Abstract
Under ‘Western Shield’, the Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation have aerially deployed 1080 meat baits seasonally over the last 15 years, covering almost 3.5 million hectares. Supplementary hand baiting is also carried out at high conservation significance sites (e.g. swamps harbouring threatened quokka populations). Previous bait uptake studies have predominantly focussed on unbaited areas, with foxes taking large percentages of baits. Few studies have investigated bait uptake under established baiting programs. We monitored 1080 bait uptake at 7 monthly hand-baited sites (baited over 14 years to protect known quokka populations). Our study shows that very few baits are taken by target pest species (i.e. <10% of baits were taken by foxes, cats or feral pigs), with non-target species, including quokkas (~45% of baits monitored), western grey kangaroos, bandicoots, brush tail possums, and mardo, frequently consuming baits. Baits were out for an average of 4 days after deployment; the longest duration monitored was 30 days. This study indicates that only a small proportion of baits are being taken by target feral species. The large uptake by non-target species, particularly native species that are already of conservation importance, suggests that greater focus needs to be placed on bait delivery mechanisms.