Development of the Mata Hari Judas Queen (Felis catus)

Abstract

Cats (Felis catus) are significant predators of mammals, birds, frogs and reptiles and are implicated in mammal species extinctions in Australia. Current controls fail to eradicate entire populations allowing survivors to re-establish. The use of the Mata Hari Judas (MHJ) technique, i.e., inducing prolonged oestrus using hormone implants, can enhance the eradication of remnant animals and would greatly improve conservation efforts. The hypotheses tested were that hormone implants could induce prolonged oestrus in queens (adult female cats), and that prolonging oestrus would result in sustained attractiveness to toms (adult male cats). Queens (n = 14) were randomly allocated to five treatments including a control and four treatments using hormone implants. Queens were observed daily; alone and during indirect contact with a tom for 30 consecutive days. There were significant increases (p < 0.001) in oestrus duration (19 to 27 days) for entire and ovariohysterectomised queens given Compudose100™ implants (1/8 or 1/4 implant). This study shows that it is possible to induce and prolong oestrus in queens using Compudose100™ implants where these queens are attractive to toms. The MHJ queen is a new tool with the potential to enhance the detection and thus the control of feral cats in remnant populations.

Trialling a new method to attract feral cats (Felis catus) in situ – the Mata Hari Judas queen

“…Mata Hari Judas goats performed better than any other control technique in removing the last 1000 goats on Santiago Island in the Galapagos, reducing the time and associated costs of the control program (Cruz et al 2009). The application of this technique with other species has been proposed, including as a tool for feral cat management (Murray et al 2020). Because the Mata Hari Judas technique relies upon the instinct of an animal to locate a mate, cats' sexual promiscuity (Dickman et al 2019) has the potential to assist in the use of the technique (Campbell et al 2007;Murray et al 2020).…”

“…The application of this technique with other species has been proposed, including as a tool for feral cat management (Murray et al 2020). Because the Mata Hari Judas technique relies upon the instinct of an animal to locate a mate, cats' sexual promiscuity (Dickman et al 2019) has the potential to assist in the use of the technique (Campbell et al 2007;Murray et al 2020). Previous studies have determined that sexually mature female cats (queens) can be induced into prolonged oestrus using a number of mechanisms (Hyndman et al 2020;Murray et al 2020).…”

“…Because the Mata Hari Judas technique relies upon the instinct of an animal to locate a mate, cats' sexual promiscuity (Dickman et al 2019) has the potential to assist in the use of the technique (Campbell et al 2007;Murray et al 2020). Previous studies have determined that sexually mature female cats (queens) can be induced into prolonged oestrus using a number of mechanisms (Hyndman et al 2020;Murray et al 2020). Furthermore, queens induced into prolonged oestrus are attractive to male cats (toms), a critical first step in applying this technique to cats (Murray et al 2020).…”

“…Previous studies have determined that sexually mature female cats (queens) can be induced into prolonged oestrus using a number of mechanisms (Hyndman et al 2020;Murray et al 2020). Furthermore, queens induced into prolonged oestrus are attractive to male cats (toms), a critical first step in applying this technique to cats (Murray et al 2020). Therefore, the next step is to investigate the potential of using the Mata Hari Judas technique in situ to attract feral cats.…”

“…Therefore, the next step is to investigate the potential of using the Mata Hari Judas technique in situ to attract feral cats. However, there are several challenges, considering the Mata Hari Judas technique has previously been applied to species with considerably different behaviour, diet and ecology (Campbell et al 2007;Murray et al 2020).…”