7 July 2019
This project is funded through a Logan City Council Envirogrant
The spotted-tailed quoll (Dasyurus maculatus maculatus) is listed as Endangered under Commonwealth legislation, Vulnerable in Queensland (southern sub-species) and as one of Logan City Council’s Threatened Wildlife.
Through its dedicated Quoll Seekers Network (QSN), Wildlife Queensland has used infrared wildlife cameras to monitor this endangered species in Logan for the past five years.
Throughout this period, Wildlife Queensland and the QSN have responded to public sightings of spotted-tailed quoll surveying over 70 locations in the Logan City Council region.
Though a wide range of wildlife was detected, the network did not capture any photographic evidence of a population of spotted-tailed quolls. The most recent ‘hard-evidence’ of spotted-tailed quoll collected in the Logan Council region was in the form of an individual animal killed on Johnson Rd at Greenbank in 2007.
Wildlife detection dogs
QSN has investigated the use of wildlife detection dogs as a survey method to complement infrared cameras. Detection dogs have been shown to provide reliable indications for the presence of a target odour, and their use in locating cryptic Australian native wildlife is rapidly gaining momentum.
QSN believes the use of quoll-specific detection dogs will allow us to obtain information on the presence or absence of quolls in the Logan area when responding to time-specific public sightings reports.
These highly trained odour detection dogs are trained to locate evidence such as target species’ scat which if located definitively indicates that quolls inhabit an area.
Spring Mountain Forest Park survey
The Quoll Seekers team undertook a survey within Spring Mountain Forest Park, Flesser Reserve and Jerry’s Downfall Reserve (Park Ridge South) on Tuesday 25 June, before wet weather forced the survey to finish prematurely.
Accompanying us was the detection dog team Carnarvon Canines from Wompoo Farm Pty Ltd.
Once a suitable weather window is found, the team will be out with Carnarvon Canines to survey again. So, stay tuned for updates!
The team did manage to disrupt a mammoth carpet python basking in the sun rays. A close encounter for everyone was assured with the cold reptile caught at its mid-winter slowest.