Do cats impact on local wildlife?

Chris Tidemann

Abstract

Cats can have beneficial impacts on wildlife by stablising numbers of rabbits and exotic rodents. They also have adverse impacts, directly through predation and indirectly through the transmission of diseases. In many cases it is incorrect to single out cats as the sole factor responsible for declining wildlife populations, but the adverse impacts of cats may operate in concert with other factors, such as droughts, to finally push species into local or complete extinction. However, there is enough evidence available to indicate that a reduction in the numbers of free-ranging cats in urban areas would lead to a desirable increase in Australian cities.

This staement like any other to do with the management of complex ecosystems, needs to be viewed as a working hypothesis requiring ongoing evaluation and subsequent modifications as further information becomes available. Further information in this case could readily be collected by enlisting the aid of community groups to monitor the response of prey species to cat control programs.

About the author

Dr C.R. Tidemann
School of Resource and Environmental Management
Australian National University
ACT 0200

Chris Tidemann is a wildlife ecologist who teaches and does research in wildlife management and conservation at the ANU in Canberra. He has studied ecosystems, particularly the role played by bats, in many parts of Australia and elsewhere. His interest in the impact of cats on native fauna, inspired when he was a child by the insightful writings of Frederick Wood-Jones, was renewed in 1988 by finding that feral cats ate large numbers of flying-foxes (as well as rats) on Christmas Island. In addition to studying bats and cats, he is also investigating the impact of exotic birds on ecosystems. He has a strong belief that wildlife conservation ultimately depends upon community support and that limited research dollars can be made to go a lot further through community involvement.

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