Impacts of ‘Curiosity’ baiting on feral cat populations in woodland habitats of Kangaroo Island, South Australia

Abstract

Context Across Australia, feral cat (Felis catus) control and eradication programs are conducted to conserve threatened and vulnerable species. Controlling feral cats effectively at a landscape scale, particularly in remote woodland habitats, remains a significant challenge. Unfortunately, some standard feral cat control methods, such as shooting and cage trapping, require road access. Poison baiting is one of the few methods available to control feral cat populations in remote and inaccessable areas. Aims We aimed to examine the impact of a Curiosity® (Scientec Research PTY LTD, Melbourne, Australia) baiting program on the feral cat population found in continuous woodland habitat of the Dudley Peninsula, on Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Methods The density of cats was monitored using camera traps set up across both treatment and control sites using a before–after control–impact approach. Feral cat density was calculated using a spatially explicit capture–recapture framework. In addition, 14 feral cats were GPS collared at the treatment site, and their status and location, before and after baiting, was monitored. Key results At the treatment site after baiting, feral cat density fell from 1.18 ± 0.51 to 0.58 ± 0.22 cats km−2. In total, 14 feral cats were GPS collared, and of those, eight were detected within the treatment zone during and after bait deployment. Six of those eight cats died shortly after baiting, likely from bait consumption. A new individual cat was detected in the treatment zone within 10 days of baiting, and within 20 days, four new individuals were detected. Both before and after baiting, the number of feral cat detections was highest on roads, suggesting cat recolonisation of baited areas may be assisted by roads. Conclusions Curiosity baiting was found to be an effective method for reducing the density of feral cats in continuous woodland habitats of Kangaroo Island. Roads may act as access routes aiding cat recolonisation. Implications Curiosity baiting programs on Kangaroo Island (and elsewhere) would benefit from incorporating follow-up control, particularly along roads, to target feral cats re-colonising the area.

Squamate scavenging services: Heath goannas (Varanus rosenbergi) support carcass removal and may suppress agriculturally damaging blowflies

“…However, unlike the SYP, KI has never had a population of European red foxes. Although the Island does have a population of feral cats, an intense eradication program is underway, with a particular focus on the Dudley Peninsula on the east of the island (Hohnen et al., 2020 , 2022 ). Therefore, despite the underlying similarity of habitat and climate, the scavenger communities are very different between the SYP and Dudley Peninsula.…”

“…However, unlike the SYP, KI has never had a population of European red foxes. Although the Island does have a population of feral cats, an intense eradication program is underway, with a particular focus on the Dudley Peninsula on the east of the island (Hohnen et al, 2020(Hohnen et al, , 2022.…”

pH-Responsive Polymer Implants for the Protection of Native Mammals: Assessment of Material Properties and Poison Incorporation on Performance

“…In Australia, contemporary lethal control of feral cats via poisoning is primarily conducted using poison baits containing either sodium fluoroacetate (also known as 1080) or para -aminopropiophenone (PAPP) [ 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Native non-target species in Australia—particularly herbivores [ 31 , 32 , 33 ]—exhibit a high resistance to 1080, due to a co-evolutionary history with fluoroacetate-bearing vegetation [ 34 , 35 ].…”

Performance of Felixer devices when faced with captive‐held Spotted‐tailed Quolls: Do they pose a risk to an endangered marsupial carnivore?

“…Ordinarily though, baiting can have mixed success for reducing Feral Cat populations (Doherty et al 2022). More recent bait types that are purportedly cat-specific, such as 'Curiosity', are showing better promise but additional techniques are still required (Hohnen et al 2022).…”

“…More recent bait types that are purportedly cat‐specific, such as ‘Curiosity’, are showing better promise but additional techniques are still required (Hohnen et al . 2022).…”