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Working together to effectively manage the impacts of feral cats and foxes

Feral Cats

Feral cats

Find out more about feral cats, their
impacts and how to manage them

Foxes in Australia

Foxes

Find out more about European foxes,
their impacts and how to manage them

People working together to manage Feral Cats and Foxes

Work together

Find out who is working on best practice feral cat and
fox management and how to get involved

Did you know foxes and cats are not native to Australia?

Cats and European foxes are not native to Australia. These two invasive, introduced predators pose a major threat to Australia’s unique wildlife, agricultural industry and human health.

Combined, they have played a significant role in 32 of the 46 native mammal, bird and reptile extinctions since European settlement and are a key threat to hundreds more.

Annual losses to agriculture through predation and disease, particularly for sheep farmers, are estimated to cost more than $51 million from fox impacts and $12 million from feral cats (diseases only).

Since 2021, the Australian Government has provided funding to the Centre for Invasive Species Solutions to host a National Feral Cat and Fox Management Coordinator and program to work with farmers, land managers, communities, and others to communicate about, and drive the adoption of, humane and effective feral cat and fox control on a national, regional and local scale. The program aims to help people to understand the best ways to control feral cats and foxes, and support community-led, coordinated, collaborative management programs.

This website gives you information about the impacts of feral cats and foxes, the tools available to manage them, useful resources, upcoming events, and how we can work together to make a difference.

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Top tile photos: Judy Dunlop, free stock image, National Feral Cat and Fox Management Coordination Program

Fox hunting wild animals

Photo: Jukka Jantunen

There are 1.4–5.6 million (varies with seasonal conditions) feral cats in rural and outback Australia plus another 0.7 million in and around urban areas. Numbers vary with habitat, food availability and climatic conditions.

Feral cats have significantly contributed to 26 of the 33 mammal extinctions since European settlement and are a key threat to over 200 nationally threatened species including the greater bilby, numbat, malleefowl and great desert skink (tjakura, warrarna, mulyamiji, tjalapa, nampu).

Foxes have contributed to the extinction of 15 native species and continue to threaten the existence of at least 95 more including numbats, rock-wallabies and fresh water turtles.

Feral cats occupy 99.9% of Australia, including many offshore islands, and have invaded every type of habitat from alpine landscapes through the desert to the coast.

Cat-dependent pathogens cost the Australian agriculture sector more than $12 million a year.

Feral cats have been successfully eradicated from 31 Australian islands. Dirk Hartog Island is the largest island in the world (628 km2) from which feral cats have been eradicated.

As at December 2022, 33 feral cat- and fox-proof enclosures exist in Australia, providing safe havens for more than 38 native animal species considered at extreme risk of predation by feral cats and foxes.

Cats and foxes cause broader environmental impacts then they cause the loss of digging animals, such as bilbies, that provide ecological services such as burying seeds, improving water infiltration and reducing fire risks.

1.7 million foxes are spread across almost 80% of Australia. Numbers vary with habitat, food availability and climatic conditions.

Predation by foxes is responsible for an average of 7% and up to 30% of lamb deaths, costing the agricultural sector an estimated $198 million a year in private control and stock losses.

Fox populations are highest in urban areas where they harass and kill pets and poultry, damage property and cause a nuisance by getting into rubbish and compost.

Many native species affected by cats and foxes have cultural significance to First Nations people.