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Guy Ballard

@guyballard.bsky.social
3.1K followers 898 following 155 posts

Principal Research Scientist, DPIRD. Part-time, Uni of New England, NSW. Dingoes, foxes, cats and quolls. Rock wallabies when time permits. Comments are mine.

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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
No, I’m not saying that. Dingoes are at risk from 1080 because they are late-comers to Australia, compared to our endemic fauna, who tend to be safe form the presentations and doses we use to protect them. Where dingoes are valued by land managers, managing foxes and cats is more difficult.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
Indeed. Many private and public land managers we hear from are concerned about decisions like this undermining their already limited abilities to manage the impacts of invasive species. 1080 users should be diligent and accountable but pet owners must be too.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 21/02/2026
How sad. Banning the use of 1080 (in parts of Australia) is really a blow against #conservation and #biosecurity management. People might think they’re fighting cruelty but they’re really condemning thousands of animals to horrible deaths at the teeth, claws and diseases of invasive predators.
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Dr Dave @ecosystemunraveller.com · 28/01/2026
Also great interior accent pieces
Brick wall in a bathroom with hanging plants and a feral horse skull nestled atop a vintage brass luggage rack.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Let’s get #feralhorse skulls trending as landscaping features in Australia. Just one per house = no more feral horses… 🤔
Feral horse skull in a garden bed
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
#dingo (wongari) management on K’gari is complex. Consider how hard it is for QPWS staff to manage this situation. Many stakeholders, lots of media attention. Experts keen to weigh in. This is a wildlife mgmt issue with cultural, economic and ecological aspects to it. I wish them all the best.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 23/12/2025
Out for a walk? Carry a bag and collect some rubbish. Doesn’t matter if it’s at home or on holiday.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Parasite of the day (be nice)
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Port Macquarie Creek (Home of many quolls!) Oxley Wild Rivers NP
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Middle Creek. Oxley Wild Rivers NP.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Mountain katydid. Saw several while I was servicing cameras today.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
Just a few too many on my young Eucalypts. I wish them well as a species.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
A robber-fly takes out a Chrysomelid beetle. Biological pest control in action!
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Eastern bearded dragon, Nambucca River, NSW, Australia.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
A praying mantis ootheca on a native paper daisy was my ‘small find’ on the back paddock walk this morning. Christmas beetles are also enjoying several Eucalyptus spp. new growth but far fewer than last year (so far).
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Anthony Ricciardi @ecoinvasions.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
A study of introductions of large herbivorous mammals outside their native range suggests they do more harm than good to local biodiversity. Only 1 in 5 impacts is positive. Positive effects on certain native species often come at a cost to other natives. #bioinvasions www.unifr.ch/news/en/3344...
unifr.ch
Saving a species but at the expense of others?
The way to hell is paved with good intentions. In the hope of saving certain endangered species and ecosystems, some conservation projects propose the introduction of large plant-feeding mammals int...
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Judy Dunlop @judydunlop.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
Thanks Guy!! As @benflips.bsky.social says "it's not rocket science, it's plumbing" #wildoz #esa2025
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
Introduce yourself with 5 animals you’ve seen in the wild: Spotted-tailed quoll Blue-ringed octopus Australian bustard Mountain katydid Stimpson’s python #biodiversity
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 29/11/2025
Blessed are those willing to act in the face of environmental threats. Saint @judydunlop.bsky.social inspired all at her #ESA2025 talk on stopping cane toads in their north western tracks. All power to the WA toad ‘stoppers’.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
Best line of the week at #esa2025 belonged to Tiahni Adamson during the #ESA2025 Indigenous Plenary: ‘walking together at the speed of trust’. We all need to embrace this, when working with others.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 03/09/2025
Not ok.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 02/09/2025
Incredibly galling to hear $400M to be wasted on shipping ppl to Nauru when we are decades under-funded for meaningful #biosecurity and #environmental action in Australia. 😭
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
Certainly not. I can only respectfully request that our political representatives act in our collective long-term interest, rather than being distracted by any political or personal benefits associated with short term appeasement of industries that are NOT obliged to work for us.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
Sound principle, now fund the necessary action Minister Watt. ‘we absolutely remain committed to the principle of not just protecting and reducing environmental damage, but restoring our environment.’ www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Murray Watt backs ‘no-go’ zones where development is banned – but not for Tasmania’s Robbins Island
Environment minister says scientific evidence did not convince government that remote island qualified
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
