Feral cat control

Hello, I'm Tiffany from North Coast Local Land Services
and I work with LLS within the Invasive Pest Animal Team.
A large part of my role is to assist landowners
to manage feral pests on their property.
Now feral cats certainly take advantage of our environment
here on the North Coast
where we have ample food source all year round.
Feral cats
They're also responsible for a number of extinctions
in our Australian mammal species.
Feral cats predate on things like birds and reptiles,
mammals, amphibians and invertebrates.
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Feral cats diseases
Feral cats also have a number of diseases
that they can transmit to both native wildlife,
livestock and humans.
Toxoplasmosis is one of those
and some of the signs in livestock is illness
and abortion in female animals.
For humans it can present with flu-like symptoms
and also pregnant females do have to be very careful
in regards to miscarriage and fetal abnormalities as well.
So if you are a pregnant female,
be very careful around any cat faeces, feral or otherwise
and protect yourself.
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Feral cats are cats that live and hunt
and reproduce in the wild.
They are quite solitary creatures.
They predominantly hunt at night
and quite cryptic in their behaviour
and so there's most chances that you're not going to see them.
You're gonna see the signs before you actually see the cat.
So when you're out on your property, look down,
look at the ground and look for the signs.
A lot of signs you're gonna be looking for
is evidence of their kills.
They're gonna be quite obvious when you start to look.
There's gonna be feathers,
there's gonna be small carcasses of birds and reptiles
and small mammals as well.
Another sign is with their scats.
Now their scats are quite cylindrical in their shape
and sometimes they can go out to a point
and often filled with bone fragments and hair.
Unlike your domestic cat that will often cover their scats,
they certainly can do, they're quite clean,
but often feral cats will leave them just open on a path.
Now, depending on the environment
to how clear of a track that you can get,
feral cats have claws and retractable claws.
So when they're walking around,
they're trying to keep them safe and sharp,
you won't often see their claw in their print.
They'll also have a leading toe
which will help in identifying,
depending again on the environment
with how clear your track is.
Whereas your dog and your fox prints
are quite straight together in those two toes.
Often between a cat print and a dog print,
it's quite clear just due to size.
It's when the fox print and the cat print are together.
How to report feral cats
We all have to do what we can to protect our native wildlife.
If you do see any signs or impacts from feral cats,
please report it.
And there's a number of ways you can do that.
You can do that on the Feral Scan website,
or you can do it also on a smartphone
through the Feral Scan app.
And alternatively, you can call North Coast
Local Land Services on 1300 795 2009
and ask to speak to your local biosecurity officer
and they'll be able to assist you
with what control tools may be available to you.
And another thing to remember with pest predators
is it's best if we can do it on a landscape scale.
So have a chat with your neighbours.
If you're suffering the impacts,
there's no doubt that they are as well.
And we might be able to arrange a group program
to undertake the best control.
So let's all do our bit to protect our native wildlife
from feral cats.