Landscape Board 37 Dauncey St, Kingscote SA 5223 PO Box 39, Kingscote SA 5223 Tel 08 8553 4444 Email [email protected] Web landscape.sa.gov.au/ki

Date: 31 July 2020

The Standing Committee on the Environment and Energy House of Representatives PO Box 6021 Parliament House Canberra ACT 2600

Submitted online at www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/OnlineSubmission/Submit

Dear Committee Members

Re: Kangaroo Island Landscape Board submission to the House of Representatives Inquiry into the problem of feral and domestic cats in .

Kangaroo Island Landscape Board takes this opportunity to provide input into the House of Representatives Inquiry into the problem of feral and domestic cats in Australia, and national priorities to prevent the problems worsening for the natural environment, community and farmers with particular reference to: 1. the prevalence of feral and domestic cats in Australia; 2. the impact of feral and domestic cats including on native wildlife and habitats; 3. the effectiveness of current legislative and regulatory approaches; 4. the effectiveness of Commonwealth action and cooperation with states and territories on this issue, including progress made under the Threat Abatement Plan, national framework and national declaration relating to feral and domestic cats in Australia; 5. the efficacy (in terms of reducing the impact of cats), cost effectiveness and use of current and emerging methods and tools for controlling feral cats, including baiting, the establishment of feral cat-free areas using conservation fencing, gene drive technology; 6. the efficacy of import controls for high risk domestic cat varieties to prevent the impacts of feral and domestic cats, including on native wildlife and habitats; 7. public awareness and education in relation to the feral and domestic cat problem; and

1 8. the interaction between domestic cat ownership and the feral cat problem, and best practice approaches to the keeping of domestic cats in this regard. Who are we?

The South Australian Government has reformed how our landscapes are managed by putting community at the heart of sustainably managing their regions’ natural resources, with the support and expertise of local landscape boards. The Kangaroo Island Landscape Board replaced the Kangaroo island NRM Board on July 1, 2020. The board supports local communities and land managers to be directly responsible for managing their region’s natural resources with an emphasis on land and water management, biodiversity and pest animal and plant control. Community is at the heart of sustainably managing their regions’ natural resources, with the support and expertise of local landscape boards. Underpinning this approach is the Landscape Act 2019, which repealed the Natural Resources Management Act 2004 on 1 July 2020.

They also partner with government and regional communities to deliver a strong, back-to- basics system that’s autonomous and flexible in response to their regions’ needs.

The boards work alongside community members and stakeholders to develop simple and accessible five-year regional landscape plans with five priorities. The plans aims to ensure that there is a balance between the needs of regional communities and the sustainable management of the environment.

The previous Board has made numerous submissions to feral animal and plant control.

Background

The Board has completed the eradication of feral goats and feral deer from Kangaroo Island.1 The success of these programs was formally announced in June 2018 by the then federal Minister for the Environment and Energy, the Honourable Melissa Price MP. These eradications have long term benefits for biodiversity and primary production on Kangaroo Island.

Kangaroo Island has been selected by the Australian Government as one of Five Islands to be free of feral cats by 2030.

In order to achieve this, the Board has adopted a phased approach to the feral cat eradication program. In the first phase (2016-2018), a wide range of potential feral cat control methods were investigated and trialled, including some emerging technologies. Baseline monitoring of feral cats and native wildlife was also undertaken to ensure a good understanding of animal populations and dynamics. Refer to https://landscape.sa.gov.au/ki/plants-and-animals/pest-animals/Kangaroo-Island-Feral-Cat- Eradication-Program

1 Masters, P, Markopoulos, N, Florance, B and R Southgate (2018). The eradication of fallow deer (Dama dama) and feral goats (Capra hircus) from Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Aust. Journal of Environmental Management. 25 (1).

2 The second phase of this project is to remove feral cats from the 384 km2 Dudley Peninsula by 2023 under the Australian Government’s Regional Land Partnerships funded ‘Safe Haven Dudley Peninsula’ project, which aims to ‘create a safe haven for the Kangaroo Island dunnart and other priority threatened species by eradicating feral cats from the Dudley Peninsula’. This project is currently underway

On successful completion of phase two, funding will be sought to continue with a third phase focussing on eradicating feral cats from the rest of the island.