Sure do, and we hope to share some of this once our current cat work finishes, but that’s sadly still a small proportion of the State.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Interesting. Dingoes prey varies with local availability, experience and social group size. Also, what appears to be a solitary animal is often part of a dispersed social group.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Agreed. Plenty of people, including me, were very interested in major macropod taxonomic changes. Osphranter rufus, formerly Macropus, continues to be killed in large numbers because people perceive it to be a pest. Def not exactly the same, no two wildlife issues are, but ‘impacts’ matter most.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
This is especially because impacts and management do not occur statewide. It would be ideal if we could invest more in monitoring dingoes but as I noted (and despite some success in other research areas) we have not been able to secure grants for this, into the future. 2/2.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
I don’t dictate NSW Government interests (possibly good for all of us). Professionally I am interested in dingo densities, what drives them, how they relate to those of other species, and how we can manage impacts with minimal harm. Statewide abundance is not necessary to manage impacts. 1/2
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
I like this idea and expect (the data from) many samples I’ve provided, and that our team continues to collect, will be shared once the wildlife geneticists and other ecologists using them have completed their work.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
It’s also pretty hard to list an abundant animal as threatened, which dingoes are in many parts of Australia. (obv. they are at low densities in some areas, eg western Vic). I have a little experience too, & think a primary, practical focus on impacts would be more helpful than a rebadge
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
And yet not enough to do everything. 🤔
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
I think it’s possible you have some sampling bias re the ‘most working in this space tend to agree’ idea. I am skeptical that a name change will significantly affect on ground management, (esp. compared to rigorous quantitative study of impacts and population monitoring.) ‘Names can matter…’
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
We’d certainly be happy to generate an estimate if someone would pay for it!
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
I’m unsurprised by your self-confidence and my scepticism. I guess we’ll have see if there is any meaningful change in #dingo management in the areas where they are most common. Re your last point, I did write that names can be important and you give a good example.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Perhaps it’s a welcome distraction from the much more important issue of quantifying and managing impacts (+ve and -ve). We’re all guilty of it occasionally, investing energy in a side issue rather than tackling the tough stuff! Ie How to improve real-world management in a broadly acceptable way?
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Generally accepted that dingoes came to Australia with people rather than under their own steam. Not everyone agrees, of course!
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
An interesting read. 🧪 Names can matter but the ongoing debate about #dingoes specific identity has temporarily obscured another more important issue: managing negative impacts. History suggests a ‘new’ name wont protect #dingoes from Australians who identify them as #pests
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
1) Congratulations! 2) You can absolutely do Honours 3) Choose something you find interesting, where you will have a result to discuss.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Although introduced red #foxes do eat endemic #possums no one expected this in one of our cage traps this morning
A red fox sitting inside a cage trap.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
🧪 We were lucky enough to find these beautiful #snakes whilst checking our #possum traps this morning. I think they are ‘eastern small eyed snakes’ but happy to be corrected by any genuine herp-nerds.
Two snakes curled against a bare earth background.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
🧪 Wonderful to be in the field with some students this week. We are trapping #possums for a genetic study as well as seeking recaptures from our marked population. The view into the Sara River catchment isn’t bad either…
A landscape view looking down into the treed gorges of north eastern NSW, with misty clouds blowing through.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Apparently some people think that getting rid of specialist admin. staff and making scientists (who get paid more per hour than the former admin. staff) to do less science and more admin (poorly) is ‘efficiency’. It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so ridiculous. Really, who would do that? #science
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
I think they were saying that there is too much focus on limiting inputs to Govt services rather than focusing on the output that is required and delivered.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
🧪 Sat next to a legend at dinner. 50yrs integrating #science into Australian #agriculture Their observations? 1) We need food, fibre AND nature too. 2) More investment is required in the public service, not less. 3) Government worries too much re inputs rather than the quality of outputs.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Research samples!!! 🧪 7 #dingo heads and 7 #feralcats from a great trapper who supports our research by providing samples from programs he conducts for public and private land managers. These will be used by multiple researchers to inform future predator policy and management.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
#wildlife managers. Ask yourself: 1) Are you qualified to make a decision? 2) Do you have the necessary data? 3) Do you have ‘authority’? Obtain all 3 by working with others and be great at what you do.
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Guy Ballard @guyballard.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Without consistent funding, an end to short term contracts for our best young and mid-career researchers and support to implement best practice, we will absolutely continue to suffer economic and ecological loss from #invasive species.
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