Dunnarts at Risk of Extinction from Cats

By Isabelle Parker

(Pat Hodgens)

Remaining 500 Kangaroo Island dunnarts are at risk of extinction due to local feral cats. 98% of the habitat of these marsupials was burnt by the Black Summer bushfires in 2019-2022, and a recent study on the stomachs of 86 feral cats on the island has shown that dunnarts appear in 8.1% of them. The evidence found proves that the cats do consume the small animals. An author from the study says that ‘The combined pressures of a small, isolated population, natural disasters like bushfires, and predation from introduced predators such as feral cats could lead to the extinction of this vulnerable species’. The cats have been deemed 'efficient hunters' by the researchers on the study.

Study Author Claims,

"They highlight the need to maintain control of feral cat populations in areas home to threatened species."