Guns, dogs used to hunt feral cats in French Island

Sniffer dogs and smart cameras are being used in a desperate push to finally rid pristine French Island of the feral cats decimating its endangered species.

Pristine French Island is home to about 260 bird species.

Feral cats on the pristine tourist attraction of French Island are being tracked down by sniffer dogs to be shot, trapped and spotlighted in an effort to finally rid the place of the destructive animals.

Under the bold plan from Parks Victoria, sniffer dogs and smart cameras would be used for more than a year after all the cats were exterminated to make sure the job was done properly.

There are believed to be fewer than 200 feral cats now on French Island – the largest island off the coast of Victoria – but there are still enough adult cats breeding to sustain the population.

Detector dogs are being used to find cats that are then shot, as well as other techniques including baiting, traps and spotlight shooting at night.

The eradication program began this month and will continue until the end of the year.

Having missed a target set by the federal government to eliminate all feral cats by 2020, Parks Victoria hoped the new supercharged effort would wipe all of them out by the end of the year.

According to a document sent to prospective contractors, the eradication program would be followed by the “intensive use of surveillance and monitoring techniques” including more sniffer dogs and cameras designed to detect cats, to ensure none were left.

Parks Victoria and Melbourne Water, which administers the program through the Port Phillip and Western Port Catchment Management Authority, did not provide comment.

Most of French Island is a national park. It is home to about 260 bird species, including the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot and the vulnerable fairy tern, and other threatened or near-threatened animals including the long-nosed potoroo.

Annual trapping programs have been run since 2010, and more than 1100 cats have been killed in the past decade.

All pet cats on the island have been neutered through a program co-ordinated by the French Island Landcare Group.

The federal government invested $335,000 in eradicating feral cats on the island in 2020, which followed $160,000 in 2017.

RSPCA Victoria did not respond to a request for comment.

Originally published as Guns, dogs used to hunt feral cats in French Island