factors that drive inter-population variability in home-range size is essential for managing the impacts of invasive species with broad global distributions, such as the feral domestic cat (Felis catus). The assumption that home-range sizes scale negatively with landscape productivity is fundamental to many spatial behaviour models, and inter-site variation in landscape productivity has often been invoked to explain the vast differences in feral cat home-range sizes among different regions. However, the validity of this explanation has not been tested or described. We used regression models to examine the ability of remotely sensed landscape productivity data, average body weight and population density to explain differences in the size of feral cat home ranges estimated across a diverse collection of sites across the globe. As expected for a solitary polygynous carnivore, female cats occupied smaller home ranges in highly productive sites, and range sizes of male cats scaled positively with those of females. However, the relationship between range size and productivity broke down at highly seasonal sites. Home-range size also scaled negatively with population density, but there was no clear relationship with average body weight. The relationships we describe should be useful for predicting home-range sizes and for designing effective feral cat control and monitoring programmes in many situations. More generally, these results confirm the importance of landscape productivity in shaping the spatial distribution of solitary carnivores, but the nature of the relationship is more complicated than is often appreciated.