A community group that culls Indian myna birds with car exhaust fumes should be given more recognition and support, an ACT government inquiry has said.
The inquiry into Indian myna control, which started because of a petition by Canberra Indian Myna Action Group, stopped short of recommending a government culling program because of insufficient evidence about the birds' impact on threatened species.
Bill Kandke is president of the Canberra Indian Myna Action Group (CIMAG), a community group that provides DIY backyard traps and instructs its members to euthanise the birds with carbon monoxide.
"We're disappointed that the committee didn't have stronger recommendations," he said.
"It really is incumbent upon the government to help the members of the Canberra Indian Myna Action Group deal with this problem across the Canberra landscape."
Officially declared a pest in the ACT in 2021, the Indian myna, also known as the common myna, is one of only three bird species on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's list of 100 most invasive species.
While the ACT government doesn't endorse Canberra Indian Myna Action Group's euthanasia method, its inquiry recommended the government "recognise the ongoing efforts of CIMAG to control the common myna population" and "support community-led initiatives to educate the community and control common myna population".
Other recommendations from the inquiry were to recognise community concern about the species and continue monitoring its population.
The Conservation Council ACT also expressed disappointment at the inquiry's recommendations.
"The ACT government has failed to engage with the local community to control this pest species in the ACT," said Simon Copland, director of the Conservation Council ACT.
"Management of common mynas needs to consider impacts to all native birds and animals, not just impacts to species that are listed as threatened species."
Mr Handke said research from the Australian National University had shown mynas have a detrimental effect on native species, including beloved birds like laughing kookaburras, crimson rosellas, fairy-wrens and galahs.
Some local councils in Australia, like Wollongong and Shoalhaven, provide funding and support to community groups that organise DIY culling.
CIMAG and the Conservation Council ACT want the ACT government to do the same.
Mr Handke said while CIMAG members could trap mynas in their backyards, they needed the government's help to trap birds in nature reserves and other government-controlled sites.
The birds were introduced to Canberra in the 1960s and by 2005 had become the territory's third most common species of bird, but submissions to the inquiry disagreed on whether the territory's myna population was increasing or decreasing.
CIMAG's method of euthanising trapped birds with car exhaust fumes also drew criticism from animal rights groups, who described it as "inhumane".
The ACT government's own submission said gassing the birds was "not considered humane" and that it had advised CIMAG to explore other options.
The ACT government endorses NSW Department of Primary Industries' preferred methods of euthanasia, which include breaking the birds' necks (termed "cervical dislocation") or injecting them with barbiturates.
Mr Handke described these criticisms as "totally unbalanced and unscientific and ignorant".
"To assert that [carbon monoxide] is not the preferred or appropriate method is clearly lacking in any scientific understanding. It's just driven purely by ideology and feelgood," he said.
For Mr Handke and CIMAG, cervical dislocation and barbiturate injections were inhumane.
"The general public is not really adept at breaking birds' necks ... it would not be possible for the community to do this in a humane way," he said.
"In terms of injecting with barbiturates ... that means that the birds have to be handled one by one and injected in front of all their friends. It is the most gross practice and really shouldn't be encouraged."
The ACT government submission also noted euthanasia should be done by qualified experts rather than members of the public.
Wollongong City Council provides humane euthanasia facilities for trapped mynas.
Wollongong residents are also required to attend an online workshop run by the council and pass a quiz before participating in a community trapping program.
