The Tasmanian Native Hen was formerly distributed across South-east Australia.
The most recent evidence of the bird dates back to 4700 years ago, which
seems to coincide with the arrival of the dingo to the Australian continent.
The bird is now very common throughout its range and is sometimes considered
an agricultural pest. It is claimed that the bird tramples and interferes
with a wide range of crops, although most of these are unsubstantiated
it appears that there is some minimal effect on oat crops.
It was declared vermin in 1950, and many thousands were killed between
1955 and 1958 on that pretext. Present controls are sporadic, which can
be possibly attributed to the minimal damage the bird has been seen to
do. Round-ups and shootings still occur, but no program is in place.
Most predation is from feral cats and dogs. Roadkills are not unusual.
Tasmanian
Devils have also been found taking Native Hens as food. Today the
species is quite secure and may even be increasing its range.
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