Research Papers

Photo: Ben Parkhurst

A Summary of FelixerTM Research

Did curiosity kill the cat? The impacts of aerial baiting and Felixer™ deployment on feral cat populations on Three Hummock Island, Tasmania

Alexandra J. Paton, Iona Flett, Matthew Pauza, Barry W. Brook, Jessie C. Buettel

January 27 2026

Operational field trialling of Felixer™ grooming traps for the control of feral cats in the Strzelecki Desert, Australia

R. D. Pedler et al, CSIRO Publishing | Wildlife Research.

December 6 2024

Is the Felixer cat control device safe for marsupial carnivores?

Rickards H. et al, CSIRO Publishing | Wildlife Research.

August 2022

Safety assessment of FelixerTM grooming traps in the semi-
arid Western Rangelands of WA

Michelle L Hall, Ben Parkhurst, Michelle Judd, Ken Judd, Sam Fischer, Jessica Stingemore, Dean
Mowat.

Bush Heritage Australia

February 2022

Can FelixersTM control foxes too?

A pre-recorded presentation to the 18th Australasian Vertebrate Pest Conference on 26 May 2021.

May 2021

Pilbara FelixerTM trial with northern quolls

Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions.

July 2020

Effectiveness of the Felixer grooming trap for the control of feral cats: a field trial in arid South Australia

Moseby K. E. et al, CSIRO Publishing | Wildlife Research.

May 2020

ESA 2019: Humane and targeted: FelixersTM enable safe feral cat and fox control in agricultural and peri-urban environments

In 2019, non toxic photo-only trials of a blocking mechanism that prevents FelixersTM from
targeting pets wearing Wireless Identification (WID) tags on their collars were completed.

2019

West Island FelixerTM trial

Using Felixers to complete the West Island Cat Eradication Project.

April 2019

Target Specificity of the FelixerTM Grooming “Trap”

Wildlife Society Bulletin 43(1):112–120; 2019; DOI: 10.1002/wsb.942.

March 2019

Innovative Feral Cat Control Tools

Wildlife Reintroduction Conference Chicago Felixer poster.

November 2018

Dying to be clean: pen trials of novel cat and fox control devices

International Journal of Pest Management, 2014
Vol. 60, No. 3, 166-172.

July 2014

Natural Resources Kangaroo Island Preliminary findings of the FelixerTM grooming traps trial

The Felixer™ Grooming Traps have been tested extensively in photo-only mode on Kangaroo Island. Over a six week period the Felixer™ grooming traps were trialled in ‘toxic’ mode.

Predicting the Efficacy of the Felixer Grooming Trap as a
Population Control Device in the Tasmanian Midlands

Abstract summary of the thesis submitted by Morgan Humphrey (BSc Hons)

Under supervision of Christopher N. Johnson, Menna E. Jones, Rowena P. Hamer, and John L. Read.

 

The significance of landholder gender and previous knowledge of control methods for effective feral cat (Felis catus) management in south-eastern Australia

B Deak et al, Environmental Sociology

January 2021

Increasing knowledge to mitigate cat impacts on biodiversity

Webber, B.L. (2020). The Western Australian Biodiversity Science Institute, Perth WA.

2020

How many reptiles are killed by cats in Australia?

Woinarski J. C. Z, CSIRO Publishing | Wildlife Research.

June 2018

Enumerating a continental-scale threat: How many feral cats are in Australia?

S. Legge et al. / Biological Conservation (2016)

November 2016

The hidden costs of cats in Australia: Cat-dependent diseases and human health

There are several cat-dependent diseases in Australia that can be
passed to humans, including toxoplasmosis, toxocariasis
and cat scratch disease.

Cat Mangement Resources

Links of interest on Feral cats

Better to bluff than run: conservation implications of feral-cat prey selectivity.

Predators typically select prey on the basis of their availability and traits such as body size, speed, camouflage and behaviour that influence ease of capture. Such selectivity, particularly by invasive predators, can disproportionately affect the conservation status of prey. Control of top-order predators can also trigger trophic cascades if subordinate predators have different prey preference.

June 2024

Felixer grooming trap to be rolled out as part of Australia-first strategy to control feral cats

ABC Online: By Nicolas Perpitch
Posted Wed 28 Jun 2023 at 1:41pm, Wednesday 28 Jun 2023 at 1:41pm, updated Mon 10 Jul 2023 at 7:36pm

July 2023

The quick red fox and even quicker cats.

Cats and foxes – both introduced species in
Australia – devastate native wildlife, and put our most vulnerable animals at risk of extinction. Several experts believe that the time to act is now.

May 2022

‘A Diabolical problem needing radical answers’: when cats are not so cute.

Australian Geographic

February 2022

Putting the cat before the wildlife: Exploring cat owners’ beliefs about cat containment as predictors of owner behavior

Lily M van Eeden et al, Conservation Science and Practice

July 27 2021

Reply to Wolf et al.: Why Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) Is Not an Ethical Solution for Stray Cat Management

John L Read et al. Animals

28 August 2020

Glovebox Guide For Managing Feral Cats

This Glovebox Guide for Managing Feral Cats is a general guide to provide background information to support the control of feral cat populations in Australia.

2020

Felixer – Feral Cat Control Development

Western Wildlife Newsletter:

December 2018

Cat management – is there a silver bullet?

The ongoing management of the impacts of feral cats is a challenging task and although there are many techniques being trialled, we don’t seem to have found a ‘silver bullet’ for successful control.

Keeping your cat healthy and happy at home

Videos and advice to guide you through why and how to create a stimulating and healthy environment to best suit your individual home and cat.

About us
We enable conservation through innovation.

Photo: Ben Parkhurst

Photo: Ben Parkhurst

What We Do
We use creativity to provide technology and tools to save threatened wildlife.

Why We Do It
The need to think outside the square to achieve conservation outcomes for Australian wildlife is real.

Photo: Ben Parkhurst

What we've done
Our tools are used to aid and monitor the reintroduction of culturally important and threatened mammal species.

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The Foundation funds research to develop systems that sustainably protect the natural environment.

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