Kangaroo Island’s wild cats in the firing line with Felixer smart technology

Kangaroo Island’s wild cats are in the firing line, as Natural Resources employs smart technology to squirt poison at the animals to kill them.

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Kangaroo Island’s wild cats are in the firing line as Natural Resources employs smart technology to eradicate the animals.

‘Felixer’ machines, which photograph animals’ movement and shape and then squirt poison at targeted creatures’ fur, will be used on public land — and approved private properties — on the Dudley Peninsula.

It follows their six-week trial on a 12km property, which found 13 of the 20 cats who encountered the machine were poisoned and killed.

Natural Resources Kangaroo Island feral cat eradication program manager Mike Greig said the six machines would now be added into the organisation’s raft of measures to kill wild cats.

The cat eradication program will first focus on the Dudley Peninsula through $2 million in Federal Government funding.

Mr Greig expects that later this year, the project will be bolstered by a new cat-proof fence across the island’s narrow isthmus, separating the peninsula from the rest of the island.

When targeted by the machines, cats groom themselves and die after ingesting the 1080 poison, which is also commonly used elsewhere to bait dogs and foxes.

“We can have these 1080 Felixers in different areas and we can add it to our normal trapping and shooting,” Mr Greig said.

A felixer grooming trap used to poison wild cats on Kangaroo Island. Picture: Supplied

“The overall aim is to clear out the Dudley Peninsula of feral cats and if we have success in the Dudley Peninsula, we can roll that out onto the whole of the island — but that’s a long-term plan.”

Mr Greig said during the trial, 1300 animals encountered the machines, and of those, three were inaccurately targeted — a brushtail possum, lamb and turkey.

It was believed the poison gel missed the possum, and the lamb and turkey were unharmed.

He said across Australia, wild cats had a $144 million impact on the livestock industry each year.

They carried diseases including toxoplasmosis and sarcocystis and had a devastating impact on native species through predation.

RSPCA SA animal welfare advocate Rebekah Eyers said while the organisation recognised the need to control introduced animal species, methods should be “as humane as possible”.

“The available evidence on the effect of 1080 on affected species indicates that it is not a humane poison,” Dr Eyers said.

“The RSPCA has campaigned over many years for further research into alternatives to 1080 so that it can be phased out and replaced with more humane alternatives.

“Scientific officers at RSPCA Australia are continuing to work with authorities to have minimal use of 1080 in the eradication program.”

Mr Greig said 1080 was the only approved toxin for the Felixer project, which would help target cats when other methods were not practical.

“(For example), in certain places where people might not want shooting to occur,” he said. “You might also get cats that are shy of people and you have to be in the right place at the right time.”

Cats were Natural Resources Kangaroo Island’s next focus after removing introduced deer and goats from Kangaroo Island. Rabbits and foxes never made it onto the island.

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Originally published as Kangaroo Island’s wild cats in the firing line with Felixer smart technology