{"id":17373,"date":"2008-06-11T06:45:56","date_gmt":"2008-06-10T22:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/media-release\/dingo-urine-offers-humane-solution-to-kangaroo-cull\/"},"modified":"2008-06-11T06:45:56","modified_gmt":"2008-06-10T22:45:56","slug":"dingo-urine-offers-humane-solution-to-kangaroo-cull","status":"publish","type":"media-release","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/media-release\/dingo-urine-offers-humane-solution-to-kangaroo-cull\/","title":{"rendered":"Dingo urine offers humane solution to kangaroo cull"},"content":{"rendered":"
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C167\/08<\/p><\/div>\n

11 June 2008<\/span><\/div>\n

Tasmania\u2019s marsupials have been offered a life-line by researchers at Curtin University of Technology\u2019s Department of Environmental Biology utilising cutting edge science involving fresh dingo urine.<\/p>\n

Historically, Tasmania\u2019s logging industry has used 1080 poison, shooting and more recently cyanide to control kangaroos and wallabies in areas marked for reforestation, however this method is unselective and kills all wildlife.<\/p>\n

Partially synthesised and pelletised by project partner, The Chemistry Centre WA, the dingo urine product repels wild marsupials when spread in areas of new-growth forestation and offers a realistic alternative to lethal baits and shooting.<\/p>\n

A compilation of recent Tasmanian field trials using pellets made from fresh dingo urine demonstrate a consistent flight response by kangaroos, wallabies and possums due to the assumed presence and fear of\u00a0predators.<\/p>\n

Dr Michael Parsons, Project Leader outlined the results.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the most recent trial, an average of 28 wallabies and 47 possums were present each night before the dingo urine treatment, this dropped to six and nine animals respectively per night (78% reduction in wallabies and 80% reduction in possums)\u201d Dr Parsons explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso, other trials demonstrated that Forester Kangaroos were repelled for 31 days from encroaching rose gardens around a domestic residence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The filmed response showed Kangaroos approaching cautiously from 4-6 metres away then fleeing the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cOverall we spent 212 days in the field testing the urine. The majority of macropods did not breach the urine barrier at any time throughout these tests, the exception being the curious Brushtail possum.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study also looked at the effect of fresh dingo urine in comparison to aged dingo urine and identified that fresh urine had a \u2018time stamp\u2019 with a heightened deterrent effect as animals were more wary of a predator they thought was nearby, rather than an animal that now may be long-gone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used chemosensory cues, and time-stamp, present in the fresh dingo urine to manipulate the behaviour of the macropods, by taking advantage of the innate and learned fear of natural predators,\u201d Dr Parsons said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no effect when aged dingo urine was used.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Curtin based research team were recently awarded a $1.6 million ARC grant to further their research on dingo urine and its ecological application for the mining and forestry industries.<\/p>\n

The project is strongly supported by the RSPCA.<\/p>\n

Contact:\u00a0 Dr Michael Parsons, 0431 424 681, 08 9266 7907 M.Parsons@curtin.edu.au<\/a> or Lisa Mayer, PR Coordinator, Curtin, 08 9266 1930, 0401 103 755 l.mayer@curtin.edu.au<\/a><\/p>\n

CRICOS provider code: 00301J<\/p>\n

Modified: 11 June 2008<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tasmania\u2019s marsupials have been offered a life-line by researchers at Â鶹ֱ²¥ of Technology\u2019s Department of Environmental Biology utilising cutting edge science involving fresh dingo urine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4275,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_research-areas":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"research-areas":[],"class_list":["post-17373","media-release","type-media-release","status-publish","hentry","category-research"],"acf":{"post_options":{"":null,"additional_content":{"title":"","content":"","image":false},"related_courses":false,"credits":{"author":"","photographer":"","media":false},"display_author":true,"banner":{"image":false}}},"featured_image":false,"author_meta":{"first_name":"Curtin","last_name":"University","display_name":"Â鶹ֱ²¥"},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/17373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/media-release"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media-release\/17373\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17373"},{"taxonomy":"research-areas","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-areas?post=17373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}