While the pigs are kept away, the turtles can play.

Associate Professor Nathan Waltham has been working with a team of JCU scientists, the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance and Traditional Owners in Cape York to hold at bay the feral pig invasion of agricultural lands and coastal wetlands whilst still allowing freshwater turtles safe access between water bodies.

Feral pigs are the worst invasive mammal in Australia.  These feral animals are destroying agricultural grazing and cropping lands, contaminating water sources, and decimating coastal wetlands which are crucial habitats for native plants and animals.

Image left: Creek and wetland damage caused by feral pigs. Image right: Environmental impacts caused by feral pigs

Fencing is a common management practice for agricultural properties and, when well-maintained have been a successful solution.  Aak Puul Ngantam (APN) and Kalan Enterprises, project partners on Cape York, have also been using exclusion fences to protect the wetlands for many years.

The challenge to date has been keeping the balance right between excluding the feral pigs whilst allowing the native species to continue to traverse the land between water sources.  Freshwater turtles are one species that rely on moving between water bodies during critical lifecycle periods and when migrating between rivers and creeks during the dry season to avoid dehydration or starvation.

Image: Fencing creates challenges for traversing turtles

To allow the turtles to continue this practice without getting trapped in fencing around agricultural properties or wetlands, a research team led by JCU TropWATER & AgTAC’s Associate Professor Nathan Waltham has developed “turtle gates”.  These gates are a fast and cost-effective way to modify common exclusion fences with little more than a pair of pliers.

Image: Turtle friendly gate providing a solution

This research was funded by the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program through the Northern Australia Environmental Resources Hub.

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Project Research Publications

Simple fence modification increases land movement prospects for freshwater turtles on floodplains - Wildlife Biology