Improving feral cat management
Five community organisations will share $500,000 to improve feral cat management in Western Australia thanks to the WA Government’s Feral Cat Management Grant program.
Warren Catchments Council received the largest share of funding, more than $180,000 to expand ethical feral cat management. The project aims to protect the Warren region’s threatened fauna, including numbats, woylies, and western ringtail possums.
Australian Wildlife Conservancy was awarded nearly $140,000 for a project to address crucial knowledge gaps in the genome sequencing of feral cat populations across priority areas of WA. The research will assess the feasibility of new genetic biocontrol technologies and will be delivered in collaboration with CSIRO and the WA feral cat management committee.
To date, the grant program has invested $1.5 million in 13 projects to help mitigate the devastating impacts of feral cats across the WA.
Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn said feral cats posed the greatest threat to many of WA’s most threatened native species.
“Through the Feral Cat Strategy, we’re empowering community organisations to protect some of our State’s most vulnerable species, including the chuditch, hooded plover and numbat, which are being pushed to the brink of extinction,” the Minister said.
The fourth and final round of Feral Cat Management Grant funding will open for applications next year. For more information, click here.
