A curfew on cats and limits on how many you can have as pets are among the measures the Albanese government is contemplating as it tries to fix the problem of feral felines that kill native wildlife.
Environment and Water minister Tanya Plibersek announced on Wednesday that $60 million of taxpayers’ money fund 55 projects intended to protect Australian wildlife.
As many as 5.6million feral cats roam the country, killing about 1.5billion native mammals, birds, reptiles and frogs as well as 1.1billion invertebrates every year.
Feral cats have played a role in two thirds of extinctions of native mammals in Australia, and the projects aim to ‘humanely catch and eradicate’ the predators.
National parks on Kangaroo and Christmas islands have been used as testing grounds to assess the effectiveness of traps, some equipped with AI, in killing feral cats and other pests.
The funding will also develop ‘drone-based thermal cameras’ and other tracking technologies using feral cat DNA.
While Ms Plibersek’s plan will mostly target feral cats, it will also look to try and limit the impact of household cats which on average kill 186 animals each per year.
A cat abatement plan, to be introduced to parliament in coming months, laid out potential regulations such as household limits on cat numbers, and night-time curfews.
The Albanese Government is ‘declaring war’ against feral cats in a bid to help curb the about 7million native animals killed each year (file photo)
Ms Plibersek said the government is ‘serious about protecting our precious native species’.
‘Feral cats are dangerous and ruthless predators, pushing our threatened native species like the greater bilby, numbat, and Gilbert’s potoroo, to the brink of extinction,’ she said.
‘Since declaring war on feral cats, we are mobilising artificial intelligence, cat trap technology and strong community action to combat this invasive pest and safeguard Australia’s biodiversity.
‘The projects also help land managers and farmers to better protect land, livestock and native wildlife from feral cats.’
Ms Plibersek’s draft plan was agreed to in principle by ministers across Australia’s states and territories in November last year.
While it will not force state governments to create new rules around pet cats, the plan does require collaboration across the federal-state levels.
Some local governments had already introduced restrictions and curfews on pet cats but many lack the resources to police those by-laws.
Environment and water minister, Tanya Plibersek, on Wednesday announced $60million in funding across 55 projects which aim to ‘humanely catch and eradicate’ the predators
Feral cats (pictured) have contributed to two thirds of mammal extinctions in Australia and helped endanger more than 200 other native animals
One idea in the plan was to limit the amount of ‘roaming cats’ by forcing owners to keep their pets inside between dusk and dawn, when cats are most active.
It also suggested introducing household number limits, cat-free suburbs and requirements for de-sexing and registration.
Local governments would however be empowered to ‘set bylaws (such as cat prohibition) to suit local conditions more easily’, according to the draft.
Victorian councils can order owners to keep the pets inside during certain hours during the day, including a 24-hour ban on roaming cats across Knox City Council in Melbourne’s East.
All cats born after July 2022 have to kept on their owners property in the ACT, which also barred roaming cats in 17 suburbs near wildlife hotspots.
Western Australia and NSW are still developing laws around cat ownership, however Perth councils have indicated 24-hour curfews could be introduced.
