WA’s war on feral cats gears up in South West and Great Southern with huge boost in State Government funding

Things just might be getting harder for nature’s perfect predator in the South West and Great Southern thanks to a major funding boost to aid in WA’s war on feral cats.

The State Government announced the recipients in round two of its ongoing $2 million Feral Cat Management Program, dividing $500,000 to three community groups in the South West and Great Southern regions.

Feral cats are estimated to kill up to three million mammals, 1.7 million reptiles, one million birds, 2.8 million invertebrates and 337,000 frogs every day across the country.

Just one feral cat is thought to be able to kill more than 700 small animals every year costing more than $300 million each year in damage and population control measures.

As part of the Feral Cat Management Program Conservation Australia, work within the South West has received $51,830 to buy thermal detection equipment to help detect and eradicate feral cats across 11 national parks in the region.

The Lower Blackwood Land Conservation District Committee received $217,551 to undertake priority feral cat control within the Scott Coastal Plain — home to two nationally important wetlands and threatened ecological communities.

LBLCDC executive officer Joanna Wren said the project would help “implement a comprehensive feral cat monitoring, control and evaluation program” to the area.

“We will be working with field officers from the Lower Blackwood Vertebrate Pest Management Group to carry out a seasonal baiting and trapping program over the 2.5 year project period and will also be putting into place a monitoring program to collect and evaluate data on population and impacts,” she said.

Great Southern’s Gillamii Centre received $230,619 to improve feral cat management in the Kent-Frankland sub-region.

Environment Minster Reece Whitby said empowering community groups to invest in tools and technology would continue to develop the skills and knowledge required to stop feral cats in their tracks.

“Feral cats are elusive and expert predators that hunt our native wildlife, particularly threatened species including the chuditch, hooded plover and numbat, to the brink of extinction,” he said.

Warren-Blackwood MLA Jane Kelsbie said she was pleased to be able to support community organisations with feral cat management projects.

“This investment not only reflects our dedication to safeguarding our environment but also supports the invaluable work of community groups in preserving our unique wildlife for future generations,” she said.

Albany MLA Rebecca Stephens said the investment was “great news” for the endangered wildlife endemic to southern WA.

WA Feral Cat Working Group chair Susan Hunt said action against feral cats was vital — particularly in Western Australia which is home to unique wildlife.

“The WA Feral Cat Working Group supports actions to protect WA wildlife from the impact of feral cats and congratulates all groups that have been successful in achieving project funding to manage feral cats in their regions,” she said.

The group said ongoing management would only provide a temporary fix if domestic cats continued to roam uncontested and a spokesperson said the containment of domestic cats was key.

“Domestic cats wander and will always hunt, it is an innate behaviour,” they said.

“It is estimated that pet cats prey on around 244 million birds, reptiles and mammals in WA every year — this must change to save our precious wildlife.

“Cats are very fecund animals and female cats usually produce one to two litters from six months of age.

Speaking with the Times earlier this month, WAFCWG executive Bruce Webber it was important for individuals and local governments to push for cat containment laws to help improve conditions for both native animals and domestic cats.

“The reality is, effective on-ground change for cats will not happen until at least 2030 because of how long it takes to roll out at a State level and then at a local government level,” he said.

“That’s not good enough, that’s at least five to six more years of carnage — millions of dead native animals and millions of cats experiencing inadequate welfare outcomes.”