ACTA Award 2005

What is the ACTA Award?

The Animal Control Technologies Award was created to encourage better links between the people researching pest animals and those ‘on the ground’ who are actually implementing management programs.

ACTA Managing Director Dr Linton Staples explained the award provides up to $1,000 towards the cost of attending the Vertebrate Pest Conference.

"The Vertebrate Pest Conference is held every three years to bring together research experts, ecologists and environmentalists who have a role in the management of the wide range of vertebrate pests in Australia and New Zealand,” Dr Staples said.

“About 250 people attend the conference and the topics covered vary widely - exchange of information makes it the premier conference for in this field.”

This year the conference was held in Wellington, New Zealand.

“Each state and territory nominated individuals in the vertebrate pest control field within their state. From this group, the winner was chosen by a committee of members of the VPC committee and representatives of ACTA,” he said.

Dr Staples congratulated the finalists for the 2005 award for their efforts and encourages them to keep up the fight against pest animals.

The finalists were: John Matthews, Victoria; Lisa Thomas & Rhett Robinson, NSW; Rob Coventry, SA; Bill Stanford, Queensland; Georgina Webb & David Leguis, Tas; and Rob Hunt, NSW.

And the 2005 winner is...

The 2005 recipient of the ‘Animal Control Technology Award for Excellence in Pest Animal Management’ is Keith Saalfeld, Dept of Infrastructure, Planning & Environment, Palmerston, Northern Territory.

Keith has worked in wildlife management for over 15 years. In that time his focus has been on monitoring wildlife populations through aerial survey, sustainable use of wildlife and management of invasive animals.

He has been pivotal in work undertaken in the NT to assess the distribution and abundance of large feral herbivores including camels, water buffalo, horses, donkeys and banteng. Keith is an expert in designing precise, cost-effective surveys and highly adept in analysing the data collected and in giving recommendations to managers.

A major spin-off from the aerial survey work has been a large-scale attempt to control horses and donkeys in the Victoria River District (VRD) of the Northern Territory.

The VRD covers an area of approximately 120,000 km2. Uncontrolled feral animals including horses and donkeys have been identified as a major factor contributing to land degradation in the VRD.

An aerial survey conducted in 1996 showed that there were approx. 67,000 donkeys and 44,000 horses in the VRD. A strategic property-based control program was initiated in 1999, at which time the donkey numbers were estimated at 93,000 and horses 63,000.

Keith was instrumental in setting up the control program in the VRD and played a key role in landholder negotiations.

He continues to play an active role in compiling property-based information used to assess the effectiveness of the control effort and in setting annual off take targets for each property.

Keith’s aerial survey work has also played a key role in highlighting the emerging threat posed by feral camels in central Australia. This work has recently been published in Wildlife Research.

Keith has commenced work with traditional owners in an effort to eradicate feral pigs on Melville Island. It is still in a developmental stage but will likely proceed in 2006. Keith’s negotiation skills and his expertise in feral animal control have been crucial in getting this project off the ground.

Over the past 3 years Keith has been in the firing line in the war against the cane toad in the Northern Territory. He has been heavily involved in public education and has worked with local business people and community groups in the design and testing cane toad traps.

Keith organised the recent National Cane Toad Trap Competition that was sponsored by the Northern Territory Government. The competition attracted over 70 entries from across Australia and overseas.

For more information about Keith’s work, please contact Keith at the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment, Palmerston, Northern Territory.

Animal Control Technologies

The 2005 ACTA Award

What is the ACTA Award?

And the 2005 winner is...