A project to eradicate feral cats from Little Dog Island has been declared a success.
Little Dog Island is a remote 83-hectare outer island of the Furneaux Group in Bass
Strait, to the north-east of Tasmania and home to colonies of a variety of seabirds,
including short-tailed shearwaters and now, returning Little penguins.
Little Dog Island from the air
Photo: Sue Robinson
The project was delivered by NRE Tas’ Invasive Species Branch in collaboration with
local landholders and funded by the Australian Government’s Environment Enhancing
National Pest Animal and Weed Management Federation Funding Agreement.
Feral cat control took place during the winters of 2022 and 2023 and monitoring since
then has involved motion sensing cameras, scent detection dogs, spotlighting, thermal
drone imagery at night, and field staff searches to determine if eradication was
achieved.
Cat scat detection dog, Kalinka, at little dog island
Photo: Sue Robinson
After more than two years since the last feral cat was detected, the island has been
declared free from cats and is starting to show signs of recovery.
Little penguins have been sighted returning to the island and the long-term
sustainability of the short-tailed shearwaters that nest on the island each year has
been secured.
Short tailed shearwaters Little Dog Island
Photo: Sue Robinson
The result shows that targeted, collaborative efforts to eradicate introduced pest
species from Tasmania’s off-shore islands can go a long way to protect and preserve
the natural environment and important habitats for native species vulnerable to the
threat of introduced predators.