Thermal imaging deployed to protect bilbies and night parrots from outback feral cats
By Grace Nakamura and Abbey Halter
ABC Western Qld
Topic:Invasive Species
8m ago8 minutes agoWed 19 Mar 2025 at 12:33am
A recording device in a cage in an outback setting.
Bioacoustic recorders have been placed at several sites in the Channel Country. (Supplied: Desert Channels Group)
In short:
Twelve organisations have teamed up to protect endangered native species from feral cats in Queensland's Channel Country.
The project has received almost $500,000 in Commonwealth funding.
What's next?
Indigenous rangers and conservation groups are deploying cameras and recorders to monitor predator and prey populations.
Thermal imaging, wildlife cameras and bioacoustic recorders will be deployed as part of a high-tech project to track feral cats in outback Queensland.
A group of pastoralists, councils, First Nations rangers, and conservation groups in the state's west have teamed up to protect iconic species from the predator through increased monitoring and control programs.
"Bilbies, kowaris — which are these little marsupial mice — and the night parrot, which is pretty elusive," Desert Channels Queensland program manager Geoff Penton said.
The conservation group will coordinate the project alongside Queensland's Department of the Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation (DETSI) across 180,000 hectares of south-west Queensland.
An old drawing of two night parrots with green feathers in front of two rocks and brown grass.
The night parrot was thought extinct for more than 80 years until a dead specimen was discovered in 2006. (Birds of Australia: Elizabeth Gould)
"We're keen to put effort into the feral cat control and do some serious monitoring to see if it has an impact on the native species," Mr Penton said.
Despite Queensland being the only state not to sign on to the federal government's national plan, the project has received almost $500,000 in commonwealth funding.
Advocates for the nationally coordinated plan have criticised Queensland's approach, but the state government said it was serious about managing feral cats.
A man in a work shirt stands with his arms folded as the sun sets over the desert behind him.
Josh Gorringe says feral cats have astounding appetites. (ABC News: Marty Smiley)
Technology and collaboration
In the state's far south-west rangers from the Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation (MAC) have been installing high-tech equipment to record the impact of the feral cats.
"They eat a phenomenal amount of food per day," general manager Josh Gorringe said.
"Just the diversity of what they'll eat, they'll get geckos, scorpions … it's mind-blowing."
The rangers will collect the cameras in a few weeks and send the data to the 12 organisations that make up the Channel Country Threatened Species Partnership (CCTSP).
"We've got monitoring systems out, cameras, acoustic recorders," Mr Gorringe said.
Men in work gear stand near a camera on a pole in the dusty outback.
Wildlife cameras and bioacoustic recorders will monitor predator and prey populations. (Supplied: Desert Channels Group)
DETSI deputy director-general Ben Klaassen said the eight monitoring sites stretched across 500,000ha of Channel Country represented a doubling of control efforts.
"Feral cats are relentless hunters that don't recognise property boundaries," he said.
Mr Klaassen said control methods such as ground shooting and trapping using technology including thermal imaging scopes would be used.
"Innovative collaborative partnerships increase our chances of successfully managing such a damaging pest species," he said.
"For threatened species like the greater bilby, kowari, night parrot, and plains-wanderer, this is an important project."
A cat glares down from the branch of a tree.
Feral cats have been posing a threat to native wildlife in the outback. (Supplied: Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation)
Major extinction drivers
But Queensland's decision late in 2024 to pull out of the national Feral Cat Threat Abatement Plan has been criticised by the Invasive Species Council, which advocates for increased funding and programs to combat feral pests.
"This was an opportunity for national unity on one of the biggest drivers of extinction in Australia — an issue which farmers and rural communities are deeply passionate about," advocacy director Jack Gough said.
"It's a concerning signal and we are urgently seeking further information about why."
But a spokeswoman for DETSI said the department was serious about protecting threatened species.
"We are working with the Commonwealth and other agencies to refine and implement the Feral Cat Threat Abatement Plan," she said.
An alert-looking cat crouches in long grass.
Feral cats will kill and eat just about anything. (Supplied: Department of Environment, Tourism, Science and Innovation)
Cat-and-mouse game
After several years of rat and mouse plagues, Mr Penton said the felines could be found on properties, in towns and were able to survive in sandy desert country or on stony plains.
"There's absolutely no doubt that when the rat numbers drop off, those cats will be looking for what else they can eat," he said.
"They will be very destructive … and have a [serious] impact on our native species.
"That partnership is vital — collaboration across multiple players and properties is really the only way to go."
A Julia Creek dunnart snarling, showing little white sharp teeth
The Julia Creek dunnart is one of 19 species of dunnarts in Australia. (Supplied: Andrew Baker)
Jo Axford from Bush Heritage, one of the partners involved in the project with several properties in the south-west, said the animals were an "insidious problem" for land management.
"Feral cats don't see property boundaries," she said.
"This is a problem we can't fight alone."
Along with their role in the ecosystem, many of the native species are also key tourism drawcards.
McKinley Shire mayor Janene Feegan said the Julia Creek dunnart, a mouse-like marsupial, is one of the town's main attractions.
"They've got very sharp teeth and big pointy ears but they're very cute," she said.
"It's important to preserve what we have left of them, because they're quite endangered."
Posted8m ago8 minutes agoWed 19 Mar 2025 at 12:33am, updated2m ago2 minutes agoWed 19 Mar 2025 at 12:39am
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