How do feral cats affect Australian wildlife?
Feral cats are one of the biggest threats to Australian wildlife. Scientists estimate they kill more than a billion native animals each year and have helped drive many small mammals to extinction.
Cats arrived with European settlers and spread across almost the entire continent, including deserts and many islands. They live wild without any human care and hunt small mammals, birds, reptiles and frogs.
Australia's native animals evolved without cats, so many have few defences against them. Feral cats have played a major role in the extinction of more than 20 native mammal species, including the lesser bilby and the desert bandicoot.
Controlling feral cats
Control methods include baiting, trapping, shooting and building predator-proof fences around sanctuaries. Islands such as Kangaroo Island and Dirk Hartog Island have had large eradication programs.
Researchers are developing new baits and grooming traps that spray poison onto passing cats. Pet cat owners are encouraged to keep cats indoors or in enclosures.
Fenced reserves, where cats and foxes have been removed, now protect populations of bilbies, numbats, bettongs and other threatened species.
Did You Know?
Dirk Hartog Island in Western Australia was declared free of feral cats in 2018 after a major eradication project.