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control methods
Contribution from a resident of New South Wales I hunt feral cats in western NSW. My friends and I have been using a method that is producing good results. We use a 'burley' that consists of 5 kg of pet mince, 2 kg of pilchards, 1 litre of tuna oil, 1 large liver and 5 cans of Whiskas 'Jelly Meat' thoroughly mixed together. We drive along a set route at 60 kmph where we are going to spotlight. We then use a ladle to throw the burley over the side of the ute tray every 10 seconds. We alternate sides each throw. We then begin to spotlight about 30 minutes later along the burlied route. We cruise along the route at about 20 kmph with a hand held spotlight each side and the shooter stands on the back of the ute ready to shoot. Therefore, three people are required for this method but two can be used if only one side of the road is being spotlighted. The shooter uses a 30 inch barrel under and over shotgun with the top barrel shooting first. The top barrel has a full choke and the bottom barrel has a three quarter choke. The top barrel uses no. 2, 36 gram shells whilst the bottom barrel uses 36 gram BB shells. The shotgun itself has a spotlight attached underneath the barrel and is powered by a small battery pack. All spotlights have a minimum 75 watt globe to provide adequate light. We use the shotguns described above because they produce almost always an instant kill, and therefore a humane death. The range of the shotguns is also quite short and are therefore much safer to use at night than rifles. When trapping we put a lot of surrounding leaf litter, soil and grass on the bottom of the treadle trap to make it feel natural to the cat. We make sure that we don't prevent the treadle from going down. You could even camouflage the outside of the cage to an extent, as long as you don't interfere with the trap mechanism. We use Whiskas 'Jelly Meat' as the lure because it retains it's moisture content for longer, especially in colder weather. We use an entire can and put most of the contents at the end of the trap but have a trail of lure leading out of the cage to a distance of approximately 1 metre. We trap at tips and man made structures. We have found that cats love to get under wooden floorboards where the ground under the boards is bare earth. It may have something to do with temperature regulation but would certainly provide some protection against the elements. You could even construct cheap artificial shelters to attract feral cats to spotlightling routes, as long as they were easy to construct.
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Home Page Wildlife at Risk Stock at Risk Pets at Risk People at Risk Who we are Future Plans News & Media Our Critics Resources Contact Us Cat Sightings Form Members Site Map

Kangaroo Island Cat Control Committee

control methods

Contribution from a resident of New South Wales

I hunt feral cats in western NSW. My friends and I have been using a method that is producing good results. We use a 'burley' that consists of 5 kg of pet mince, 2 kg of pilchards, 1 litre of tuna oil, 1 large liver and 5 cans of Whiskas 'Jelly Meat' thoroughly mixed together. We drive along a set route at 60 kmph where we are going to spotlight. We then use a ladle to throw the burley over the side of the ute tray every 10 seconds. We alternate sides each throw. We then begin to spotlight about 30 minutes later along the burlied route.

Cat in Spotlight

We cruise along the route at about 20 kmph with a hand held spotlight each side and the shooter stands on the back of the ute ready to shoot. Therefore, three people are required for this method but two can be used if only one side of the road is being spotlighted. The shooter uses a 30 inch barrel under and over shotgun with the top barrel shooting first. The top barrel has a full choke and the bottom barrel has a three quarter choke. The top barrel uses no. 2, 36 gram shells whilst the bottom barrel uses 36 gram BB shells. The shotgun itself has a spotlight attached underneath the barrel and is powered by a small battery pack. All spotlights have a minimum 75 watt globe to provide adequate light.

We use the shotguns described above because they produce almost always an instant kill, and therefore a humane death. The range of the shotguns is also quite short and are therefore much safer to use at night than rifles.

When trapping we put a lot of surrounding leaf litter, soil and grass on the bottom of the treadle trap to make it feel natural to the cat. We make sure that we don't prevent the treadle from going down. You could even camouflage the outside of the cage to an extent, as long as you don't interfere with the trap mechanism. We use Whiskas 'Jelly Meat' as the lure because it retains it's moisture content for longer, especially in colder weather. We use an entire can and put most of the contents at the end of the trap but have a trail of lure leading out of the cage to a distance of approximately 1 metre. We trap at tips and man made structures. We have found that cats love to get under wooden floorboards where the ground under the boards is bare earth. It may have something to do with temperature regulation but would certainly provide some protection against the elements. You could even construct cheap artificial shelters to attract feral cats to spotlightling routes, as long as they were easy to construct.