The most significant damage inflicted by birds in Australia is to germinating cereal and to ripening sunflower and fruit crops. The main pests are several native psittacine and corvid species, silvereyes (Zosterops lateralis) and European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris). The economic cost of damage is largely unquantified. While losses to industries as a whole are often low, losses to individual growers may be severe, and losses are distributed patchily in space and time. Shooting is the most widely practiced and most ineffective bird control technique used in Australia. Despite the high numbers of birds killed, damage persists, and disturbance caused by shooting and scare devices may actually increase damage. Trapping and export of native birds is frequently suggested as a solution but would be ineffective for damage control. Illegal poisoning is thought to have caused significant reductions in some parrot populations, but has not prevented crop damage. Decoy feeding shows promise for damage control in winter cereals. One site attracted 4,000 cockatoos for most of the seeding and germination phase. For sunflower, the main problem is rendering the main crop less attractive than the decoy. Netting is cost-effective even at moderate to low levels of bird damage for intensive growing systems with new varieties of high-yielding stonefruit. Research is needed on techniques to assess the cost of damage. The cost-effectiveness of damage control techniques can then be assessed. There is also a need for more studies on the biology of pest birds, in relation to the potential mitigation of crop damage by habitat modification or changes in crop growing practices.

Increasing community awareness of the moral and animal welfare issues associated with conventional pest animal control has focussed interest on non-lethal alternatives, such as fertility control. In Australia, animal welfare organizations have proposed fertility control as a solution to pest problems with feral horses and kangaroos. Wildlife damage control achieved by non-lethal, non-toxic and humane means would have wide appeal and application. Importantly, assessments of effectiveness must focus on damage control, rather than fertility control, per se. Most tests of fertility control drugs and techniques examine effects on reproduction, rather than on population dynamics. Many tests and models have not been robust enough to allow clear conclusions about the usefulness of the technique in damage mitigation. The present role of fertility control in wildlife management in Australia is extremely limited. Its longer-term potential will depend on the successful outcome of future research, development and extension. It also requires an assessment of the economic, environmental and welfare implications of using fertility control for wildlife management. The main barrier to the use of fertility control to manage pest animals is the lack of delivery techniques suitable for widespread and abundant animals. If drugs become available that cause permanent infertility with a single dose, or if current research leads to a technique for the passive spread of anti-fertility agents via infectious organisms, the potential for population management by fertility control for some species, such as foxes, will be increased. No such drugs or techniques are currently available.

Exotic animals can establish wild populations that may cause serious adverse economic and environmental impacts. In Australia, there are a number of species currently kept in captivity that would pose such threats were they to escape and establish. Paradoxically, there is a push to allow freer trade in animals between countries for recreational and commercial purposes. This paper considers approaches to assess and manage these risks, including the application of ecological theory to estimate the probability of escape, establishment, eradication, and harmful impact. Although some potential forms of impact are obvious, particularly for species that are pests in their natural or introduced range, others may be less so because species may change their behavior or ecology in new environments, and interact in unpredictable ways with resident plant and animal species. This uncertainty creates a need to leave a wide margin for error when assessing the risk of harmful impact.

Australia has 26 species of introduced pest mammals that cause extensive damage to agriculture and the conservation of native wildlife. Past efforts tried to eradicate them. This focus on reducing pest numbers rather than the outcome, reduced damage, has had limited success. Under its Vertebrate Pest Program, the Bureau of Resource Sciences has developed principles and a strategic approach to managing pest damage. Close cooperation with land managers as co-researchers and co-learners is an essential element, as is a coordinated group approach to pest management. The approaches is illustrated with an example.