Guy Ballard

Guy Ballard

@guyballard.bsky.social

Principal Research Scientist, DPIRD. Part-time, Uni of New England, NSW. Dingoes, foxes, cats and quolls. Rock wallabies when time permits. Comments are mine.

2,933 Followers 898 Following 155 Posts Joined Nov 2023
2 weeks ago

No, I’m not saying that. Dingoes are at risk from 1080 because they are late-comers to Australia, compared to our endemic fauna, who tend to be safe form the presentations and doses we use to protect them. Where dingoes are valued by land managers, managing foxes and cats is more difficult.

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3 weeks ago

Indeed. Many private and public land managers we hear from are concerned about decisions like this undermining their already limited abilities to manage the impacts of invasive species. 1080 users should be diligent and accountable but pet owners must be too.

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3 weeks ago
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How sad. Banning the use of 1080 (in parts of Australia) is really a blow against #conservation and #biosecurity management. People might think they’re fighting cruelty but they’re really condemning thousands of animals to horrible deaths at the teeth, claws and diseases of invasive predators.

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1 month ago
Brick wall in a bathroom with hanging plants and a feral horse skull nestled atop a vintage brass luggage rack.

Also great interior accent pieces

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1 month ago
Feral horse skull in a garden bed

Let’s get #feralhorse skulls trending as landscaping features in Australia. Just one per house = no more feral horses… 🤔

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1 month ago

#dingo (wongari) management on K’gari is complex.

Consider how hard it is for QPWS staff to manage this situation.

Many stakeholders, lots of media attention. Experts keen to weigh in.

This is a wildlife mgmt issue with cultural, economic and ecological aspects to it.

I wish them all the best.

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2 months ago
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Out for a walk? Carry a bag and collect some rubbish. Doesn’t matter if it’s at home or on holiday.

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2 months ago
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Parasite of the day (be nice)

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2 months ago
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Port Macquarie Creek
(Home of many quolls!)
Oxley Wild Rivers NP

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2 months ago
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Middle Creek.
Oxley Wild Rivers NP.

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3 months ago
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3 months ago

Mountain katydid.
Saw several while I was servicing cameras today.

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3 months ago

Just a few too many on my young Eucalypts. I wish them well as a species.

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3 months ago
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A robber-fly takes out a Chrysomelid beetle. Biological pest control in action!

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3 months ago
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Eastern bearded dragon,
Nambucca River, NSW, Australia.

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3 months ago
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A praying mantis ootheca on a native paper daisy was my ‘small find’ on the back paddock walk this morning. Christmas beetles are also enjoying several Eucalyptus spp. new growth but far fewer than last year (so far).

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3 months ago
Preview
Saving a species but at the expense of others? The way to hell is paved with good intentions. In the hope of saving certain endangered species and ecosystems, some conservation projects propose the introduction of large plant-feeding mammals int...

A study of introductions of large herbivorous mammals outside their native range suggests they do more harm than good to local biodiversity. Only 1 in 5 impacts is positive. Positive effects on certain native species often come at a cost to other natives. #bioinvasions www.unifr.ch/news/en/3344...

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3 months ago
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Thanks Guy!! As @benflips.bsky.social says "it's not rocket science, it's plumbing" #wildoz #esa2025

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3 months ago

Introduce yourself with 5 animals you’ve seen in the wild:
Spotted-tailed quoll
Blue-ringed octopus
Australian bustard
Mountain katydid
Stimpson’s python

#biodiversity

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3 months ago
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Blessed are those willing to act in the face of environmental threats. Saint @judydunlop.bsky.social inspired all at her #ESA2025 talk on stopping cane toads in their north western tracks.
All power to the WA toad ‘stoppers’.

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3 months ago

Best line of the week at #esa2025 belonged to Tiahni Adamson during the #ESA2025 Indigenous Plenary:
‘walking together at the speed of trust’.

We all need to embrace this, when working with others.

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6 months ago

Not ok.

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6 months ago

Incredibly galling to hear $400M to be wasted on shipping ppl to Nauru when we are decades under-funded for meaningful #biosecurity and #environmental action in Australia. 😭

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6 months ago

Certainly not. I can only respectfully request that our political representatives act in our collective long-term interest, rather than being distracted by any political or personal benefits associated with short term appeasement of industries that are NOT obliged to work for us.

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6 months ago
Preview
Murray Watt backs ‘no-go’ zones where development is banned – but not for Tasmania’s Robbins Island Environment minister says scientific evidence did not convince government that remote island qualified

Sound principle, now fund the necessary action Minister Watt.

‘we absolutely remain committed to the principle of not just protecting and reducing environmental damage, but restoring our environment.’

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

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6 months ago

Sure do, and we hope to share some of this once our current cat work finishes, but that’s sadly still a small proportion of the State.

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6 months ago

Interesting.
Dingoes prey varies with local availability, experience and social group size.
Also, what appears to be a solitary animal is often part of a dispersed social group.

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6 months ago

Agreed. Plenty of people, including me, were very interested in major macropod taxonomic changes.

Osphranter rufus, formerly Macropus, continues to be killed in large numbers because people perceive it to be a pest.

Def not exactly the same, no two wildlife issues are, but ‘impacts’ matter most.

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6 months ago

This is especially because impacts and management do not occur statewide.

It would be ideal if we could invest more in monitoring dingoes but as I noted (and despite some success in other research areas) we have not been able to secure grants for this, into the future.

2/2.

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