The Board are also assessing the efficacy of Curiosity® cat baits in woodland areas on the Dudley Peninsula and within areas at the western end of the island that were impacted by the recent 2019/20 bushfires. The two trials being conducted will provide valuable information on the uptake rate of Curiosity® baits by feral cats and will guide the Board’s decision making on whether baiting will be an effective means of controlling feral cats in these types of environments on Kangaroo Island.

The Board has a strong track record in the management of pest plant and animals. Further, our commitment to biosecurity to prevent the arrival of pests, in partnership with state and Australian Governments, industry and the community has been well documented, being delivered through the Biosecurity Strategy for Kangaroo Island 2017-2027.2 Critical success factors: The success of the goat and deer eradications was possible because of the long term commitment from the Australia and State governments, with full support from the community. This success was the result of thorough planning, engaging the community from the beginning, and taking a staged approach to the eradications. The projects ensured that control officers employed by the (then) NRM Board had the necessary skills, strong links with the community and good knowledge of local terrain.

The Board receives funds to deliver our programs from the state landscape levy, the South Australian Government, and through targeted Australian Government investment. The levy’s estimated total in 2020/21 of $401,728 will be directly spent on the control of pest animals and plants.

Feral cat impacts on Kangaroo Island – Summary Kangaroo Island is Australia’s third largest island (4400 km2) and is nationally important for biodiversity conservation, primary production and tourism. Kangaroo Island has the greatest area of native vegetation in South Australia’s agricultural zone, with around 48% covered by native vegetation.3 It is also one of the largest areas in Australia free of rabbits and foxes which are key threats to agriculture and biodiversity in mainland Australia.

2 Triggs, A.S. (2017). Biosecurity strategy for Kangaroo Island 2017-2027. Department of Environment, Water and Natural Resources, South Australia.

3 Kangaroo Island Natural Resources Management Plan 2017-2027. Volume A – Strategic Plan 2017-2017 (2017). Kangaroo Island Natural Resources Management Board. Kingscote.

3 On Kangaroo Island, feral cats appear to inhabit the entire island across all habitat types. They have been estimated to average 0.37 cats km2 (range 0.06 to 3.27 cats km2) and vary across broad habitat types4. On the eastern side of the island where an eradication program has begun, cats have been culled at a density of 2.6 cats’ km2.

Primary production accounts for about 70% of land use on Kangaroo Island.2 Due to its relative isolation, the Island is free of many of the pest species which impact on mainland South Australia. Healthy, productive and abundant natural resources underpin a range of Island industries, including primary production, commercial fishing, and nature-based and farm-based tourism. However, feral cats are known vectors of parasitic diseases (sarcosporidiosis and toxoplasmosis) which have substantial economic impacts on the island’s primary producers5,6. Recent research based on data from two slaughterhouses in South Australia on 3,865,608 sheep from 4,204 farms across South Australia for the period of 2007-2017, showed that in South Australia, Kangaroo Island is a clear hotspot of Sarcocystis on Kangaroo Island (close to 100% prevalence7). Sarcocystis density was shown to be around 15 times higher on Kangaroo Island than in the Adelaide Hills and regions and 12 times higher than other regions in the state.

Predation by feral cats is recognised as the most significant threatening process, other than wildfire, for many threatened species of small mammals (Kangaroo Island Dunnart, Kangaroo Island Echidna, Southern Brown Bandicoot) and ground dwelling birds (Western Whipbird, Southern Emu-wren, Shy Heath-wren and Bassian Thrush) on Kangaroo Island. Many species of passerine birds on Kangaroo Island are either unique to the island (e.g. subspecies) and/or have populations on the island that have been considered more secure than on the mainland.

