The True Cost of Feral Cats and Foxes to Native Australian Wildlife

As a professional shooter I spend a lot of time talking about pigs, rabbits, and deer. They destroy crops, ruin fences, and generally make a nuisance of themselves to anyone trying to run a commercial property. But today, I want to step away from agricultural damage and talk about the real reason the word "Conservation" is in my company name.

I’m talking about feral cats and foxes, and the absolute havoc they are wreaking on our native wildlife.

Now, I’ve had my fair share of conversations with Aussies who are anti-hunting or who think we should just “leave nature alone.” The sentiment usually goes something like this: "Why can’t we just let them live their lives? Are they really doing that much damage?"

The short answer? Yes. Yes, they are. And we’ve got the numbers to prove it.

2.6 Billion Reasons to Care

Let’s put the feelings aside for a second and look at the cold, hard facts. According to research from the Australian National University and various government studies, foxes and feral cats collectively kill about 2.6 billion mammals, birds, and reptiles across Australia every single year.

That number is so big it’s almost hard to wrap your head around, so let's break it down:

• Reptiles: 1.9 million native reptiles are killed every day by cats and foxes.
• Birds: 1.4 million native birds are killed every day.
• Mammals: 3.9 million native mammals are killed every day.

Let that sink in. Since you started reading this article, thousands of native animals—from tiny dunnarts and possums to ground-dwelling birds and lizards—have become a meal for an introduced predator.

Feral cats alone are recognised as a major threat to over 200 nationally threatened species and have directly contributed to the extinction of more than 20 Australian mammal species (like the pig-footed bandicoot and the lesser bilby). Foxes, meanwhile, are taking out huge numbers of our medium-sized mammals like wallabies, potoroos, and bandicoots.

Why "Leaving Them Alone" Isn't an Option

Australia has been isolated for a bloody long time. Our incredible native wildlife—the platypus, the koala, the numbats—lived for a long time without the pressure of highly efficient placental predators like foxes and cats.

When European colonisers brought cats over on the First Fleet (and foxes shortly after in the 1830s for the "sport" of fox hunting), they essentially introduced the ultimate killing machines to a buffet where none of the prey knew how to hide. Our native animals simply don’t have the developed instincts to deal with them.

So, when people say we should just leave feral cats and foxes alone, what they are actually saying is that we should allow our unique native species to be eaten into extinction. As someone who spends his life in the bush, that’s not an outcome I’m willing to accept.

The Complicated Business of Predator Control

Here’s where the job gets tricky, and why professional management is so important.

You might think, "Great, let's just bait all the foxes!" And while fox baiting (using 1080) is highly effective and widely used, recent studies out of the University of Melbourne have shown that if you only control foxes, feral cats actually become more abundant and more "brazen."

Because foxes are bigger, they tend to suppress cat populations through competition. If you wipe out the foxes but leave the cats, the cats step right into that top predator role, change their hunting hours, and start decimating the smaller native animals that were previously hiding from the foxes.

This is why a scattergun approach to pest control doesn't work. You can’t just manage one half of the problem. Effective conservation requires targeted, strategic control of both species simultaneously.

What We Do About It

This is where professional operations come in. Feral cats, in particular, are notoriously difficult to control. They prefer live prey, meaning they often ignore poison baits. Managing them requires a combination of trapping, and highly targeted, ethical shooting—often utilising thermal imaging and night vision to track them down when they are most active.

As professional shooters, our job isn't just about protecting a farmer's bottom line (although that is a big part of it!). It’s about being an active part of the solution to Australia's biodiversity crisis. When we remove a feral cat or a fox from a property, we aren't just controlling a pest; we are directly saving the lives of hundreds of native animals over that predator's lifetime.

So, the next time you see a feral cat or a fox on your rural property or commercial land, don't just write it off as harmless. They are the apex predators of the Australian bush, and our native wildlife is paying for it with their lives.