A Cultural Geographical Study of Feral Animals in Australia

Abstract

The author made a review of feral animals in Australia, from a cultural-geographic viewpoint.European people went on voyages to find new colonies from the 15th to the 19th centuries. They had a custom of keeping livestock on board ship as food provisions. Consequently pigs, goats, cattle, horses and donkeys, etc. were introduced to new colonies a long with traditional European ways of keeping and releasing livestock.It was a common practice in the early days of settlement to let livestock roam or have free range so as to forage for food. In the 19th century, sealers and whalers released livestock such as pigs and goats on islands as food. As a result, some of these animals formed viable breeding colonies in the wild. Feral livestock populations established quickly and they were widely spread in Australia before the beginning of this century.However, the spread of feral animals like feral pigs, goats, horses, cattle, donkeys, water buffaloes and camels etc. caused changes in the biological environment. The majority of native Australian land mammals are marsupials. The intrusion of these exotic species appears to be altering the composition of species in Australia and is causing significant ecological and environmental change.Today feral animals are generally considered to be pests, because these animals damage agriculture and the native fauna and flora. However some discussion is necessary as follows:1) Feral animals are a‘product’of human culture.2) In case we consider feral animals as one example of environmental problems, we should not criticize traditional ways of keeping and releasing of livestock in a simplistic way.3) We need to collect information on feral animals and introduce it widely through environmental education. We should consider this problem as a good lesson for the future.