Whether they are looked after and fed daily by loving pet owners or stray and feral roaming urban and natural terrains, cats kill close to two billion native mammals, birds and reptiles in Australia every year.
A parliamentary inquiry in NSW is examining how to deal with the exploding population of cats that has contributed to the extinction of 22 species in Australia and threatened eight critically endangered species, nine endangered species and 29 vulnerable species.
Estimated consumption rates—based on inspections of the stomach contents of cats—show they kill five to 35 animals per night, according to the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.
In its submission to the inquiry, the animal conservation organisation noted video footage collected from its sanctuaries showed feral cats preyed on an average of seven native animals in 24 hours.
From that, the conservancy extrapolated that, based on the estimated population size of feral cats in Australia, they killed more than one billion native animals a year.
Researchers from the University of NSW Centre for Ecosystem Science described the situation as “exacting an enormous toll on Australia’s wildlife” in their submission.
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“Their (cats) impact is in metropolitan and urban areas,” they said.
“There are significant opportunities to reduce this toll by implementing legislation, policy and management focusing on limiting their impact, while still allowing pet cats.”
More than 1,000 submissions were provided to the committee due to start hearings on Tuesday, with many overwhelmingly favouring a targeted approach of large-scale desexing programs and 24-hour curfews on cats.
However, other animal welfare groups such as Four Paws are calling for more prudence in controlling cat populations, arguing cats are unfairly targeted.
“Flawed data is used to disproportionately scapegoat and blame cats for species extinctions and impact on native animals,” Four Paws said.
