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Cat management update

Continued trapping of feral cats – by both project staff and private individuals – is continuing to be successful.

Shooting – using a thermal scope to detect body heat at night – is also proving successful and will be very useful for ‘trap-shy’ feral cats.

Increasing compliance with the Cat By-law and supply by the Men’s Shed of cat playgrounds is helping to keep domestic cats happy and contained on the owners’ properties.

Research and education is helping to define our understanding and cement this into the community.

Read the full story below:

Community update November 21Download
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Creating tree hollows

Matt Stephens, Environment Officer with NSW Transport, has developed a unique tool to create tree hollows for animals in living trees.

BIEN will explore the use of the tool to create hollows for forty-spotted pardalotes and other hollow-nesting species on Bruny Island.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-09-13/invention-speeds-up-tree-hollows-for-wildlife-habitat/100446560?utm_campaign=abc_news_web&utm_content=link&utm_medium=content_shared&utm_source=abc_news_web

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Cat management update August 2021

Exciting progress is continuing with reducing the impacts of cats in Bruny Island. This latest update includes these highlights:

  • 40 cats (23 feral and 17 stray) removed from the project area.
  • Feral cat control activities underway in the seabird colonies of north Bruny Island.
  • Camera monitoring to estimate cat densities across north Bruny.
  • Bruny Cat By-Law compliance rates above 70% for registered cat owners on Bruny Island.
  • Opening of the Bruny Island Cat Management Facility in Alonnah, funded jointly through Ten Lives Cat Centre and Kingborough Council.
  • 14 stray cats taken to the Alonnah Cat Facility. Most were rehomed through the Ten Lives Cat Centre, one domestic cat was returned to its owner.
  • Camera monitoring by members of the Bruny Island Environment Network on private properties at Apollo Bay, Dennes Point and Barnes Bay.
  • 11 community members assisting with cat trapping on their properties.
  • A non-lethal trial of thermal shooting undertaken in the shearwater colonies.
  • GPS tracking of feral cats to better understand their movement patterns and impacts on eastern quolls
BICMP_Community_Update_Aug2021Download
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40-spotted workshop: 18 September, Barnes Bay

It’s nesting time again and the 40-spots need our help!

BIEN, in partnership with the Forty-spotted pardalote Recovery Team is having a workshop for positive ID of the 40-spot.

Specifically aimed at people who have (or want to have) nest boxes, the workshop will cover:

  • identify 40-spot by sight and call
  • signs that the nest box is being used to raise chicks
  • recording and reporting observations to share

Barnes Bay CWA Hall
1pm – 4pm Saturday 18 Sept

Please register your interest here.

Nest boxes will for sale at the workshop. We also want to collect information on where the boxes are, so come along!

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Bruny Cat Management Update – Dec 2020

A Community Forum on Dec 5th at Dennes Point provided information on the research and cat management activities planned for the next two years and discussed how the community can get involved. The work will focus on North Bruny as it is an important area in Tasmania for the threatened Eastern quoll and because of the relatively small number of feral cats present (compared to South Bruny).

Read the full report here, including the latest research and feral cat control measures.

December 2020 cat updateDownload
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Community Water Forum

Come along to another forum on Bruny’s water supply and the impact water supply may have on the Adventure Bay aquifer.

TasWater, along with BICA, BIEN and Kingborough Council are running the forum.

It builds upon an earlier forum held in 2019.

At the 2019 forum TasWater answered concerns and ideas arising from the community, and particularly from the Bruny Life survey. Notes from the meeting are available below.

Community Water Forum
TasWater summary March_2019Download