Australian govt boosts funding for war on feral cats

Canberra, Sep 4 (IANS) The Australian government has committed additional funding to prevent feral cats from harming native species.
Tanya Plibersek, the Minister for the Environment, on Wednesday, announced more than 60 million Australian dollars (US$40.1 million) in new funding for the government’s war on feral cats.
The funding has been allocated to 55 projects across the country aimed at preventing the ecological destruction caused by invasive feral cats.
According to the government, feral cats kill a combined 1.5 billion native mammals, birds, reptiles and frogs in Australia every year as well as 1.1 billion invertebrates, Xinhua news agency reported.
Feral cats have contributed to two-thirds of Australia’s mammal extinctions and posed a threat to over 200 threatened species, Plibersek said.
“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 in a statement.
“We are mobilising artificial intelligence, cat trap technology and strong community action to combat this invasive pest and safeguard Australia’s biodiversity,” she said.
The federal government declared war on feral cats in 2023 and released a draft national action plan to prevent them from spreading further. Plibersek said that the finalised plan will be released soon.
New projects that will receive funding include traps for feral cats equipped with artificial intelligence (AI), humane animal nets and an AI-supported audio deterrent that emits a high-pitched sound to act as a virtual fence.
Researchers will also receive funding to explore drone-based thermal cameras and eDNA technologies to track feral cats in the Christmas Island National Park off the coast of Western Australia in the Indian Ocean.
–IANS
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