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Every Australian knows common myna birds are bad, rabbits are worse and feral cats kill native animals unchecked.<\/p>\n
But how do we decide what makes an introduced species \u201cgood\u201d or \u201cbad\u201d \u2013 and will we ever concede that some species are here to stay?<\/p>\n
Our new series on invasive species explores these questions.<\/p>\n
Dozens of native species have gone extinct<\/a> since colonisation and many others are in decline. In response, conservationists have rightly focused on reducing threats to surviving species to stave off further extinctions. Feral animals are thought to contribute to the problem, alongside fragmented habitats, climate change and the end of most First Nations\u2019 fire regimes<\/a>. <\/p>\n But there\u2019s a paradox here. Some feral animals are abundant in Australia \u2013 but threatened, endangered or extinct in the wild in their original regions. For these species, Australia is acting as a last refuge.<\/p>\n How can a feral animal be threatened?<\/p>\n Wild herds of dromedaries (one-humped camels) haven\u2019t roamed the deserts of North Africa and the Middle East for about 2,000 years<\/a>. The species is now considered extinct in the wild. It survived as a domesticated animal \u2013 until Australia imported camels as pack animals for the dry interior.<\/p>\n In the early 20th century, many were left to fend for themselves. Large wild herds of dromedaries once again roam, but this time in Australia\u2019s arid rangelands and deserts.<\/p>\n Other large endangered herbivores roaming Australia include banteng, water buffalo<\/a>, horses, donkeys<\/a>, and three species of deer. Many of these have domesticated populations in other countries, but are threatened with extinction in the wild. <\/p>\n Banteng are especially noteworthy. Endemic to Southeast Asia, these wild bovines were brought to Australia\u2019s tropical north to provide meat and milk for an attempted British settlement<\/a> on the Couburg Peninsula near Darwin. When the settlers withdrew, the banteng were left behind. They thrived.<\/p>\n In modern time, banteng have become critically endangered in their home range due to hunting, habitat loss and disease. One of their most important strongholds is now the Northern Territory. <\/p>\n Of the six deer species introduced to Australia, three are at risk globally. In the 1860s, hog deer were introduced in Victoria as a game species. They, too, are now endangered<\/a> in their original range in South and Southeast Asia. <\/p>\n Javan rusa deer and sambar deer are considered vulnerable and declining in their native ranges, but both have well-established populations in Australia.<\/p>\n Banteng are a species of wild cattle native to Southeast Asian rainforests. A dilemma for conservation<\/p>\n For decades, Australian authorities have treated feral animals as pests to be controlled or eradicated. <\/p>\n These actions are driven by care for Australia\u2019s native species. Free-roaming deer, cattle and camels can compete with native species and livestock for food, as do all large wild herbivores.<\/p>\n In response, large numbers of dromedaries<\/a>, deer<\/a> and banteng<\/a> are shot or poisoned every year.<\/p>\n But is this the right approach, given that Australian populations of these animals may represent an unexpected insurance policy against extinction? <\/p>\n Globally, around 20%<\/a> of introduced mammal species are threatened in their native range, while roughly 50% of all introduced megafauna (animals weighing over 45 kilograms) are either threatened or extinct where they originally evolved. <\/p>\n Hog deer are now rare across the Indian subcontinent and other areas \u2013 but their numbers are rising in Australia. Should introduced species be conserved?<\/p>\n Debate over introduced species is often polarised. Many conservationists argue<\/a> they should be controlled because they threaten native wildlife, agriculture and ecosystems. <\/p>\n Others argue<\/a> conservation should value all species in a world of global reshuffling, particularly when introduced populations may help prevent extinction. <\/p>\n Both arguments have merit. The challenge is to avoid reducing the issue to a simple choice: kill or protect.<\/p>\n European rabbits are endangered<\/a> in their native range in Western Europe. But Australia\u2019s rabbits can have strong effects on soil and chow through plants, particularly in land cleared for farming. Blanket protection of Australia\u2019s rabbits would have little support. By contrast, there\u2019s a case to be made to protect banteng.<\/p>\n Too often, there\u2019s little space for these difficult questions to be raised and worked through in conservation. <\/p>\n The limits of control<\/p>\n Eradication is no longer the goal for most introduced species. Few see the eradication of all feral rabbits, cats, foxes, camels, deer, goats, horses and pigs from the continent as a possibility. <\/p>\n Management has often shifted, quietly, towards containment, damage reduction or local control. We should be more explicit about this reality.<\/p>\n Eradication makes most sense on islands, inside fenced reserves, or when an introduced population is small, new and causing abrupt changes<\/a>. Once a species is widespread, long established, hard to remove or globally important, we should give up on eradication.<\/p>\n Instead, we could ask whether introduced species are the drivers of a changing environment \u2013 or passengers. For instance, as farms and cities expand, habitat becomes fragmented. Dingoes are often killed to protect livestock. <\/p>\n These changes can make herbivores (feral and native) more abundant by creating edge habitat<\/a> with novel food sources, while foxes can benefit<\/a> from fewer dingoes. Conservation authorities might profit from focusing on these drivers, rather than running expensive culling campaigns every year.<\/p>\n What might we discover if we wrestled with these complexities openly and transparently to understand which feral species might have conservation value?<\/p>\n How to think about conserving ferals<\/p>\n![\"close](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/file-20261015-72-w1xuk5.jpg\")
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\n Rudolf Ernst\/Getty<\/a><\/p>\n![\"hog](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/file-20261015-50-1ejlah.jpg\")
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\n Martin Auldist\/Getty<\/a><\/p>\n