The help is there, if we are game to embrace it

The advertisements linking "the stopping of forestry" with koala conservation are probably on the edge of disinformation. The regrowth in forests that have been logged are actually preferred by koalas.

The Invasive Species Council tells an interesting story on some of the biodiversity challenges in this country.

The council's website states: "Of the 21 completely extinct marsupials and rodents in Australia, the red fox and cat have most probably contributed to the extinction of all but two".

Huge tracts of agricultural land has significant value as biodiversity reservoirs and the forested areas of Australia are actually increasing. Stopping further extinctions is more about ferals than habitat conservation.

The 6.6 million feral cats and 3.5m domestic cats in Australia kill an estimated 75m native animals every night. Where are the campaigns by corporates to eradicate cats from the Australian environment?

Foxes have no friends, but dealing with cats is an interesting challenge.

Farmers spend big dollars on controlling many pests including foxes and cats, however, I'm yet to receive a cheque, let alone a thank you from the WWF, for the work I do on controlling these pests.

Help may be in the wind if we are game enough to embrace it. The reality is that research is on the verge of giving us tools to eradicate some of our pest species.

Yes, there are some potential risks to engineered viruses, but the upside is significant to gain-of-function research. Trust me, we can engineer targeted biological weapons against animals other than humans.

I was speaking to a scientist regarding African swine fever and its potential to eradicate our 24 million feral pigs.

Obviously, to release a weapon like ASF we need an effective vaccine and a more virulent strain that kills all the pigs and burns itself out, eliminating carrier possibilities. Most of all you need some bold regulators to release the beast.

We have a few case studies for viral biocontrols. Calicivirus in rabbits is one that got away while researchers were doing their due diligence. However, it has given a useful control. Eradicating rabbits is the holy grail and is now on the verge of being possible.

Carp herpes has been in the wind for a while, but our scientists and regulators are rightly extremely careful on releasing these selected natural pathogens.

The beauty of an engineered bug is you can build in features that make it very species specific and even build self-limiting aspects to its design.

Genetic engineering has proven very problematic to sell to the public, but the upside potential is significant if we embrace the technology.