Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2017C00220:reg:2:p6
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2017C00220
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 2 (pt 6/20)
Character Range: 42254–45093

increase in rabbit numbers due to declining effectiveness of biocontrols may provide additional food for feral cats (Doherty et al. 2015)).
Research is providing insights into these responses, such as the preferential use by feral cats of areas recently burnt with high intensity fires to get easy access to prey species that have no vegetation cover to hide in (McGregor et al. 2014). This knowledge is valuable for land managers to adapt management programs for feral cats in order to exploit these responses, although this should not be to the detriment of the overall biodiversity outcomes sought. Action 1.4 seeks to provide what is known to land managers, and continue this research and provide it to land managers. Overlaid on the responses of feral cats to landscape changes is the changing climate due to global warming, which will need to be taken into account.

Action 1.5 Continue research into the scale, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, sustainability and risks of feral cat control options
When designing a program for feral cat management it is important to understand the scale of control required, the cost-effectiveness of the method/s being employed and their long-term sustainability. Action 1.5 is aimed at further improving our knowledge of how much and when to undertake control; the short and long term efficiency of that control, especially with feral cats immigrating from outside the site; the cost-effectiveness of the control for the threatened species (or other matter being protected) and what combinations of control methods may work best in different locations. Included in any program must be monitoring to understand the outcome for the program, such as the recovery of a particular threatened species. An element of this research is to examine the effectiveness at a suitable scale and the comparative cost of creating a feral cat (and other predator) free area through intensive predator control in the surrounding area to prevent immigration of new animals. The potential for perverse outcomes, such as low level control leading to an increase in feral cat numbers, needs to be understood (e.g. Lazenby et al. 2015). As mentioned in the previous section, this knowledge must focus on the recovery of threatened species as well as the control of feral cats. This information on program design should be provided to land managers in order for ongoing effective delivery of the management program.

Action 1.6 Continue development of new or enhanced attractants for cats to improve cat control and monitoring. Ensure availability of any attractants that are developed
Robust monitoring of feral cats can be difficult because of their dispersed spread and occurrence at low densities. In some circumstances it is necessary to use lures to attract cats into monitoring locations and control locations (e.g.