Killing for Conservation - Plenary 2

Research and management attention on the impacts of the introduced domestic cat (Felis catus) on Australian fauna have focussed mainly on the feral population. Here, we summarise the evidence for impacts of predation by pet cats on Australian wildlife. We collate examples of local wildlife population decline and extirpation as a result, at least in part, of predation by pet cats. We assemble information across 66 studies of predation by pet cats worldwide (including 24 Australian studies) to estimate the predation toll of pet cats in Australia, plus the predation pressure per unit area in residential areas. We compared these estimates to those published for feral cats in Australia. The per capita kill rate of pet cats is 25% that of feral cats. However, pet cats live at much higher densities, so the predation rate of pets per square kilometre in residential areas is 28–52 times larger than predation rates by feral cats in natural environments, and 1.3–2.3 times greater than predation rates per km2 by feral cats living in urban areas. Pet cats kill introduced species more often than do feral cats living in natural environments, but, nonetheless, the toll of native animals killed per square kilometre by pet cats in residential areas is still much higher than the toll per square kilometre by feral cats. There is no evidence that pet cats exert significant control of introduced species. The high predation toll of pet cats in residential areas, the documented examples of declines and extirpations in populations of native species caused by pet cats, and potential pathways for other, indirect effects (e.g. from disease, landscapes of fear, ecological footprints), and the context of extraordinary impacts from feral cats on Australian fauna, together support a default position that pet cat impacts are serious and should be reduced. From a technical perspective, the pet cat impacts can be reduced more effectively and humanely than those of feral cats, while also enhancing pet cat welfare. We review the management options for reducing predation by pet cats, and discuss the opportunities and challenges for improved pet cat management and welfare.

ABSTRACTPopulations of feral domestic cats and free-roaming, owned cats have increased throughout the United States, affecting wildlife and public health and warranting attention from a variety of management agencies. The contentious issue of feral cat management requires a greater understanding of public attitudes towards cats and preferences. We used an anonymous internet survey of randomly selected Athens-Clarke County, Georgia households to identify general public perceptions of domestic cats and preferences for cat management. We examined factors that may influence attitudes towards cats, and management including: knowledge about cats, experiences with cats and demographic variables. Results indicate that more residents have positive experiences with feral cats than negative, cat owners have greater knowledge of cats than non-cat owners, and animal welfare or conservation organization membership has a significant effect on attitudes towards cats. A majority of survey respondents agreed that more effective feral cat management is needed yet did not approve of trap-neuter-release (TNR) legislation recently passed in Athens-Clarke County. Logistic regression revealed that residents' attitudes were found to be more important than experiences or knowledge in supporting cat management legislation. Cat sanctuaries were found to be the most acceptable option to reduce feral cat populations (56%), followed by TNR (49%) and capturing and euthanizing cats (44%).

Wildlife law and policy

The 2024 issue of Lilith benefited from some unusual contributions from international scholars from South Africa, Finland, the US and the UK, and from Australian-based researchers at the University of NSW, The Australian National University, Western Sydney University, the University of Melbourne, the University of New England, James Cook University, the Australian Catholic

"Shergold, Peter Roger, (born 27 Sept. 1946), Chancellor and Chairman, Board of Trustees, Western Sydney University (formerly University of Western Sydney), since 2011" published on by Oxford University Press.

ABSTRACTThe natural resource management of wildlife in Australia encounters tensions between concerns for the environment and for the welfare of non-human animals. I explore the conservation biology practice of culling feral cats to preserve Australian native species and demonstrate how ‘feral cat’ has become a trope, affording persuasive power to the storyline of native species conservation. Massumi’s reading of ontopower develops Foucauldian biopower, enabling analysis of how modes of power are powered by an operative logic or rationale, a conceptual persuasion to a certain truth. I examine the event assemblages of the Australian government’s Threatened Species Strategy and the Threat Abatement Plan for Predation by Feral Cats as the pragmatic working out of the conceptual formula of cats kill → feral cats kill → feral cats kill and render extinct threatened native species → feral cats must be exterminated. The formula channels conditions of possibility towards a particular actualisation through mobilising apparatuses of knowledge, objectivation and power in order to catalyse an affective social attunement of cats as ‘killing-machines’ and legitimate the decreed extermination of 2,000,000 feral cats in Australia. I suggest possibilities for alternative formulations based on Foucault’s idea of environmentality and the environment as milieu.

This series of publications is made up of: a six-page coloured leaflet-card on ‘Environmental Weeds in Australia’; a four-page coloured leaflet-card on ‘Feral Animals in Australia’ in general; and five, two-page coloured leaflet-cards on ‘The Feral Cat (Felis catus)’, ‘The Feral Goat (Capra hircus)’, the ‘European Wild Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus)’, ‘The Feral Pig (Sus scrofa)’ and the ‘European Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes)’.

