Date: 28 July 2023

The Animal Justice Party WA calls on the WA Government to invest in the development of humane, non-lethal, effective, long-term solutions to introduced animals.

With the recent announcement of the introduction of the Felixer device for population control against free-roaming cats and foxes, along with an expansion of the WA Government’s baiting program under their ‘feral cat’ strategy, the Animal Justice Party (AJP) wishes to reiterate its strong stance against lethal population control measures for any animal, and in particular the use of 1080 poison. Media articles about the Felixer attempt to promote it as a ‘humane’ tool for killing cats and foxes, but 1080 is far from a ‘humane’ substance. It kills animals slowly and painfully, sometimes taking days, and we reiterate our call for it to be banned immediately.

The AJP recognises that there is no single, simple solution to controlling the impact of introduced species, but strongly advocates for non-lethal, humane, effective, and species-specific methods.

Whilst we acknowledge the damage to native ecosystems that introduced species such as cats cause, we also recognise that these animals are simply trying to survive in an environment into which humans introduced them. The Party believes that we owe it to these animals to restore ecological balance through long-term, non-lethal population control methods. We call for increased research into and development of humane measures including immunocontraception and other emerging technologies, which promise long-term population reduction as opposed to a continuous cycle of cruel baiting and killing.

The Party also calls for wider promotion of responsible animal guardianship, including desexing and keeping companion animals safe in their homes (e.g., in cat enclosures) to protect against accidental breeding and abandonment around population centres.

On a larger scale, the AJP aims to reduce the impact of introduced animals by rewilding and restoring ecosystems and the natural behaviours of native apex predators, which have suffered greatly from negative human interference especially in the context of animal agriculture and suburban expansion.