SARA RFI - Ecological Assessment Report

Koala survey report – Serenity Close, Noosa Heads
Prepared for Litoria Consulting


4.0     STUDY LIMITATIONS

The results included in this report, and interpretation thereof, are strictly limited to the areas
investigated as part of this study, at the time these were investigated. The results included in this
report cannot be extrapolated to any other geographic area not investigated as part of this study,
nor to any other time these areas were assessed.

The use of purpose-bred, expertly raised and developed professional field detection dogs
minimises the risk of not detecting a target if it is present. OWAD’s professional dogs and their
handlers are extensively trained by a professional detection canine expert. The dogs are then
further developed by their designated handlers, and the handlers and the dogs obtain professional
certification once fully operational for each specific target. The dogs are continuously reinforced
by their handlers throughout their working life. Before first deploying a detection dog in the field,
OWAD thoroughly tests each dog. OWAD’s standard procedure is that a dog is not deployed for
project work until it consistently performs to 100% target detection rate and 100% target
discrimination rate (i.e. never indicates on non-targets) first in controlled environments, and then
in field trials performed over several consecutive days in the field. Moreover, OWAD has
developed strict Field Quality Assurance/Quality Control procedures to ensure the correctness of
field findings, as well as ongoing external Quality Assurance procedures (i.e. DNA analysis of
target scats to confirm species, performed by a third-party laboratory) to scientifically measure
and monitor the performance of their detection dogs. To date, the third-party laboratory has tested
>5,000 individual pieces of material collected by OWAD indicated on by their detection dogs; to
date, 100% of these have been confirmed via genetic testing as originating from Koala. OWAD
is currently the only entity with a scientifically proven Koala scat identification rate demonstrated
by third-party molecular testing; what’s more at current a 100% correct Koala scat identification
rate. OWAD also currently relies on its own experience and its own standards to determine
adequate survey effort to provide clients Koala absence results with a high degree of confidence,
in a bid to truly minimise the risk of false negative hence enable correctly informed land use and
planning decisions. OWAD’s minimum search effort is currently significantly (at least three- to
fourfold) higher than any search effort currently prescribed by formal guidelines published to date.

It must be noted that even though the methods, detection tools, processes and procedures
applied by OWAD for any given study aim to minimise the risk of false negative as far as possible,
there is always the inherent risk that a Koala individual may have recently visited a site for a very
short period of time without depositing any evidence on the site (i.e. without producing any scat
of pap for the OWAD field team to find). For any study where OWAD detected no evidence of
current or recent Koala presence, in order to further increase the certainty that the species is
indeed absent it is therefore always advisable to also refer to any local records where available –
whether formal or informal databases, and/or local knowledge.




OWAD Environment                                                                              Page 9