Dodges Ferry in the state’s south is the site of a new cat management program by Ten Lives Cat Centre, Landcare Tasmania and the Sorell Council.
The location was chosen after 83 per cent of submissions to a recent community consultation survey were from Dodges Ferry residents, which highlights significant local interest in the issue.
And now with the H5 bird flu on our doorstep, authorities are urging cat owners to ensure pets are contained to prevent spread and infection
“On average, each roaming hunting pet cat kills more than three animals every week. The average over a year, each roaming pet cat in Australia kills 186 animals. This number includes 110 native animals, of which 40 are reptiles, 38 are birds and 32 are mammals,” said Ten Lives Cat Centre CEO Noel Hunt.
Landcare Tasmania Chair Bill Harvey told iHeart Tassie, he’d like to think that Tasmania leads the way on a lot of things, and could potentially lead the way in cat management and encourage others to follow successful models across the country.
They’re both leading the charge to stop roaming cats and educate owners.
A coordinated trapping program will soon get underway in Dodges Ferry and Noel Hunt says the trapped cats will go straight to the centre for evaluation.
“At Ten Lives, we love cats and care deeply for their welfare. Keeping cats safely contained at home not only protects them from injury, disease and traffic incidents, it also helps reduce their impact on native wildlife and the environment,” he said.
Landcare Tasmania Chair Bill Harvey said collecting good information is critical to effective conservation and builds community awareness.
“This survey has generated valuable local insights, which will support local action groups to prioritise cat management activities. This better understanding of cat movements and populations will guide future management decisions that benefit both wildlife and the community,” Mr Harvey said.
There’s also another threat which potentially could have devastating impacts.
“And now with bird flu, being a real risk, it’s a real risk to our cats that are roaming because if they attack a bird that has bird flu, or a carcass, that is going to be a real risk to the cat,” Mr Hunt said.
“We could lose significant proportions of our birds and could potentially be pushed to extinction. So that additional threat can be slightly mitigated by improving the outcome for birds in other ways, like people containing their cats and also a strategic approach to managing feral cats and reducing their numbers,” Mr Harvey said.
For more on this story, take a listen to this week’s episode of iHeart Tassie:
