Killer cat bait air dropped to save parrot
June 18, 2010, 2:15 pm


Environment officers have stepped up their war on feral cats with an aerial bait attack in a bid to save endangered parrots in two South Coast national parks.

The Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) says the western ground parrot is one of Australia's most critically endangered species, with fewer than 140 of the birds known to be alive.

In an attempt to fend off their rapid decline, the DEC has begun trialling cat baits in the Fitzgerald River and Cape Arid national parks, the only places where populations of the parrot survive.

DEC ecologist Sarah Comer said the feral cats were thought to be the major factor in the parrot's decline and the effectiveness of the baits would be closely monitored.

"The first batch of Eradicat baits were dropped by plane in the Fitzgerald River National Park in mid April, with more bait drops following over the past few weeks," Ms Comer said.

The bait developed by DEC researchers resembles a small sausage, which is injected with a toxin and contains kangaroo meat mince, chicken fat and flavour enhancers to attract cats.

"A number of cats are being radio-tracked, and it is hoped we will get clear evidence of mortality following the baiting," Ms Comer said.

The project team will also be monitoring whether native species like the chuditch and dibbler are ingesting the baits.

^^^^^^^^ I am sure they can't be silly enough to have not done some tests to see if these animals would eat the bait?

I want the feral cats killer too but at what cost...of maybe loosing 2 Australian native animals...I just find the last piece a bit too whimsical...(like she will be right mate)

Chuditch


Diet: The Chuditch is a carnivore and feeds mostly on insects and other invertebrates. It also eats small lizards, birds and mammals.



Dibbler


This small carnivorous marsupial is found on two islands off the coast of Jurien Bay (Island Dibblers) and on the south coast of Western Australia within the Fitzgerald River National Park (Mainland Dibblers). It once had a much wider distribution.

Well the Dibbler eats meat ...so you might think he would eat the bait.
Oh and look so does the Chuditch.

Info from the Perth Zoo.

Mark _australia said...


Then second step is to have cats registered like dogs and neutered unless owned by a registered breeder. Gutless pollies to blame there...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This should be the "NOW" june 2010 step...
as you all know I "LOVE" and have cats...but

"HATE" feral cats....
They are Violante killing machines

Daybreak at Broome tip was a place to have a machine gun...not a shooters .22 Smith and Wesson

At least our inland indigenous people love a fat pussy They say they taste great
but I can't see them keeping but with the litters of feral cats born...

the bait dropping program is not new and has been in place in WA for over 10 years targeting cats and dogs in WA national parks with very good rates of vermin reduction.
I am involved within this program so i thought id just add a bit.
all baits are native safe with very little to no side affects on non targeted spices also all baits are and must be accounted for at every stage of the program

I reckon that any attempts by Parks and Wild Life should be supported but no attempts have come close to erradicating any species in Australia. Even the virus attempts have been poor in the long term. The only places that are successful are those that profit by it like Africa and their problems are mainly two legged.

I knew a couple of blokes who shot foxes professionally who limited themselves to fifty a night because they had to skin them. That has not been done for how long now? No longer any legal profit in it and it would be bloody difficult to get back to that bearing in mind the paranoia about weapons.

I am pretty confident that when we overthrow the economy and the combined effort of humanity turns it's focus to sustainability and quality of life then the creativity of some of our really smart genetic sceintists will make these problems seem like a no brainer.

Mean while I would not knock back a go at some fox shooting. I saw one on the beach a few weeks back, just before dawn. It ran straight for the rocks on the breakwall that is riddled with cats.

A local mad bitch feeds the bastards. Some protection board mob trapped twenty a few weeks back. Wonder how she feels now. She had a go at me not having the dog on the lead. She left with a bee in her ear.

The dog has only ever caught one in hundreds of visits and he spat it out very quickly, and no, it was not harmed.

Radmac said...

Baits are target specific (ie more effective on the moggs)

www.publish.csiro.au/wr/WR06140

Geez you can't get much more "target specific" than shooting them

Damn site cheaper too - FREE as plenty of primary producers and recreational shooters are happy to do it

Well I'm not an expert on this either, but I'd think that if it is the parrot that is critically endangered then the most important consideration is that the parrot doesn't eat and succumb to the bait.