Feral cats are picking off the endangered dunnarts that weren't already ravaged by the devastating Christmas Island bushfires.
Kangaroo Island's endangered dunnarts took a huge hit after the Black Summer bushfires tore through 98 per cent of their habitat.
However, because of their small size and shy nature, the animals are notoriously difficult to find, according to study lead author Pat Hodgens, a fauna ecologist with Terrain Ecology."Before the fires … not a lot was known about them."A total of 263 different prey items were found in the cats' stomachs altogether, including an endangered southern brown bandicoot.While it was suspected, it had not been previously confirmed that cats were preying on the dunnarts, Mr Hodgens said.
"The cats that are already there, they're just killing the last remaining dunnart in the refuge areas after the fire."Previous estimates of how many cats are on the island have ranged from about 1,000 up to about 5,000, but cat numbers are also difficult to assess."There was an estimate of between 1,000 and 2,000 cats, but we know that was an underestimate. On the western end they took out several hundred alone.
In 2016, the federal government introduced a plan to eradicate all feral cats from the island within 15 years.
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