Feral cats are killing three billion native animals each year

A network of fenced areas to protect native animals and a night-time curfew for pets has been recommended by the inquiry into the environmental impact of feral cats.

A feral cat in South Australia. Picture: Andrew Cooke

A “Project Noah” network of fenced areas to protect native animals and a night-time curfew for domestic pets has been recommended by federal parliamentary inquiry into the environmental impact of feral cats.

Feral cats kill an estimated three billion native animals each year, the same number as the worst estimate of the 2020 bushfires, but efforts to eradicate them are failing.

The House of Representatives Standing Committee on the Environment and Energy has made a series of unanimous recommendations but says there is no magic bullet.

Inquiry chair, Ted O’Brien, LNP member of Fairfax on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, said cats have decimated populations of Australian wildlife, killing billions of animals each year.

“One of the great tragedies of last year’s Black Summer Bushfires was the loss of wildlife, with between one and three billion animals perishing. To think that feral cats kill more wildlife on an annual basis really put this problem in perspective.

“Feral cuts still need to be culled, but it’s going to take time before we have the technology to rid these lethal carnivores from our natural environment at scale”, Mr O’Brien said.

The “Project Noah” initiative would expand Australia’s network of predator-free fenced areas and islands. It would be a joint effort between all levels of government and private environmental groups based on proven models such as those that have been developed with organisations like the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.

The project “should be spearheaded by the Australian Government, in partnership with communities, the private sector and philanthropic groups where possible”, the report said.

“Project Noah should be based on proven models, and be ambitious in its scale”, it said.

The Committee also recommended the Australian Government, in partnership with the states and territories, develop a clear strategy for the management of stray and domestic cats.

The strategy should require all local governments to actively consider whether night-time curfews should be put in place for all or part of their areas of responsibility.

Cats are present over 99.9 per cent of the Australian land mass.

They have been responsible for the rapid and catastrophic loss of wildlife, causing some species to become threatened, endangered and even extinct.

Under the Australian Government’s Threat Abatement Plan, feral cats are recognised as a potential threat to 74 mammal species and subspecies as well as 40 birds, 21 reptiles and four amphibians. According to estimates, predation by cats is responsible for the loss of 1.6 billion native animals every year.