Spare a thought for the poor smoky mouse: As if it hasn’t got enough to contend with watching out for natural predators such as dingoes, sooty owls, quolls and the odd snake, it also has foxes and cats on its case as well.

The smoky mouse is found in Nullica State Forest near Eden on the far south coast, one of just a handful of sites in NSW, Victoria and the ACT. Photo copyright Linda Broome 

This tiny endangered rodent, which weighs between 45 and 90 grams and measures a diminutive 85 to 100mm, is such a specialist in where it likes to live that it appears in only a handful of places in Victoria, New South Wales and the ACT. 

“In southern NSW the smoky mouse prefers ridge-top habitats which are dominated by heath species,” said one of its main protectors in NSW, Chris Slade.

Chris is Forests NSW southern region ecologist based at Eden, and he is about to give the smoky mouse another helping hand with the assistance of the Game Council NSW and its licensed hunters.

Nullica State Forest north-west of Eden, which is one of the few places in NSW the mouse lives, is planned to be part of a targeted program to help eradicate feral animals such as foxes and cats.

The mouse’s habitat is off limits to hunters at present, and it is also protected by harvesting prescriptions which prevent logging in the habitat area.

The project being developed may see Game Council approved and licensed hunters working closely with Forests NSW in a targeted predator control program to complement the current fox baiting and cat trapping programs.

“We know there are a substantial number of feral cats in the area from the work conducted with sand pads and other observations,”Chris said.

“A hunting program may well provide us with an additional tool to control feral animals that are putting further pressure on an already small smoky mouse population.”

This article appears in the Summer 2006 edition of Bush Telegraph Magazine.