During a trip to central Australia, Tanya Plibersek realized she had to declare war on feral cats.
There she met the mala: a small wallaby that is on the verge of extinction.
The entire population of these super-cute marsupials, which are just 30cm tall and weigh no more than two kilos, was wiped out by cats in the 1990s.
Mala, who plays an important role in the dreams of the Walpiri people, must be kept in confined spaces to have any chance of survival.
The day after her visit to the shelter, Ms. Plibersek witnessed “a huge cat stalking the grass at the foot of Uluṟu.”
“The mala wouldn’t have stood a chance,” she said. ‘They are bred in a wildlife-proof enclosure in the hope that they can one day repopulate the desert.’
On Thursday, the Environment Minister announced a ‘battle plan’ to tackle the cats that wipe out two billion reptiles, birds and mammals in Australia every year.
There she met the mala: a small wallaby that is on the verge of extinction. The entire population of these super cute marsupials, which are only 30 cm high and weigh no more than two kilos, was wiped out by cats in the 1990s
She visited a mala enclosure, where staff are working tirelessly to increase the population in a safe environment after the species was locally extirpated from the wild
Tanya Plibersek has declared war on feral cats in a bid to protect Australia’s native wildlife
Pictured: Australian Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek looks at a Felixer cat trap
It is believed that feral cats kill six million animals every night.
“If we want to give the mala, the bilby and the brush-tailed bettong a chance to survive in the wild, we need to control their biggest killer: feral cats,” Ms Plibersek said.
Ms Plibersek said feral cats are destroying Australia’s native wildlife and pushing several species to the brink of extinction.
As part of her ambitious plan, she hopes to prevent further future extinctions of feral cats.
‘When domestic cats live in our home, snuggled at the foot of our bed, we rightly love them. But feral cats are the opposite of cute. They are walking, stalking, ruthless killers,” she said.
‘We declare war on feral cats. We are drawing up our battle plan to win that war.”
As part of her ambitious plan, she hopes to prevent further future extinctions caused by feral cats
She said cats are known to kill two billion reptiles, birds and mammals in Australia every year, which equates to about six million per night.
Ms Plibersek said feral cats are destroying our native wildlife and pushing species to the brink of extinction
The minister has outlined a plan to introduce legislation and step up research to control feral cats, including expanding the use of cat traps and expanding cat-free island havens.
“If we don’t act now, our native animals won’t stand a chance,” she said.
Ms Plibersek noted that feral cats ‘played a role in Australia’s last two extinctions’ and helped push Australia towards the unwanted title of ‘mammal extinction capital of the world’.
The government will invest $4 million towards eradicating feral cats on Christmas Island and a further $2.273 million towards French Island.
Another $400,000 will be used to develop feral cat bait for northern Australia, which remains safe for native animals.
Cat owners could also be banned from allowing their pets outside, under new rules being considered by the federal government.
Local governments could support the rules with high fines and also restrict cat ownership; either to a low number per household, or completely for those who break the rules or who live near nature reserves.
Ms Plibersek said that the next day she saw ‘a huge cat sneaking through the grass at the foot of Uluṟu’
A confronting photo shows dozens of mice, lizards and other small reptiles cut from the cat’s stomach, all barely digested
Researchers studying the impact of feral cats on our wildlife in 2018 cut open the stomach of a recently deceased cat and discovered dozens of mammals, lizards and even snakes – all eaten in the last 24 hours of the animal’s life.
A shocking photo shows dozens of mice, lizards and other small reptiles being cut from the cat’s stomach, all barely digested, after it feasted in central South Australia.
Threatened Species Recovery Hub researcher John Woinarski told Daily Mail Australia at the time that it was not unusual to find up to 40 lizards in a cat’s stomach at any one time.
Public consultation on government paper closes on December 11.