Almost 1000 feral animals were shot and killed during an annual competition outside Boyup Brook from February 9 to 11, thanks to a community-led action day.
Responsible and licensed shooters from both the local community and Perth city took to local bushland in droves on Saturday morning for the Boyup Brook Red Card Fox Shoot competition, with 177 registered entrants taking part in the annual competition.
The rules of the competition were simple: register your team with the competition, be safe, and shoot.
Rabbits were worth two points, foxes 10 points, cats 15 points and feral pigs 20 points. Points were directly correlated with the level of damage they cause to Boyup Brook's native bushland and animals.
Event organiser Marc Deas is blunt when he talks about the feral animal problem in the shire, and explained his reasons for helping curate the event in partnership with his wife and a local biodiversity organisation.
"This has always been an issue for us. There's definitely been an increase since last year, I would say," he said.
"Very few farmers would know we have as many as we do because they work all day.
"The guys who drive around at night – and I've been driving around at night – it's easy to see numbers are up.
"Some farmers say they don't have any, but then you blow a [fox] whistle and you have four running at you."
While the event is annual, sustained culling is carried out in the shire throughout the year in order to keep numbers down – but as shooters headed out on Saturday, it became clear they still had their work cut out for them.
At the end of the weigh-in, organisers found 701 foxes, 186 rabbits, 18 cats and five feral pigs had been shot and removed from native animal habitats and surrounding farmland.
And Mr Deas said there was no doubt there's plenty more where they came from.
Giving invasive species the red card
The Red Card program is a community-based feral animal management program that operates across the agricultural regions of WA.
The program is typically only picked up when there is a volunteer organiser in the shire, and it's an attempt at addressing the climbing numbers of feral animals found in some of WA's farming areas.
Locals in the Boyup Brook region have signalled their support for the program, and now with the weight of the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development behind them it seems they could become more and more common in WA's farming regions.
There were nearly 200 volunteers involved with the Fox Shoot, and more landowners than ever opened up their properties to the shooters.
"Of course there's a lot of people shooting all the time. We've got one local bloke who shot around 300 last year. But days like these do make a difference," Mr Deas said.
He said ultimately, the community-based option meant more feet on the ground, more land covered and a bigger dent in WA's feral population in the long run.
"Some people went out all night," Mr Deas said.
"I went out for a few hours at night, but there were definitely some people out there for the entire weekend."
There will be a follow-up event held in April, although Mr Deas said the numbers were usually considerably lower than the annual February cull.
The slow death of 1080
A popular method for WA farmers and landowners in controlling feral animal populations is the use 1080 bait, but the success of the Fox Shoot has prompted a community shift away from the use of the poison.
"I think pretty much everyone in the community is on the same page," Mr Deas said.
"Some people are always going to use 1080, I used 1080 at one point."
1080 bait, or sodium fluoroacetate, is the chosen method by many WA farmers in the eradication of European red foxes - however, its use has come at a price.
There is no antidote for 1080 poisoning and while native animals have grown resistant to the poison, some still regard its use as cruel.
Death usually results from heart or respiratory failure, and in the case of some herbivores they do not show symptoms for around half-an-hour after ingesting the poison.
This means they can venture away from their burrows or home base, and as a result, hunters are unable to pinpoint their original location.
As a largely agriculturally based town, Boyup Brook is home to a number of working dogs and domestic pets.
While landholders are urged to tell their neighbours about their use of the bait, the practice can be dangerous if not properly controlled.
"[In using 1080], I'm worried about the working dogs and them accidentally picking it up," Mr Deas said.
"I don't like to use it anymore... I like the community days like that."
Community action the 'most effective' way of dealing with pests
It seems the WA government may be in agreement.
Mr Deas and his wife worked with local not-for-profit conservation company Blackwood Biosecurity to set up the Fox Shoot event.
Blackwood Biosecurity is recognised by the state government for the part it plays in keeping WA's feral animal population in check, and it focuses its funding on some of Boyup Brook's major problems: that is, feral pigs, European red foxes, and wild rabbits.
The Boyup Brook community has run these fox hunts for over 15 years, and the Department of has now thrown its weight behind the push to community led action over 1080 bait.
Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development invasive species manager Tim Thompson said the government was now considering community action days as the one of the best ways to manage WA's ferals animals.
"Co-ordinated, community-led action is considered the most effective approach for management of widespread and established pests such as foxes and feral pigs," he said.
"The department supports a community coordinated approach to the management of established pest in many ways including compliance, best practice control, support for community engagement processes, permit and regulatory requirements, ongoing skills development and training for biosecurity group executive support staff.
"Recognised biosecurity groups, in consultation with their members, can request a declared pest rate for their areas. Funds raised from rates are matched dollar-for-dollar by the State Government, to support pest management activities."
The Blackwood Biosecurity group has been recognised as Boyup Brook's manager, also covering the local governments of Bridgetown-Greenbushes, Nannup, West Arthur and some of Donnybrook-Balingup.
Mr Thompson said he hoped to engage more and more local governments in the fight against WA's feral animals, starting in the south west.
The department is currently facilitating training to increase the number of accredited, independent pest controllers to work with community groups in the South West.
