The cats are nearly gone: Kangaroo Island nears the world's largest inhabited feral-cat-free area

On Kangaroo Island's Dudley Peninsula, the cameras are going quiet — in the best way. The feral cat eradication programme run by the Kangaroo Island Landscape Board is recording its lowest feral-cat detection rate since work began in 2020, and the team has moved to the painstaking final phase: finding individual remaining cats with thermal technology, AI-assisted cameras and remotely monitored traps. Funding is secured to finish the job, which would create the world's largest human-inhabited feral-cat-free area — protecting native wildlife and cutting cat-borne disease risks for sheep farmers. The board is now recruiting the field officers who will run the last mile, with applications closing 15 November.

SDG 15 · Life on land — Mechanism: institutional program