Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L01747:reg:4:p18
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L01747
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 4 (pt 18/80)
Character Range: 52354–56977

Species Action Plan 2022-2032 are recognised as being extremely or highly susceptible to predation by cats (and/or in some cases, by foxes). These include the chuditch (western quoll) Dasyurus geoffroii, eastern quoll D. viverrinus, northern quoll D. hallucatus, numbat Myrmecobius fasciatus, greater bilby Macrotis lagotis, mountain pygmy-possum Burramys parvus, western ring-tailed possum Pseudocheirus occidentalis, Gilbert's potoroo Potorous gilberti, quokka Setonix brachyurus, New Holland mouse Pseudomys novaehollandiae, northern hopping-mouse Notomys aquilo, and central rock-rat Zyzomys pedunculatus. In addition, 2 of the 22 priority bird species are highly susceptible to cat predation; these are the night parrot Pezoporus occidentalis, and western ground parrot Pezoporus flaviventris; and so is one reptile, the great desert skink Liopholis kintorei.

      Table 1 Categories of susceptibility to cat predation that determine the level of cat control and management required to ensure population viability, and the numbers of extant terrestrial mammal, birds and reptile species that fall into each category.

Category of susceptibility   Susceptibility of native animal species to cat predation                                                                                                                                                               Mammals (Number of species)  Land birds (Number of species)  Reptiles (Number of species)  Seabirds (Number of species)
Extreme                      Population likely to be extirpated where cats occur, and cats were, or are, or plausibly could occur in at least 50% of the native species' range.                                                                     9                            1                               0                             9
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    (12 counting subspecies)
High                         Population likely to be extirpated where cats occur, and cats were, or are, or plausibly could occur in 20-50% of the native species' range. OR                                                                        38                           3                               4                             3
                             Population likely to persist with cats, but with severe reduction (more than 50%) in its population size and viability, and cats were, or are, or plausibly could occur in at least 50% of the native species' range.  (48 counting subspecies)
Moderate                     Population likely to persist with cats, but with moderate reduction (less than 50%) in its population size and viability.                                                                                              24                           11                              10                            18
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    (27 counting subspecies)     (12 counting subspecies)                                      (19 counting subspecies)
Low / Not (levels combined)  Low: Likely to persist with cats but with some reduction in population size or viability (i.e. 0-9%); will have higher viability where cats are more effectively controlled.                                           231                          606                             988                           81
                             Not: Viability is unaffected by introduced predators.                                                                                                                                                                  (235 counting subspecies)    (624 counting subspecies

Where subspecies exist, they are tallied with the new total shown in brackets. Vagrants and introduced species have been excluded from the tallies. Number of species tallies have been combined for 'low' and 'not' susceptibility categories.

     4.1.2 Which ecological communities are most susceptible to cat impacts?

Population declines and local extirpations of native animal species due to cat predation may compromise the healthy functioning of ecological communities, and potentially even their structure and composition. For example, many of the native mammal species that are