Feral Cats

In reply to the Hon. F. PANGALLO (17 May 2022).

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries): I thank the honourable member for his question and provide the following response:

Kangaroo Island is home to highly productive primary industries, internationally recognised tourism industries and many unique native plant and animal species.

Kangaroo Island is also home to large numbers of feral cats, which impact primary industries as well as the island’s biodiversity.

I am pleased to report that the Kangaroo Island Landscape Board and its partners are having significant positive impacts on the numbers of feral cats on the island.

I am also pleased to advise that almost 100 per cent of Kangaroo Island landholders support the feral cat management works being led by the Landscape Board. The program engages hundreds of local landholders to support cat trapping activities.

With funding from the SA state government, Australian government Bushfire Recovery Grants, Regional Land Partnerships, Landcare, World Wildlife Fund, private philanthropy and assistance from the Kangaroo Island Council, Agriculture Kangaroo Island and many landholders, the Kangaroo Island Landscape Board and partners have been setting several hundred cat traps each day.

New technology being developed and applied on Kangaroo Island includes real-time cameras to monitor cat traps and app-linked trap-alert systems that cover vast areas and notify the operators when traps have been triggered.

High-tech trapping methods are being used in conjunction with a feral cat proof fence that separates the 384 square km Dudley Peninsula from the remainder of the island, which was funded by the Australian government and private philanthropy and completed in September 2021.