Feral cats (Felis catus) are distributed widely
thoughout Australia and New Zealand, from the northern tropics to
the southern oceanic islands. They are believed to have first
been brought to eastern Australia and New Zealand by European
settlers during the 18th century. Misguided attempts to
control rabbits, rats and mice also saw the animals deliberately
released in many parts of Australia during the 19th century.
Feral cats have contributed to the decline and even extinction
of wildlife previously found on some islands. On the
Australian mainland, cats are believed to have contributed to
declining populations and extinctions of ground nesting birds and
small mammals, including seriously impacting populations of the
greater bilby, rufous hare-wallaby, and numbat. Other
animals threatened include the green and golden bell frog; the
night, swift and orange-bellied parrots; malleefowl and many
others.
Predation by cats is listed nationally as a Key Threatening
Process under the Biodiversity Conservation and Environment
Protection Act 1999. For a listing of species known or
believed to be threatened by feral cats, visit the Department of
Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
website page.
Feral cats can transmit diseases such as toxoplasmosis and
sarcosporidiosis to native wildlife, livestock and humans,
potentially causing serious illness and even death.
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What are we doing?
The IA CRC is working closely with the Victorian
Department of Sustainability and Environment and Conservation in
the 'Southern Ark'
demonstration site project to study cat biology and
ecology. We are investigating what happens when we control
one feral animal, for example, foxes, without controlling
cats. It is believed that if fox numbers drop, more
cats might survive - thus 'filling the gap'. This is called
the meso-predator response, and is one of the reasons that we
advocate regional management plans that aim to address all the
feral animal issues within an area in a controlled and targeted
way. PhD student Tony Buckmaster
is investigating this in the Gippsland region of Victoria.
At the same time, we are conducting trials to determine the most
effective and target-specific means of baiting for feral cats.
For information on Savannah cats click [here].
