Feral deer have been eradicated from Wild Duck Island which will improve nesting outcomes for flatback turtles.
Wild Duck Island is one of the largest flatback turtle rookeries on Australia’s east coast and a population of feral rusa deer had been living on Wild Duck Island since 2005. Flatback turtles (Natator depressus) are listed as Vulnerable by the Australian Government, and these deer were impacting the flatback turtle nesting process in two ways:
- Disturbing the female turtles as they were leaving the water and heading for the dunes. Any disturbance increases the likelihood the turtles will return to the water.
- Trampling clutches of eggs laid in the dunes increasing the levels of mortality of these clutches.
In 2022, a collaborative deer control program commenced involving the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority through the Reef Joint Field Management Program (RJFMP), and Biosecurity Queensland (BQ).
In September 2024, the Queensland Department of Environment, Science and Innovation (DESI) announced that their control program had been successful – feral rusa deer had been successfully eradicated from Wild Duck Island.
The Sea Turtle Foundation would like to commend the DESI team and other partners of this program in achieving this fantastic outcome. It creates a best practice model for what can be done to reduce turtle hatching mortality caused by feral animals.
See here for more information:
https://www.desi.qld.gov.au/our-department/news-media/mediareleases/feral-deer-eradication-protects-flatback-turtles