Feral cat and fox management tool: Harbourage or habitat management

Removing harbours such as aboveground structures and woody weeds, and protecting or restoring wildlife habitat can reduce the predation impacts of foxes and feral cats.

Native animals most commonly eaten by foxes and cats tend to be those found in open habitats, or those with low structural complexity. Often, these areas have been highly affected by human activities.

Aboveground harbour removal

Foxes and feral cats use a range of aboveground harbours to shelter from the elements and other predators, as well as places to have their young. Removing these harbours can make foxes and feral cats more vulnerable to control efforts and make an area less suitable as habitat. It can reduce their access to breeding areas, driving them out of an environment or preventing them from settling there

Harbours can include rubbish heaps, building materials, car bodies, buildings and patches of dense woody weeds.

Habitat management

Restoring or conserving wildlife habitat will not reduce fox or feral cat numbers but can reduce their impact on native wildlife by improving wildlife’s access to shelter from predation and improving food resources.

Revegetating new areas such as shelterbelts or larger areas of native vegetation as well as restoring native vegetation through weeding, grazing and fire management can increase habitat for wildlife. Having dense or spiky vegetation for shelter and large or wide enough patches of bush to reduce hunting on the edges is important.

Managing habitat to reduce its suitability for foxes or feral cats can also be effective by disrupting foxes’ and feral cats’ access to food and shelter.

We can reduce a native environment’s suitability for foxes and feral cats while improving its suitability for native species. Doing this in human environments can be very effective for reducing fox numbers by removing waste, securing bins and properly storing animal food.

While habitat management offers a holistic and environmentally friendly approach to controlling feral cat and fox populations, it often requires long-term commitment, significant resources, and may not deliver immediate or complete reduction of the impacts of these invasive predators. Integrating habitat management with other control methods is more effective with more sustainable results.

Providing dense habitat can reduce the capacity of foxes and feral cats to hunt. This approach can be used in any setting from rural landscapes and native vegetation to urban parks and gardens.

Weeding, revegetation, fire management and improving grazing regimes can all improving the density or complexity of habitat.

Introduced plants, particularly shrubs and underbrush, such as gorse or blackberry, provide shelter and safe harbour for foxes and feral cats in Australian landscapes. While removing these plants can reduce the prevalence of foxes and feral cats, weeds sometimes provide the only support populations of native mammals and birds, especially when they are the only shelter available. For example, bandicoots regularly use blackberries for protection from predation and food.

Combining weed clearance with restoring native vegetation can create a more balanced ecosystem, providing better shelter and food sources for native species, which might reduce their susceptibility to predation. A healthier ecosystem can allow an increase in the populations of native animals, so that any predation that does occur will have a smaller impact on the total population of a species.

Revegetation as a habitat management strategy restores native vegetation in specific areas to create barriers or alter habitats to discourage predators. Restoring native vegetation enhances habitat for small mammals and birds that are the primary prey for foxes and feral cats.

Small plants that act as groundcover or understorey are vulnerable to overgrazing by both farm livestock and feral herbivores like deer and rabbits. Intense grazing of these plants can remove the shelter they provide to small animals. By appropriately managing the amount of grazing by both livestock and feral herbivores, it is possible to reduce predation.

Inappropriate fire regimes can have similar negative impacts on small animal species by reducing groundcover and understorey vegetation. Many Australian plants have evolved to live alongside fire. Both a lack of fire and increased frequency and severity of fires can negatively affect the recovery of native vegetation. Appropriately managing fire regimes allows these small plant species to recover and persist, providing shelter for small animals.

Unmanaged human environments provide resources for foxes and feral cats to exploit. Reducing fox and feral cat access to food can be as simple as storing animal feed appropriately, securing bins and compost, and picking up fallen fruit, roadkill or carcasses.

Exclusion fencing can restrict foxes and feral cats from areas such as rubbish dumps or farm-animal carcass pits. Restricting their access to areas used by livestock or to stored livestock food can also reduce the spread of disease. Fencing these areas is an excellent way to control fox and cat behaviour while reducing their populations by restricting resources.

Clearing away or securely storing unused items or waste such as building materials, cars or rubbish can reduce the shelter available for foxes and feral cats.

Habitat management for foxes and feral cats is allowed in all states and territories.

Activities such as constructing barriers, clearing vegetation, fire management or other modifications may be regulated by federal, state or local governments. Contact your local government or fire authority before undertaking any habitat management programs.

Banner photo: National Feral Cat and Fox Management Coordination Program.