Feral cat attacks trigger anger

FERAL cats are not just isolated to the Tarkine, according to the director of Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary and tourism operation Tarkine Trails, Greg Irons.

Mr Irons said feral cats were running rampant around the state.

He said laws should be introduced to fine domestic cat owners who let their animals stray.

"We get five and a half thousand calls a year for injured and orphaned animals," Mr Irons said.

"Basically there is a vast amount of cat attacks and there was an evening late last year where there were eight feral cat attacks."

Mr Irons's comments follow the installation of 44 cameras along a 100-kilometre stretch of the Tarkine.

Dynnyrne research scientist Amy Saunders, 24, leads the first- of-its-kind project.

She is being supervised by Dr Menna Jones, of the University of Tasmania school of zoology.

In 2012 The Advocate spoke with Dr Jones, who monitored the placement of 14 motion sensor cameras through Tarkine Trials.

Mr Irons said educating cat owners was a start.

"It should be law that your cat is desexed, it should be law that if you own a cat you should have an outdoor enclosure so they don't run free," he said.

"They should all be microchipped so if they are found roaming the owner should be fined."

Mr Irons said there was an estimated 23 million feral cats in Australia, killing on average two native animals each every 24 hours.

He said these statistics came even before domestic cat killings and the infection of toxoplasmosis.

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease that can infect most warm- blooded animals, including humans, but the primary host is in the cat family.

"We see as many cases of toxoplasmosis as cat attacks," Mr Irons said.

"When they [cats] go to the toilet, the animals that eat it, they will wind up going blind, they behave like they're drunk and end up dying from starvation, it's slow and horrible."

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