ACT Govt hunting rabbits with dogs

Trained detection dogs will be used to flush out rabbits and hares in the Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary so the pests can then be shot or gassed.

'At least it keeps the rabbits down'

Mike Hedge The official weather forecast for Rockhampton yesterday was accurate enough, in an understated, Australian way.

Wildlife hits the road in search of pickings

David Ellery Native and feral animals are flocking to our road verges in search of a free meal as dry weather grips the region after three seasons of plenty.

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Focus on dogs in fight to save koalas

Nina Karnikowski Dog training is the latest desperate measure in the battle to protect Australia's endangered koalas, with estimates putting numbers in the wild below 50,000.

Unmourned death of a sole survivor

In late August 2009 a tiny, solitary bat fluttered about in the rainforest near Australia's infamous Christmas Island detention camp. We don't know precisely what happened to it.

A line in the land

Tim the Yowie Man A kookaburra sits in an old she oak chuckling, no doubt laughing at the three of us scrambling up Mount Majura.

The rains came, and feral pests, too

Nicky Phillips The pastures blossomed first. Then came the small ground-dwelling creatures - the rabbits and the mice, followed by their hunters, the foxes, feral pigs and wild dogs.

An ark afloat in red desert country

Tony Cathcart, a quiet sort of bloke nearing 50, once spent 187 nights hunting a tabby cat through the red earth desert between Mildura on the River Murray and Broken Hill in far western NSW.

War on predators helping restore island to health

The hunt is on to undo some of the damage caused by introduced animals to native species on one of Australia's southernmost outposts, writes John Huxley.

2000 birds die as feral cull backfires

More than 2000 birds have died on Macquarie Island since the federal government began a scheme to cull rabbits, cats, rats and mice.

For the love of the land and protection of bush's future

Tom Arup It has been three years since Peter and Emma Ashton packed up their lives and headed outback.

Little known about Hendra risk from dogs

Very little is known about the risk of dogs passing the Hendra virus to humans, the CSIRO says.

Local wildlife disappears as giant pythons swamp Florida

Elizabeth Weise It sounded like a joke when the news first broke in 2000: giant Burmese pythons were invading the Everglades.

Gloom and boom - Sydney counts the cost of a shocking summer

Erik Jensen, James Robertson Joe Girgenti has been driving ice-cream vans for 26 years. But his five trucks have spent much of the past few months tucked under a carport. ''It's been the worst summer that I've had,'' he said.

Doggone it: dune plant means Narrabeen beach remains canine-free

Melissa Davey Opinion was fiercely divided when Warringah Council announced earlier this year that it would consider relaxing its strict no-dogs-on-beaches rule and spend $20,000 researching potential dog beaches...

Army of volunteers enlists in a fight to save the farm

Saffron Howden The hunter is conflicted, Edward Hoogenboom says. The adrenalin rush that comes with a kill is quickly followed by ''the hunter's lament''.

'The jewel in Sydney's crown'

Glenda Kwek In the second of a three-part series on Sydney's parks, Glenda Kwek uncovers the secrets of Headland Park

Politicians blamed for climate 'gridlock'

Paddy Manning THE businessman Graeme Wood has condemned Australia's failure to act on climate change, criticising ''scared'' politicians for a lack of leadership.

Animal welfare raid uncovers suffering

A laboratory in Britain infiltrated by animal welfare campaigners may have allowed animals in its care to suffer unnecessarily, according to a Home Office report.