Tracking cats to help the night parrot

Date: 04, Jun, 2019
Author(s):   Steve Murphy, ALex Kutt
Publisher: TSR Hub

Know thy enemy is a famous quote from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. It is also a brilliant strategy when trying to saving an endangered species from a relentless threat. We talked to Dr Steve Murphy from The University of Queensland about new research which will GPS-track feral cats at Pullen Pullen Reserve. Pullen Pullen Reserve was established by Bush Heritage Australia in 2016 to protect what was, at the time, the only known population of night parrots. It is still the best-known stronghold for this wonderful bird. Feral cats are believed to be the major threat to this extremely rare and Endangered nocturnal parrot, with cat control a major focus of conservation effort by Bush Heritage at the reserve. But finding and culling cats over 20,000 hectares of core night parrot habitat is not easy.