Australian wildlife 20 times more likely to encounter deadly feral cats than native predators

UngulateNerd92

UngulateNerd92

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10+ year member
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My god! This is unfortunate news... Sadly I am not surprised though...

"Researchers find invasive felines hunt with greater intensity, in broader environments and in greater numbers than equivalent native marsupial predator.

Australia’s wildlife are at least 20 times more likely to come across a deadly feral cat than one of the country’s native predators, according to a new study.

Invasive cats, which kill billions of native animals each year, form a triple threat, the study finds, by hunting with greater intensity, in broader environments and in greater numbers than an equivalent native marsupial predator – the spotted-tailed quoll.

“They eat everything and they’re in every environment,” says study author Dr Rowena Hamer. “They’re impressive, but devastating.”

Feral cats have a devastating toll on Australia’s wildlife, killing an estimated 2bn animals every year and being implicated in at least 25 mammal extinctions and pressuring a further 124 threatened species.

Domestic cats also kill about 230m Australian birds, reptiles and mammals each year, research has found.

Hamer and colleagues attached GPS collars to 25 feral cats and 10 quolls in four locations in the middle of Tasmania and then tracked their movements.

Quolls are similar in size to cats and have similar diets, hunting for small mammals, birds, reptiles and frogs.

“This was about understanding why cats are so devastating, because Australia seems to have similar native predators,” said Hamer, who did the research while at the University of Tasmania, and is now a conservation ecologist at the not-for-profit Tasmanian Land Conservancy."

https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.amp...unter-deadly-feral-cats-than-native-predators
 
I can't see this happening. Cats kill many animals in the UK, but there would be a massive backlash if cats were eradicated. I suspect the same would be true in Australia, even though cats are an introduced species.
 
Dassie rat said:
I can't see this happening. Cats kill many animals in the UK, but there would be a massive backlash if cats were eradicated. I suspect the same would be true in Australia, even though cats are an introduced species.
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Always difficult with invasive species, animal rights activists begin coming out of the woodwork and shouting and applying pressure on politicians and programes of invasive control.
 
birdsandbats said:
Even if the Australian government doesn't do anything about it, surely Feral Cats aren't protected. Maybe local nature groups can have a cat hunting contest?
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I think the government does tend to do something about it as there was a target to cull up to 20 million feral cats by 2020 apparently.

However, it seems these efforts got delayed and now the deadline to press on with this has been extended even further.

Of course this will anger animal rights activists who will shout a great deal about it being "cruel" and "unnecessary".
 
We should absolutely aim for cat eradication in Australia and this will need to go hand-in hand with strict new rules on cat ownership - particularly that all cats must be registered, desexed and housed either indoors or in outside pens. We are actually moving towards this with many councils enforcing some or all of these rules. Probably the biggest impact will be made by making non-neutered cats illegal to own unless you are a registered breeder (which in itself will need to come with even stricter regulations).

BUT even still, Australia is one of the largest countries in the world by land area (comparable in size to the US and Brazil) and yet it has a very small population by comparison. Shooting or trapping just isn't an option for a total eradication.

Introducing a disease would require that disease to both be highly efficient killing cats but also one that a vaccine can be developed for domestic animals. Even then, it must be certain to not be able to jump to any of our native mammals and there will be inevitable arguments around its introduction based on ethics.

Probably the safest and most realistic scenario is a very long-term approach by introducing into the wild genetically modified cats that produce single sex offspring, allowing these genes to slowly proliferate and the wild animals will die-out naturally.

Of course I know they can do that with mosquitoes. Not sure if we are at the stage where we can do it for mammals. Probably we'll see it happen with cane toads and exotic fish (such as carp) first, but its a win-win in my mind. With Australia being an island continent, we can introduce these modified time-bomb organisms without fear of them spreading to their species native homelands and ranges and its also hard to argue is unethical, so avoids that time-wasting debate as well.
 
toothlessjaws said:
We should absolutely aim for cat eradication in Australia and this will need to go hand-in hand with strict new rules on cat ownership - particularly that all cats must be registered, desexed and housed either indoors or in outside pens. We are actually moving towards this with many councils enforcing some or all of these rules. Probably the biggest impact will be made by making non-neutered cats illegal to own unless you are a registered breeder (which in itself will need to come with even stricter regulations).

