Cats have been identified as one of the biggest killers of native animals in Penrith, new data reveals.
Analysis from the Invasive Species Council has found that roaming pet cats are some of the state’s biggest killers, estimated to have killed over 62 million native animals in Sydney this year.
In Penrith there is an estimated total of 33,092 cats who have been estimated to have killed 2,105,920 native animals in the past year.
Advocacy Director for the Invasive Species Council Jack Gough explained the high number of deaths are due to cats being allowed to roam free.
“In a place like Penrith you’ve got over 33,000 estimated pet cats and every roaming pet cat kills on average about 110 native animals every year. Those numbers add up very quickly to an enormous toll on our wildlife,” Gough said.
“It’s one of the reasons people aren’t seeing blue tongues under their doorstep, people aren’t getting frogs in their garden and a number of birds aren’t showing up in suburbs anymore.
“The estimate of the impact of roaming cats per square kilometre in the suburbs is about 30-50 times higher than feral cats in the bush. That is because we feed these cats, and we keep those numbers a lot higher than they normally would be. This is a significant issue, and it is something that needs action.”
Collectively, roaming pet cats kill 546 million animals per year of which 323 million are native animals, and these deaths are likely to keep increasing unless more action is taken to mitigate the risk, Gough said,
“Many people don’t think their cat is killing wildlife but 70 per cent of people let their cats out and over 80 per cent of those cats will hunt and kill wildlife,” Gough said.
“The numbers that we have released suggest that just in the Greater Sydney area over the next four years we could see a quarter of a billion of our native animals – mammals, birds, reptiles and frogs – killed by roaming pet cats.
“That is a toll that needs to stop and it something leadership like Chris Minns and the State Government can go a long way to changing.”
In NSW local Councils do not have power to implement rules for cat containment, but the Invasive Species Council is urging the government to allow Councils to implement 24-7 cat containment rules.
“This would be a win for cats as well as for native animals,” Gough said.
“Cats that are kept safely at home live up to 10 years longer than cats that are roaming because they avoid being hit by cars, getting into fights and getting diseases.
“We need rules from the top to make it clear and then we need individual pet owners to take responsibility to keep their cats refined to their property.”
Emily Chate
Emily Chate joined The Western Weekender in 2024, and covers local news - primarily courts and politics. A graduate of the University of Wollongong, Emily has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and worked as a freelance journalist.