{"id":911217,"date":"2026-11-09T12:04:22","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T12:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/911217\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T12:04:22","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T12:04:22","slug":"tasmanian-wildlife-park-owner-sounds-alarm-as-devastating-feral-roaming-cats-threaten-native-species","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/911217\/","title":{"rendered":"Tasmanian wildlife park owner sounds alarm as ‘devastating’ feral, roaming cats threaten native species"},"content":{"rendered":"

Androo Kelly has spent most of his life building a haven for Tasmania’s renowned native wildlife.<\/p>\n

Potoroos, bettongs, quolls and bandicoots inhabit Trowunna Wildlife Sanctuary, a 30-hectare property near Mole Creek in the state’s north.<\/p>\n

But some of the native species Mr Kelly has helped thrive are now being increasingly threatened by what he says are record numbers of feral and roaming cats.<\/p>\n

He estimated 35 feral cats had been trapped and humanely euthanised at Trowunna alone over the past 20 months.<\/p>\n

\"Trowunna<\/p>\n

Trowunna welcomes thousands of visitors every year. (ABC News: Hayden Smith)<\/p>\n

“The cat issue is devastating,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’re seeing less of these [native] animals, and in fact the eastern quoll population has completely disappeared.”‘Outrage’ at cat feeding station\"A<\/p>\n

Roaming cats are causing a stir in Mole Creek, near Launceston in Tasmania’s north.\u00a0 (ABC News: Georgia Hogge)<\/p>\n

On a quiet Friday afternoon in the nearby town of Mole Creek, the ABC sees a black and white cat crossing the main drag.<\/p>\n

Local resident and director of the Pulawini Aboriginal Corporation, Darlene Mansell, is growing increasingly worried about the “vulnerable” wildlife within the nearby Mole Creek Karst National Park.<\/p>\n

\"Darlene<\/p>\n

Darlene Mansell wants the community to band together to protect native species.\u00a0 (ABC News: Georgia Hogge)<\/p>\n

Ms Mansell said she was “outraged” when a cat feeding station was discovered earlier this year inside a native garden, opposite the Mole Creek grocery store.<\/p>\n

She said it took too long for authorities to act \u2014 a claim rejected by the Meander Valley Council.<\/p>\n

“The timeframe from notification to removal of the infrastructure referred to as a cat feeding station included the time required for Biosecurity Tasmania to investigate the matter,” a council spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

“Once they had confirmed they would not be responsible for removing the infrastructure, Meander Valley Council acted promptly to undertake its removal.”<\/p>\n

The council did confirm it had received a report of one local resident keeping 14 pet cats.<\/p>\n

“We referred the issue to Biosecurity Tasmania who are the lead agency for these issues,” a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

\"feeding<\/p>\n

A cat feeding station had been set up in Mole Creek before it was eventually removed by the council.\u00a0 (Supplied)<\/p>\n

A Department of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) Tasmania spokesperson told the ABC it investigated the report and “appropriate compliance action has since been undertaken”.<\/p>\n

Ms Mansell said the incident highlighted a “split” in the community between “bleeding heart” cat owners and those, like her, who were determined to protect the native wildlife.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s all going to come to a head,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We have to come together as a community, and they have to realise the damage that roaming cats can have.”‘Struggle to manage’<\/p>\n

Those working on the frontline of cat welfare in Tasmania say the proliferation of feral and roaming cats is not an isolated issue.<\/p>\n

Just Cats Tasmania director Rachel Beech said the organisation routinely had between 300 and 400 cats in its care.<\/p>\n

“There is not a day that goes by where we are not taking in cats of some description,” she said.<\/p>\n

“With no operating costs being funded, we struggle to manage the day-to-day running of the shelter.”<\/p>\n

She said the organisation recently began the process of removing 90 cats from one property in the state’s north-west.<\/p>\n

\"Helen<\/p>\n

Local vet and landholder Helen Baillie says feral cats are impacting her stock.\u00a0 (ABC News: Hayden Smith)<\/p>\n

Northern Tasmanian veterinarian and farmer Helen Baillie said her livestock had been impacted by toxoplasmosis \u2014 an infection caused by a parasite found in cats.<\/p>\n

“For our farm business, toxoplasmosis causes abortion in our ewe lambs,” Ms Baillie said.<\/p>\n

“That can be really quite devastating.”<\/p>\n

A 2014 CSIRO study found Tasmania had one of the highest recorded rates of cat-carried toxoplasmosis infection in the world, with about 85 per cent of stray and feral cats carrying the parasite.<\/p>\n

Ms Baillie said roaming cats could “become feral cats pretty quickly”.<\/p>\n

“Cats can be really lovely pets, but they are inherently hunters,” Ms Baillie said.<\/p>\n

Cat containment debate<\/p>\n

The Tasmanian government is currently renewing its first “comprehensive” cat management plan, which has been in place since 2017.<\/p>\n

\"two<\/p>\n

Feral cats remain a problem across the nation.\u00a0 (Supplied: Peter Voller)<\/p>\n

A number of individuals and organisations, including the Australian Land Conservation Alliance, are calling for stronger measures “to keep pet cats contained”.<\/p>\n

“Roaming pet cats kill hundreds of native animals per year, and about 78 per cent of roaming cats hunt wildlife,” ALCA wrote in its submission.<\/p>\n

“This occurs during both day and night, meaning partial measures like curfews do not fully address the problem.”<\/p>\n

The current Tasmanian legislation does not include any containment requirements for cat owners.<\/p>\n

However, the Cat Management Act allows for local governments to enact by-laws to mandate cat containment, with Kingborough Council requiring pet cats on Bruny Island to be confined to a property at all times.<\/p>\n

\"Bruny\"<\/p>\n

Cats on Bruny Island must be contained to a property at all times.\u00a0 (ABC News: Hayden Smith)<\/p>\n

NRE told the ABC the state’s next cat management plan \u2014 expected to be released in the new year \u2014 would “build on the significant progress made since 2017”.<\/p>\n

More than 500 submissions were received from the public, with “broad support” for measures to promote responsible cat ownership.<\/p>\n

“Cat containment was widely supported as an important way to protect wildlife, reduce nuisance behaviour and improve cat welfare,” said Minister for Primary Industries Gavin Pearce.<\/p>\n

“Importantly, the community also emphasised that any new measures should be practical, affordable and supported by education and effective compliance and enforcement.”<\/p>\n

However, domestic cat containment and curfew laws have divided opinion across the country.<\/p>\n

A New South Wales government report released last year<\/a> found there was “insufficient evidence” to support the effectiveness of mandatory cat containment.<\/p>\n

The RSPCA also said mandatory containment would lead to more cat abandonment and “disproportionately impact people from lower socio-economic backgrounds and renters”.<\/p>\n

Mr Kelly is firmly in favour of stricter cat containment laws.<\/p>\n

He believes too many domestic cat owners are “ignorant” to the environmental risks of allowing their pets to roam freely.<\/p>\n

“Cats should not have the right to roam wherever they like,” he said.Tas stories you may have missed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Androo Kelly has spent most of his life building a haven for Tasmania’s renowned native wildlife. Potoroos, bettongs,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":911218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[1067,147631,380870,380868,79,7714,380871,380869,380872,201],"class_list":["post-911217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-cats","tag-feral-cats","tag-mole-creek","tag-roaming-cats","tag-science","tag-tasmania","tag-toxoplasmosis","tag-trowunna","tag-trowunna-wildlife-sanctuary","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=911217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/911218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}