"The development of Eradicat is an exciting breakthrough because it can effectively control feral cat populations across big areas. This will open the door to a number of fauna reintroductions and help build resilience in the populations of many native species."
This story from Get Farming indicates it may not be long before land managers have a better tool for controlling feral cat populations. Cat control is usually ignored because of the lack of decent tools that work. The Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation haven't been able to ignore cats because of the huge problems they cause, particularly in reintroduction programs.
The Western Shield fox control program has been an outstanding success, with woylies (brushtail bettongs), Tammar wallabies and quenda (Western bandicoot) recovering in numbers. But "mesopredator release" over time has meant the relative importance of cats has become greater and they need to be addressed. So the scientists, particularly Dave Algar, have been working away for a long time to try and come up with a solution - good on them.
Posted by Tony Peacock, founder of 'Feral Thoughts'
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