Tasmania announces changes to cat management laws

The Tasmanian government announced important changes to its Cat Management Act today but do the new laws have enough claws to protect Tasmania’s most vulnerable wildlife? 

Before we look at the changes to the Cat Management Act, let’s first take a quick look at why the changes are necessary. 

Are cats the biggest existential threat to Australian wildlife? 

According to conservation experts, 21 species have become extinct in Australia. But did you know that the humble feline has been directly complicit in 19 species extinctions? 

It is a grisly crown the cat shares with another introduced species, the European fox, making the cat and the fox the most deadly threat our native wildlife faces.  

Have you ever watched your cat kill a mouse or a bird that it had no intention of eating? That’s because the cat (and the fox) are surplus killers. That means they kill for fun just as much for food. Even a well-fed domestic cat, if left uncontained, will hunt small birds, mammals and reptiles it finds in its neighbourhood. 

Wildlife experts believe that feral cats are capable of killing between 5 and 30 animals per day in the wild, making them one of the most ferocious serial killers in nature. 

Some people believe these figures are way too high, but even if a cat only killed one animal per day for food, the numbers are still horrendously high. 

Now add domestic moggies to this. They are just as capable of killing. While it may not be in the realms of their wild cousins, even if they only killed one animal per day, they are still capable of killing hundreds of animals per year. 

So how many animals are killed by cats every year? 

It’s hard to tell exactly. That’s because there are no definitive numbers for how many cats there are. 

However, a recent study by the University of Melbourne estimates that around 48% of Australians own pets and of that number, 37% own at least one cat. That puts a conservative estimate on the number of domestic cats at around 4.5 million. 

Add this to the Australian government estimate of feral cats, which puts their number somewhere between 4 and 6 million. 

That’s potentially somewhere between 8.5 million and 10.5 million cats in Australia – each with the potential to kill one animal each per day! 

When you extrapolate those figures across an entire year (if you’re not good at maths, it’s well over 3 billion) you can quickly see why cats are one of the biggest existential threats facing Australian wildlife! And why governments need to get serious with their cat management laws. 

How big is the problem in Tasmania? 

Again, there are no studies or accurate figures for the number of domestic, stray and/or feral cats in Tasmania, but if we were to use similar figures as the Australian estimates, there are at least 100,000 domestic cats and feral cats in the State. 

Here’s our calculations: 

Tasmanian population is 540,600. 48% of that is 259,488 and assuming the same rate of cat ownership exists here, there are potentially 96,000 domestic cats in Tasmania. 

Tasmania makes up 0.9% of the landmass of Australia, so if the whole country has between 4 and 6 million cats, Tasmania has at least 3600 feral cats, if not 5400. 

If we were to go by the lowest estimates that each cat in Tasmania is capable of killing 1 animal per day and extrapolate that figure across an entire year, the conservative estimates of wildlife being threatened by cats in Tasmania each year is around 36 million. 

With figures like that, you have to wonder why the Greens, the Animal Justice Party and the RSPCA are so hyper-focused on recreational hunters while turning a blind eye to the horrors caused by the humble pussy cat!