Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L01747:reg:4:p20
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L01747
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 4 (pt 20/80)
Character Range: 59436–62462

fragments, or their edges, for hunting. Because of these interactions, the level of cat control and management needed to protect native species will vary, depending on the context.

Cat density, activity / behaviour or impacts may be affected by the presence and density of larger mammalian predators, dingoes and foxes. The relationships are complex, probably variable, and contested (refer also to section 8.8 of this document). However, most researchers and managers agree that control of introduced predators, and their introduced prey, should be integrated.

Refer to sections 4.1.4 and 6.7 of the background document for further information on the examples listed in this section, additional examples of interactions between cats and other threats, and referenced sources.

     4.2 Competition

Cats may deplete prey resources for native predators such as quolls, raptors and varanids (goannas). Cats may also use resources for shelter such as caves, hollow logs and burrows, or even large bird nests, that would otherwise be used by native species. Cats may create a 'landscape of fear', causing native species to change their behaviour in ways that compromise their survival, for example by avoiding foraging in the areas with the highest or best food resources.

Refer to section 4.3 of the background document for further information and referenced sources.

     4.3 Disease

Cats carry many arthropods, and viral, parasitic, bacterial and fungal pathogens that can infect and cause disease in other species. Some of these pathogens rely exclusively on cats to complete their life cycle. These pathogens were introduced to Australia with the cat. The diseases they cause would not occur here if cats were absent, and these diseases will disappear eventually from areas where cats are eradicated.

Of these cat-dependent pathogens, Toxoplasma gondii is of most concern. It is a single-celled parasite that cycles between cats and any other warm-blooded animal and causes the disease toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasma gondii infections can cause morbidity and death in individuals of many native species. Toxoplasma gondii infections also affect the behaviour of individual animals in ways that make them more vulnerable to predators (e.g. poor coordination, slower reflexes, riskier behaviour). The incidence of Toxoplasma gondii infections in populations of native animal species can be high (e.g. eastern quoll, water rat (rakali) Hydromys chrysogaster), especially in colder and wetter climates, but whether these effects are sufficient to cause population-level decline is still unresolved.

Many cat-borne pathogens affect livestock and people, including 5 that depend on cats to complete their lifecycle. People are affected by cat roundworm Toxocara cati; by Bartonella henselae, a bacterium that causes cat scratch disease; and, most seriously, by Toxoplasma gondii.

People infected with Toxoplasma gondii can experience no symptoms, mild to severe flu-like symptoms, eye disease, and inflammation of the brain