The Ferals that Ate Australia

Book excerpt: Dangerous predators and ravenous herbivores: the story of Australia's feral nightmare Winner of the 2022 Whitley Award, for a book about invasive species zoology. Isolation was once the impenetrable barrier that protected Australia and its unique fauna. But a little over two hundred years ago a foreign power took possession and brought with it the foreign animals that now dominate the country's ecosystem. They are the enemy within. Since that time, around 10 per cent of Australia's endemic terrestrial mammalian species have become extinct. Today Australia is dealing with the damage caused by all hard-hoofed animals, domestic and feral. Yet the bigger feral story is the ravages of acclimatisation, caused as new settlers tried to make the colony more like their homeland and released the rabbit, the fox, the hare, feral cats, common mynas, starlings, sparrows, redfin perch, and the many other invasive species that have brought native Australia to its knees. In this book, Guy Hull details the history and toll of the numerous animal species that have contributed to the decimation of Australian species, their assault on land and agriculture, and the modern strategies that are - hopefully - reclaiming the country for our native fauna and its human population.