Ongoing assistance in reserve management beyond this time (2005 – 2013) was provided by the consultancy company Wildlife Research and Management[2] Major funding support was provided by the mining company Shark Bay Salt Joint Venture (now Shark Bay Resources), government grants, and the volunteer science organisation Earthwatch.
The Heirisson Prong project was set up at a time when many scientists were sceptical about the role of introduced predators (foxes and feral cats) in the demise of many small ground-dwelling Australian mammals.
It was in close proximity to islands at Shark Bay where remnant populations of threatened mammals had persisted and its long and narrow shape lent itself to being fenced to exclude foxes and feral cats.
A fence designed to exclude foxes (and feral cats) was constructed across a narrow neck of Heirisson Prong in 1990, allowing a 1200 ha area of the tip of the peninsula to be rid of exotic predators.
[11] Rabbits on occasions reached very high densities in the relative absence of exotic predators and significantly affected the vegetation, reducing the cover of grasses and defoliating and often killing palatable Acacia shrubs.
Support for the Useless Loop community group to maintain the project on Heirisson Prong ceased in mid-2013 leading to an inevitable decline in the effectiveness of the fence.
Another example of community-managed reserve to exclude exotic predators and to allow translocation of threatened mammals and birds is the Wadderin Sanctuary in the wheatbelt of Western Australia.