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South Australia steps up for Kangaroo Island cat eradication – now Commonwealth must finish the job

The Invasive Species Council has applauded the South Australian government’s $800,000 commitment to continue the Dudley Peninsula Feral Cat Eradication Program on Kangaroo Island, announced today, calling it a critical step toward securing one of Australia’s most important conservation opportunities.

The new funding builds on $1.5 million secured from the Australian Government last year to extend the program and maintain momentum toward removing feral cats from the eastern end of the island.

However, a further $3.1 million is still required from the Commonwealth to fully complete the eradication and deliver what would be the largest feral cat eradication ever undertaken on an inhabited island anywhere in the world.

‘Kangaroo Island is one of Australia’s greatest conservation assets, and this $800,000 commitment from the State Government shows real leadership in securing its future,’ Invasive Species Council CEO Jack Gough said. 

‘Feral cats are the biggest driver of animal extinction in Australia and seriously threaten the island’s wildlife, including the critically endangered Kangaroo Island dunnart and vulnerable little penguin colonies.

‘Backing this eradication program is backing the survival of species found nowhere else on Earth – and proving that extinction is not inevitable when governments act decisively.

‘With $3.1 million still required to finish the job, we now look to the Australian Government to step up and secure what would be the largest feral cat eradication ever completed on an inhabited island anywhere in the world – placing South Australia at the forefront of one of the most significant conservation achievements in our nation’s history.

‘This is a really important commitment from the Labor South Australian government and we look forward to working with the government to make sure that the wildlife can benefit from a fully funded eradication program.’

Media inquiries: (02) 8006 5004

Photos and maps to accompany this story are available here.

Background:

  • Kangaroo Island is internationally renowned for its biodiversity, agriculture, and tourism, contributing $200 million annually to nature-based tourism and $150 million to sheep production pre-bushfires. 
  • Its unique ecosystems support threatened species such as the Southern Brown Bandicoot, Kangaroo Island Echidna, and Western Whipbird. Feral cats are their primary threat, causing catastrophic declines in native species and spreading diseases like toxoplasmosis, which also impacts agriculture.
  • Feral cats are the apex predator on Kangaroo Island.
  • Feral cats are known to predate on over 50 native species on Kangaroo Island.  
  • Cats are hosts to diseases and parasites that place the endangered Australian sea lion at increased risk of extinction.
  • 85 percent of the sea lion population occurs in South Australia, with the 3 largest breeding colonies found at Dangerous Reef, The Pages and Seal Bay on Kangaroo Island.
  • Sea lion populations have plummeted by over 60 per cent in the past 4 decades.

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    Dear Project Team,

    [YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

    I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

    The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

    The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

    This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

    Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

    Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

    Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

    I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]


    Dear Project Team,

    [YOUR PERSONALISED MESSAGE WILL APPEAR HERE.] 

    I support the amendment to the Kosciuszko National Park Wild Horse Heritage Management Plan to allow our incredible National Parks staff to use aerial shooting as one method to rapidly reduce feral horse numbers. I want to see feral horse numbers urgently reduced in order to save the national park and our native wildlife that live there.

    The current approach is not solving the problem. Feral horse numbers have rapidly increased in Kosciuszko National Park to around 18,000, a 30% jump in just the past 2 years. With the population so high, thousands of feral horses need to be removed annually to reduce numbers and stop our National Park becoming a horse paddock. Aerial shooting, undertaken humanely and safely by professionals using standard protocols, is the only way this can happen.

    The government’s own management plan for feral horses states that ‘if undertaken in accordance with best practice, aerial shooting can have the lowest negative animal welfare impacts of all lethal control methods’.

    This humane and effective practice is already used across Australia to manage hundreds of thousands of feral animals like horses, deer, pigs, and goats.

    Trapping and rehoming of feral horses has been used in Kosciuszko National Park for well over a decade but has consistently failed to reduce the population, has delayed meaningful action and is expensive. There are too many feral horses in the Alps and not enough demand for rehoming for it to be relied upon for the reduction of the population.

    Fertility control as a management tool is only effective for a small, geographically isolated, and accessible population of feral horses where the management outcome sought is to maintain the population at its current size. It is not a viable option to reduce the large and growing feral horse population in the vast and rugged terrain of Kosciuszko National Park.

    Feral horses are trashing and trampling our sensitive alpine ecosystems and streams, causing the decline and extinction of native animals. The federal government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee has stated that feral horses ‘may be the crucial factor that causes final extinction’ for 12 alpine species.

    I recognise the sad reality that urgent and humane measures are necessary to urgently remove the horses or they will destroy the Snowies and the native wildlife that call the mountains home. I support a healthy national park where native species like the Corroboree Frog and Mountain Pygmy Possum can thrive.

    Kind regards,
    [Your name]
    [Your email address]
    [Your postcode]