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Pest control Inner West
Guide 5 of 5

Foxes and mynas on an Inner West street

Behind the terraces on this street is a row of small back gardens, and the council's own page names what moves through them: foxes, cats, and pest birds such as the Common Myna. The duty for dealing with foxes sits somewhere else again.

General information from the official sources named on this page, not legal advice.

One Inner West street drawn as an elevation: a run of separate houses, a run of terraces and semis, a block of flats, a short gap, and past it a school gate. Each run carries the notice rule that applies to its homes, set into the footpath beneath it, and each mark opens a guide. The back gardens Separate houses Terraces and semis Flats and units The school gatenot a dwelling, not to scale The five working days rule for unit blocks does not apply to single houses or duplexes. The licence still applies, and a copy of any notice or record is kept. The licence still applies, and a copy of any notice or record is kept. Ask the NSW EPA on 131 555 whetheryour row counts. Five working days notice before the common areas of a multiple-occupancy residential complex are treated. Complexes take in units, flats, townhouses or villas, at three or more residences. Notice goes to the person who runs the school, at least 5 working days before certain pesticides are used outside next door. A hospital is not owed this notice. inspectionWhat a building inspection report will not say about termites
The same Inner West street stood on end: a band of separate houses, a band of terraces and semis, a band of flats, each as tall as its share of the Inner West's homes, and a short final band for the school gate. Each band carries its own notice rule. Separate houses 28.8% of homes Terraces and semis 27.1% of homes Flats and units 42.4% of homes The school gate not a dwelling, not to scale Notice goes to the person who runs the school, at least 5 working days before certain pesticides are used outside next door. The back gardens, and the animals the council names
The same Inner West street, drawn as an elevation: a run of separate houses, a run of terraces and semis, a block of flats, then a short gap and a school gate. Each run carries the notice rule that applies to its homes, this guide's mark is the one lit, and every mark opens a guide. Widths follow the 2021 Census count of the Inner West's occupied private dwellings: 28.8% separate houses, 27.1% semi-detached, row or terrace houses and townhouses, 42.4% flats or apartments; the 1.5% other dwellings are not drawn (ABS QuickStats, Inner West). Source: abs.gov.au © Commonwealth of Australia.

What the council names

The Inner West Council's pest animals page starts with the local fact rather than with a list of species in the abstract: pest animals have a big effect on native birds, reptiles and mammals, and in a built-up place like the Inner West the list runs to foxes, cats and pest birds such as the Common Myna.

The council's own entry for the fox is direct about its standing: an introduced animal, a declared pest in NSW, Australia's number one predator, and a threat to the survival of native wildlife and of many endangered species. Its entry for the myna is about numbers: in urban areas, the council records, the number of Common Mynas has risen dramatically over recent years, and so have the problems they cause for native wildlife.

The page also keeps a place for arrivals that are not established yet. Some newly introduced species, including exotic mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians, can cause problems if they are deliberately or accidentally released, and while their numbers may currently be low, the page warns they can become major pests later and threaten native populations of plants and animals.

The fox, and the duty the state puts on a landholder

The state's page on fox control opens with a responsibility rather than a technique. The landholder is the one responsible for controlling foxes on the property, and the duty behind that is the General Biosecurity Duty in NSW.

The reason is set out on the same page: the European red fox is a widespread non-native pest in NSW, and it has a negative impact on the economy, the community and the environment.

What the state's page recommends is collective rather than individual. It says a group baiting program, run proactively, gives the best outcome, and that spring, the fox breeding season, is an effective time to bring the population down. The timing is explained on the same page: the European red fox normally breeds between August and September, and a litter holds three to five cubs.

For a household with animals at the back of the yard, the page's exclusion advice is specific: smaller assets, a chicken coop or a goat yard among them, can be given fox proof fencing, and keeping that fencing effective takes maintenance.

Alongside the duty, the council's page offers a way to add to what is known about the population. It asks residents to map what they see: fox sightings, and the impacts foxes have, recorded on FoxScan.

The myna, and why the back garden matters

The state's myna page begins with identification, which is worth having before a sighting goes onto a map. The myna, known too as the Indian, Calcutta or house myna, measures 25 to 26 centimetres from head to tail and is heavily built and mainly brown, with a black to dark brown head, a bright yellow patch behind the eye, and yellow legs, bill and feet.

Its habits explain its success in a street of small yards. The myna is a highly adaptable omnivorous scavenger, feeding on scraps, fruit, vegetables, grain, seeds, flowers, nectar, young birds, and eggs, along with invertebrates and their larvae. It rarely feeds far from its roosting or nesting site, and in some urban areas it keeps its foraging within 100 metres of the roost.

The page is also candid about what living alongside them means. Roosting and nesting close to people creates aesthetic and health concerns, and the same page says mynas can carry avian malaria and exotic parasites; one, the Ornithonyssus bursia mite, can give people dermatitis.

The council's page adds the part of the story that a householder can actually influence. Small birds need dense understorey vegetation, made of shrubs and groundcover, for shelter from predators and for food; the loss of that kind of planting in a built-up area is one of the main reasons small bird numbers fall and medium sized birds, the Common Myna among them, increase.

The council's list and the state's duty, in one place

No single page gives a reader both halves. The comparison below is this guide's addition, and every row comes from one of the three pages named at the left.

The pageWhat it puts in front of you
Inner West Council, pest animals and weedsThe local list: foxes, cats, and pest birds such as the Common Myna, and the native wildlife they affect. A route for residents to record fox sightings on FoxScan. A place kept for newly introduced species.
NSW Government, fox controlThe duty: the landholder is responsible for controlling foxes on the property, under the General Biosecurity Duty. The methods and the season, including group baiting programs and spring. Exclusion fencing for small animals at the back of a yard.
NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, myna birdsHow to know one: size, colouring, the yellow patch behind the eye. How far it travels from its roost in an urban area. What it carries and what that can mean for people living beside it.

Reporting what you see

For species that are not established here yet, the council points to a reporting route rather than a control method: the New Pests website provides a simple way to report possible sightings of these new pests.

One of the new pests on that page is a turtle, and the ask attached to it is immediate: anyone who thinks they have seen it, or another new pest, is asked to report the sighting straight away.

For foxes, the map is the other report. Recording and mapping sightings and their impacts through FoxScan is what the council asks of residents, and it is the contribution that does not need anyone to make a decision about an animal at all.

What the two halves ask of a householder

Read together, the two pages divide the work in a way that is easy to miss. The state's page puts fox control on the landholder, as part of the General Biosecurity Duty NSW puts on landholders. The council's page describes the animals that share this particular patch of the city, and asks for one thing every resident can do: record what they see.

There is a quiet third option in the council's own words as well. A garden with shrubs and groundcover is shelter and food for small birds, so the understorey at the back of a terrace is not only where the problem lives. It is also part of what keeps the smaller birds here.

The guide to who is told on the rest of the street sets out the notice rules for the homes these gardens sit behind.