BUT even still, Australia is one of the largest countries in the world by land area (comparable in size to the US and Brazil) and yet it has a very small population by comparison. Shooting or trapping just isn't an option for a total eradication.

Introducing a disease would require that disease to both be highly efficient killing cats but also one that a vaccine can be developed for domestic animals. Even then, it must be certain to not be able to jump to any of our native mammals and there will be inevitable arguments around its introduction based on ethics.

Probably the safest and most realistic scenario is a very long-term approach by introducing into the wild genetically modified cats that produce single sex offspring, allowing these genes to slowly proliferate and the wild animals will die-out naturally.

Of course I know they can do that with mosquitoes. Not sure if we are at the stage where we can do it for mammals. Probably we'll see it happen with cane toads and exotic fish (such as carp) first, but its a win-win in my mind. With Australia being an island continent, we can introduce these modified time-bomb organisms without fear of them spreading to their species native homelands and ranges and its also hard to argue is unethical, so avoids that time-wasting debate as well.
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Very interesting comment @toothlessjaws.

I agree with you that the erradication of feral cats (and other invasives) should be a top priority for Australia in its fight to conserve native biodiversity.

I also think you could well be right about the deployment of gene drive technology being a better option than traditional strategies like trapping and shooting.

Gene drive technology: A new hope in the fight against feral cats - CSIROscope

Introducing a disease a la myxomatosis does not seem to me to be a good option as there could be unknown variables that lead to ecological blowback (either in Australia or elsewhere in the world) from that too.
 
Onychorhynchus coronatus said:
Gene drive technology: A new hope in the fight against feral cats - CSIROscope
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Well, there you go. I'd read about this technology for mosquitoes and carp. Not seen it discussed about cats before. But surely it's the answer. In fact, this is likely the answer to eradication of countless introduced populations all over the world. But the risk varies depending on the organism and the location. In Australia, being isolated by sea and with such strict customs regulations, it's a safe bet to introduce these modified animals.
 
@Dassie rat There is a lot less blowback about eliminating feral cats in Australia than there would be in most other countries. Partly because when talking about feral cats in Australia we are not talking about some stray moggies round the local rubbish dump. We are talking about an evolved wild animal that is substantially different to domestic cats.
 
toothlessjaws said:
Well, there you go. I'd read about this technology for mosquitoes and carp. Not seen it discussed about cats before. But surely it's the answer. In fact, this is likely the answer to eradication of countless introduced populations all over the world. But the risk varies depending on the organism and the location. In Australia, being isolated by sea and with such strict customs regulations, it's a safe bet to introduce these modified animals.
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Yes, agree that it does seem the best option, but I don't think we can fully discount the possibility that there could be unknown variables that may emerge from even the use of GM.

As always the scientific principle of caution should apply heavily and the risks fully and thoroughly researched before any action taken.
 
UngulateNerd92 said:
I would love to join in on that! Regardless though, it is negligent to see the government taking no action on this. The least the government could do is set bounties on feral cats.
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Not too sure that there has not been some action by state or wildlife authorities into the control of feral cats. A very difficult problem!
 
Here is another relevant article. Hopefully this investment could go a long way.

Invasive species have cost Australia $390 billion in the past 60 years, study shows

They trample fragile environments and devastate crops, and now we can put a figure on how much damage invasive species like feral cats and weedy plants are doing to Australia's bottom line.

  • Invasive species cost the Australian economy billions of dollars
  • Weedy plants are the most expensive species in South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania
  • Early detection and eradication is key to limiting the economic impact
Invasive species have cost the Australian economy $390 billion in just the past 60 years, according to research published in the journal NeoBiota today.

https://amp-abc-net-au.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/100333710
 
One of the biggest problems with the feral cats is they have spread so far and wide they are now just about in every corner. Even if it was possible to wipe them out of areas where there is a human population still leaves vast areas where there is no human control. I believe there is a population living on Kangaroo Island, I believe the Islands should be a greater priority than the mainland but would like to see the whole lot gone.
 
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