Feral deer have been eradicated from a Great Barrier Reef island in an attempt to preserve one of Australia’s largest flatback turtle rookeries.
Wild Duck Island sits off the central Queensland coast between Rockhampton and Mackay.
One of Australia’s largest flatback turtle rookeries is on Wild Duck Island. (Supplied: Department of Environment)
The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) believe the rusa deer species was illegally introduced to the 330-hectare island for hunting in 2005.
Southern Great Barrier Reef principal ranger David Orgill said the elusive animals had been significantly impacting the island’s vegetation, and threatened the flatback turtle population.
Feral rusa deer were illegally introduced to the island in 2005. (Supplied: Department of Environment)
“The deer were down in among the dunes when the turtles were coming up and trying to nest … up until they start laying, if anything disturbs them, they will return back to the water,” he said.
“They were also trampling on the actual clutches of eggs — they are a hard-hoofed animal and that was impacting … the success of a clutch.”
The feral deer were deterring flatback turtles from laying eggs on the beach. (Supplied: Department of Environment)
Once researchers discovered the devastating impact the deer were having on turtle nests in 2018, the feral animals were targeted for eradication with the help of multiple government agencies.
The Department of Environment, Science and Innovation embarked on a long-running control program involving aerial and ground shooting using thermal cameras.
Flatback turtle nests were being trampled by feral deer. (ABC Pilbara: James Liveris)
“We believe by 2023, we had removed something like 272 deer,” Mr Orgill said.
“The development of new technology to assist us to find feral animals amongst dense vegetation has really stepped things up.
Earlier this year, 44 remote cameras installed on the island did not capture any images of the feral deer.
Forty-four cameras were installed on the island to monitor feral deer numbers. (Supplied: Department of Environment)
The department said this was the first recorded eradication of feral rusa deer from a national park island in Australia.
“It’s not just on Wild Duck that this has helped with,” Mr Orgill said.
“[On] a number of islands across the Great Barrier Reef with large pest animals, feral goats, feral pigs, this technology is starting to become a real game-changer in seeing eradication being achieved.”
Director of the Queensland Conservation Council Dave Copeman said ongoing funding to protect and manage national parks was critical.
“This is great news, we strongly welcome investment to deal with invasive species like deer,” he said.
“They can cause incredible amounts of damage and people can be mistaken because they think deer are cute, but they can be incredibly destructive.
“What we want to see is much more investment in this across the state.”
