Some areas of Australia have gone even further. In the northeastern state of Queensland, there's even a council offering a $10 ($7) bounty per feral cat scalp – a policy People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has lambasted as “cruel.” Nor is the problem exclusive to Australia.
Banana shire introduced the bounty last month, which offers $10 for the scalp of an adult feral cat, and $5 for a kitten. Feral cats are estimated to kill 750,000 birds a day in Australia, and council staff said the bounty came in response to “an exploding population” of feral cats hunting native wildlife.
Shooting cats is labour intensive and requires a lot of skill. Trapping of feral cats using cage traps is permitted everywhere in Australia and trapping using soft-jawed leg-hold traps is permitted in some states and territories. There are best practice standard operating procedures for shooting and trapping.
In July 2015, the Australian government announced a “war on feral cats,“ with the intention of killing over two million felines by 2020. The threat abatement plan to enforce this policy includes a mix of shooting, trapping and a reputedly “humane” poison.
They are found throughout Australia. You can support a national feral cat mapping project by reporting feral cat populations. You must manage the impacts of feral cats on your land. You must not move, feed, give away, sell or release feral cats into the environment.
If you stop feeding the cats, they will likely stay in the same area but be forced to expand their search for food. The large number of hungry cats can create conflicts with other cats and humans in the area. To remove feral cats from your property, be sure to remove any sources of food or shelter.
Should I feed a stray cat? Feeding a stray cat will likely make it your cat. Scared and lost cats will enjoy coming back to your home as a source of food. We strongly recommend going beyond feeding stray cats and reaching out to a veterinarian and no-kill shelter to ensure the cat is healthy and safe.
HOW BIG SHOULD A CAT ENCLOSURE BE? Many Australian local councils now require cat owners to keep their pets on their own premises. In some areas, this is a curfew where cats are not allowed to roam freely after dark. But in other areas, cats must be kept on their own property at all times.
Cats are an invasive species in Australia. Because they are not native to Australia and were only introduced by colonisers as pets in the early 1800s, native Australian animals did not co-evolve with them.
Cats probably first arrived in Australia as pets of European settlers during the 18th century, and were later deliberately introduced in an attempt to control rabbits and rodents. Cats now occupy 99% of Australia, including many offshore islands4.
Feral cat control techniques. The most commonly used feral cat control techniques are shooting, trapping, lethal baiting and exclusion fencing. The currently available methods of control are generally expensive, labour intensive, require continuing management effort and can be effective only in limited areas.
A 6.8kg feral cat was captured on Moreton Island/Mulgumpin. It was dubbed the "Tangalooma puma" due to its size.
Shooting can be a humane method of destroying feral cats when it is carried out by experienced, skilled and responsible shooters; the animal can be clearly seen and is within range; and, the correct firearm, ammunition and shot placement is used.
Feral cats typically fear humans. In most cases, unless they are very young at the time of adoption, they do not enjoy living indoors if someone were to take them in.
Feral Cat Sedation
Often, a combination of sedative, analgesic and anesthetic is used, so the cat can go into spay/neuter surgery as soon as possible. Once the cat is pinned by the materials within the trap, a vet or vet tech can inject the cat intramuscularly.
From 1 July 2022 all cats will be required to be registered, with details to be updated annually. Existing owners will be able to register their cat for free while new owners after this date will pay a small one-off fee. The new requirement for cat registration and fees mirror the ACT's annual dog registration scheme.
There are millions of feral cats in Australia, killing many millions of native animals every day. Scientific analysis shows they occur across 99.8% of the nation, from Australia's highest alpine peaks to remote central Australian deserts, from our beaches, to our forests and across our farmlands.
Microchipping and registration of your cat
All cats 3 months of age and over must be registered with the local council. Existing registrations must be renewed by 10 April each year. If being registered for the first time, cats must be microchipped before registration.
All cats, including those referred to as 'working cats' are included in the 24-hour cat curfew. If you live on property and treat your cat like a working cat you are required to effectively constrain it before 1 July 2023. Helpful resources are available via Animal Welfare Victoria here.
Strict cat curfews have been introduced across Australia in a bid to stop them driving other animals to extinction. The drastic move has seen owners face restrictions such as a limit on the number of cats per household and rules that owners must keep the pets on a lead to leave the property.
If you hit and injure an animal (apart from a bird), you are required by law to do whatever you reasonably can to ease its pain. If it's not a wild animal then the injury must be reported to the police or the animal's owner.
There are actually a number of reasons. Cats meow as a way of greeting you, to demand attention, to ask for food, to be let inside or outside, to find a mate (for cats who are not fixed), or if they are elderly and suffering from mental confusion, such as a result of the cat version of Alzheimer's Disease.
What is the difference between a stray cat and a feral cat? Pet and stray cats are socialized to people. Feral cats are not socialized to people. While they are socialized to their feline family members and bonded to each other, they do not have that same relationship with people.
Some strays seek companionship and shelter in a colony, but many will look to humans to provide for them. To eat, these outdoor cats will hunt small game, pick through garbage, raid dog food dishes, and beg from humans.