Our Business
Despite significant investments in bounties, barriers and biological control efforts, Australia's problems with animal pests remain unresolved. Pests such as foxes, cane toads, feral cats and dogs, starlings and mynas are widely distributed in the environment, to the great detriment of its other inhabitants.
Pestat assists the national effort to control pest animals by delivering:
- New Tools and Strategies
- Project Management Services
- Scientific Consulting Services
New Tools and Strategies
Pestat Pty Ltd supports 'in-house' R&D consistent with its corporate goals, with a view to commercialisation and delivery.
Wild Dogs and Foxes
Pestat has successfully developed FeralMone®, a non-lethal chemical mixture which is an effective chemical attractant for wild dogs and foxes.
Working in collaboration with New South Wales Department of Environment and Conservation, Pestat researched a number of lure mixtures which included testing in pen trials with foxes to determine their relative attractiveness. “FeralMone” was subsequently developed from the most active attractant and released onto the market in 2005.
Above left: Wild dog, Namadgi National Park. Wild dogs are often hybrids of domestic dogs and wild dingoes.
Above right: Left: Rob Hunt (left) of NSW Parks & Wildlife Service and David Jenkins of Parasitec, attach a collar with a satellite tracking device to a wild dog, Namadgi National Park. This was one of the first dogs to be caught using FeralMone as the attractant.
Pest Birds
Australian white ibis have become a problem in parts of Sydney.
An area of continuing involvement for Pestat has been work on humane and effective solutions to problems posed by pest birds. Research was undertaken by Pestat and the NSW Centennial Park Authorities to find a humane method to control excessive numbers of Australian white ibis breeding in parks in central Sydney. This method involves coating of eggs in nests with cooking oil to reduce the breeding success of the colonies and was 100% effective.
In other work Pestat is collaborating with the Department of Water, Land and Biodiversity Conservation to assess suitability of a chemical agent for control of common starlings in feedlots and piggeries. This project is supported by the Bureau of Rural Sciences through the National Feral Animal Control Program, Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre and Australian Pork Ltd.
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Above left: The Starling Control Team meet in Adelaide, March 2007. L to R: Ron Sinclair, Tina Bentz, Steve Lapidge, Sally Campbell, David Dall and Colin Bailey.
Above right: Starlings circle above a piggery, South Australia. Their defaecation near water and food troughs is an ongoing problem.
The cane toad (Bufo marinus) is one of the most poisonous amphibians in the world . The glands at the toad's 'shoulders' store the mixture of compounds that constitute the toxic 'venom.'
Pestat has developed technology for safe and humane control of cane toads in domestic and urban settings, and is now working to deliver a product for household use.
Project Services
Pestat's current activities include involvement in a major project for Australian Wool Innovation Ltd (AWI Ltd) and the Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre (IA CRC) that will deliver additional chemical agents for use in lethal baiting of feral canid predators (wild dogs and foxes).
One of the chemicals currently being tested is faster-acting and more selective in its toxicity than the agent now most commonly used in baits (i.e. sodium monofluoroacetate - often known as 'Compound 1080'). Availability and adoption of the new chemical is expected to increase the efficiency with which fox and wild dog control can be implemented in Australia.
Scientific Consulting Services
Pestat offers consulting services across the spectrum of 'desk-top' issues relevant to animal pest management, with particular emphasis on regulatory aspects of these management activities.
Above left: David Dall, left, of Pestat and consulting veterinarian during field trials, Queensland, January 2006.
Above right: Steve Lapidge, Pestat, conducting trials, Queensland, January 2006.
Acknowledgements
We thank the following collaborators for kind permission to use their images on our website: Mr John Tracy (NSW DPI) for starlings; Mr Rob Hunt (NSW DEC) and Mr Mick Davis (South Coast RLPB) for feral dogs.
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Site updated 19 February 2007
