Curbing the cats

In the lead up to Threatened Species Day, the Invasive Species Council have called on all parties to commit to increase funding to reduce the impact of feral and roaming pet cats on Australia’s wildlife ahead of the upcoming federal election.

The call follows the release today by Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek of the details of 55 federally funded feral cat projects across the country.

‘The environmental toll from feral and roaming pet cats cannot be understated,’ said Invasive Species Council Advocacy Director, Jack Gough.

‘By this time tomorrow, over 5 million native mammals, birds, reptiles and frogs will have been killed by the millions of feral and roaming pet cats in Australia.

‘Cats have driven over 25 of our native species to extinction and without serious action we could lose iconic native wildlife like bilbies, numbats, and night parrots forever.

‘That is why we are calling on all parties to commit to increased funding, focus and reform that matches the seriousness of this threat to our wildlife.

‘Environment Minister Plibersek has shown important leadership by bringing states and territories together to focus on this critical issue and we look forward to an ambitious national cat plan being adopted soon.

‘An additional future commitment of at least $60 million over the next 4 years will be needed if this plan is to be properly implemented.

‘It is great to see funding that has already been announced is now hitting the ground across the country for high quality projects like island eradications, research into new control techniques and protection of threatened native birds.

‘Given the seriousness of this threat to our wildlife, we will be looking for all parties to step up with additional funding for action on cats in the lead up to the federal election.

‘We also need all state and territory governments to declare feral cats to be pests, support all appropriate control tools and develop their own feral cat plans.

‘In Victoria the ban on the use of baiting to control feral cats is putting wildlife at risk and undermining the plan to eradicate cats on French Island to protect endangered bandicoots and shore birds.

‘We have an archaic situation in New South Wales and Western Australia where local governments cannot implement basic cat curfew laws for pet cats due to outdated state laws. This is despite the onus for managing cats in urban areas falling on local governments,’ said Mr Gough.