Belinda E. Medlyn

Evaluation of physiological stress in Australian wildlife: Embracing pioneering and current knowledge as a guide to future research directions

Extended Duration of Aldosterone Blockade Fails to Improve Diastolic Dysfunction Over the Effects of Blood Pressure in Patients with Heart Failure and Normal Ejection Fraction

In the article above, on page 322, the affiliations of the authors were published incorrectly at the bottom. The correct academic affiliations are: Herbert W. Marsh, Oxford University, UK; University of Western Sydney, Australia; and King Saud University, Saudi Arabia Gregory Arief D. Liem, University of Sydney, Australia Andrew J. Martin, University of Sydney, Australia Benjamin Nagengast, Oxford University, UK Alexander J. S. Morin, University of Sherbrooke, Canada; Educational Excellence and Equity (E3) Research Program, Center for Educational Research (University of Western Sydney)

Some see assessment and learning as two separate entities. However, others believe that when assessment and learning become united there is an added strength that shows that the combination is more than the individual parts. With individualised teaching and learning also being the prime concern of many educators it follows that individualised assessment also will need to be addressed. It is with this premises in mind that reflective journalling portfolio assessment have been developed in the Bachelor of Teaching course at University of Western Sydney, Macarthur (Australia). We have developed an assessment procedure through the use of reflective journals and portfolios that allows our final semester students to track their growth and development throughout the course as well as their personal understandings of what it is to be a teacher. Students who have completed this assessment have commented that they have learned more through this assessment than from any other such activity. I believe that this is because in order to complete their portfolio they have to demonstrate their learning through substantiation of criteria and then they have to orally defend their position to a committee. This paper explores these processes by examining the current procedures, discussing the current thinking and pulling together the ideal and the practical. Once the parameters have been established, the steps that have been taken towards assessment that is both a learning process and is focused on the individual in preservice education (B.Teach) in the University of Western Sydney will be discussed.

The last two decades have seen exponential growth in the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) which has led to changes in teaching and learning. Accordingly, universities around the world have been incorporating ICT in their teaching for a number of years. Following this trend, Australian law schools have been encouraging their staff to integrate ICT in their teaching. For example, at the University of Western Sydney (UWS), every subject taught by the law school is required to have an online presence through a controlled virtual learning environment called ‘vUWS’. This article explores the extent to which the controlled virtual learning environments are relied on in teaching and learning at the UWS law school. The paper discusses my preliminary findings and determines that, in a number of instances, vUWS is being used to distribute information to students and not to engage students with their learning materials.

Estimating predator abundance can be challenging. Many predators are inherently difficult to detect due to their low population densities, large home ranges and cryptic behaviour. Detection rates derived from camera traps, spotlight surveys and track counts in sand plots are often used as indices of abundance. However, many factors can influence a species’ detection rate and the extent to which it might reflect the species’ actual abundance. I investigated the relationships between detections, abundance and activity of two sympatric predators, the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) and the feral cat (Felis catus). I used camera traps to detect devils and feral cats across eastern Tasmania in southern Australia, where devil populations have progressively and variably declined since 1996 following the spread of the fatal devil facial tumour disease. Devil and cat detections on individual cameras were negatively correlated; however, this was unrelated to abundance. While cats and devils were detected at nearly all of the same sites, cats appeared to avoid devils over short distances, suggesting that negative relationships in detections at the camera scale may reflect fine-scale behavioural avoidance rather than suppression of abundance. These findings highlight the importance of understanding avoidance behaviour when designing surveys to detect predators and when using indices to infer interactions or numerical relationships among sympatric predators. These findings also provide a cautionary tale that highlights the need to consider alternative hypotheses to explain observed patterns, as the implications for species conservation and management outcomes could vary dramatically. Indices derived from detection rates are often used to estimate and monitor changes in the abundance of predators and to infer numerical and behavioural relationships among sympatric predators and between predators and their prey. In this study, I present camera detection data for two sympatric predators, the Tasmanian devil (5–12 kg) and the feral cat (2–6 kg), to illustrate that negative relationships in commonly used abundance indices may in fact reflect avoidance behaviour rather than a suppression of abundance. By simultaneously measuring avoidance behaviour across multiple spatial and temporal scales, I demonstrate that relationships in abundance indices vary markedly over different scales. These findings have significant implications for designing surveys to detect predators and for using indices to infer relationships in sympatric predator abundance.

data contributions. We would like to thank Australian Wildlife Conservancy for their major contribution to the data collected in Cape York (Piccaninny Plains), Central Kimberley (Mornington) and Scotia Sanctuary. In particular, the Australian Wildlife Conservancy's role in generating the Cape York data was under-referenced. We would also like to acknowledge the contributions made to our study from two open access studies: (1) https:// libra ry. dbca. wa. gov.