The threat of predation posed by feral cats to many of these species has been exacerbated by the recent bushfires, which burnt up to 70% of their habitat in some instances. Large scale and sustained feral cat control in many of the small unburnt pockets of vegetation within the burn scar provide an indication of the predation pressure feral cats are exerting on these species.

4 Hohnen R, Berris K, Hodgens P, Mulvaney J, Florance B, Murphy BP, Legge SM, Dickman CR and Woinarski JCZ (2020) Pre-eradication assessment of feral cat density and population size across Kangaroo Island, South Australia. Wildlife Research, early online.

5 O'Donoghue P and Ford G (1986) The prevalence and intensity of Sarcocystis spp. infections in sheep. Australian Veterinary Journal 63, 273–278.

6 O'Callaghan MG and Reddin J and Dehmann, D (2005) Helminth and Protozoan parasites of feral cats from Kangaroo Island. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 129, 81- 83.

7 Taggart PL, Stevenson MA, Firestone SM, McAllister MM and Caraguel CGB (2019) Spatial Analysis of a Cat- Borne Disease Reveals That Soil pH and Clay Content Are Risk Factors for Sarcocystosis in Sheep. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 6, article 127.

4 The Australian Government, via the Wildlife and Threatened Species Bushfire Recovery Expert Panel, has compiled a list of the vertebrate species that require urgent attention as a direct result of the recent widespread bushfires8,9. Two Kangaroo Island species (Bassian Thrush and Kangaroo Island Echidna) on this list, along with other threatened and endemic small mammals and birds listed above, are still present in large areas of unburnt habitat on the Dudley Peninsula, in the area where feral cat eradication is currently underway.

The Australian Government’s Feral Cat Threat Abatement Plan10 estimates that eradication of feral cats on Kangaroo Island could cost between $50-100 per hectare. However more recent costings developed since the inception of the eradication program estimates that eradication of the Dudley Peninsula (384 km2 and 1/10 of the island) will cost between $300-400 per hectare (KI Landscape Board, unpublished data).

Kangaroo Island is one of Five Islands proposed to be feral cat free by 2030 under the Australian Government’s Safe Haven Initiative. The Threatened Species Strategy11 mentions progress being made on Kangaroo Island under the Tackling Feral cats on islands target, however the funding provided to date for the eradication of the Dudley Peninsula under the ‘Safe Haven Dudley Peninsula’ project equates to $52 per hectare, just within the initially estimated (2015) cost, but well below the actual value required.

Based on the operational data collected by the project in the last six months, it is clear that feral eradication under the Safe Haven Dudley Peninsula’ feral eradication project urgently requires more resources to continue in an effective manner for the next 12 months, and to completion. The current allocated federal government funding is insufficient to achieve the total eradication of cats from the Dudley Peninsula, let alone the whole island which is the vision. The board appreciates the Australian Government’s support and investment and continues to seek alternative funding opportunity form state agencies and philanthropic organisations.

8Legge et al. (2020a) Provisional list of animals requiring urgent management intervention. Published by the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.

9 Legge et al. (2020b) Rapid analysis of impacts of the 2019-20 fires on animal species, and prioritisation of species for management response – preliminary report. Report prepared for the Wildlife and Threatened Species Bushfire Recovery Expert Panel.

10 Threat abatement plan for predation by feral cats, Commonwealth of Australia, 2015.

11 Threatened Species Strategy Three year report, Office of the Threatened Species Commissioner 2019.

5 The Board provides the following comments and recommendations in relation to the impacts and management of feral cats on Kangaroo Island:

Recommendation 1: In the development of policy and associated funding for any pest plant or animal the Australian Government, in partnership with states and territories, must consider long term commitments and ensure critical success factors.

Recommendation 2: The Australian Government continues to support Island eradications which have been highlighted as priority areas for successful eradications in a number of literature reviews.

Recommendation 3: The Australian government continues to support investment in the eradication of feral cats from Kangaroo Island by increasing current investment in line with projected costings.

Should you require any further information about this matter, please contact Acting General Manager, on .

Yours sincerely

Andrew Heinrich Chair, Kangaroo Island Landscape Board

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