Pest Animal Research Centre, Biosecurity Queensland, Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia.
School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.
Integr Environ Assess Manag. 2022 Jan;18(1):224-244. doi: 10.1002/ieam.4445. Epub 2021 Jun 8.
Feral cats (Felis catus) pose a significant threat to wildlife, agriculture, and human health through predation, disease transmission, and competition with native animals. Controlling feral cats and their impacts, however, is challenging. New and emerging 1080-based feral cat baits have shown promising results in western and central Australia; however, the safety of these new baits for nontarget species in eastern Australia, where many native animals are more sensitive to compound 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate) than their western conspecifics, has not been assessed. We investigated the uptake of 499 toxic Eradicat baits by nontarget animals across five different eastern Australian environs and the uptake of nontoxic Eradicat and Hisstory baits at an additional two sites. Using field-based observations of species eating or removing baits, we determined that 13 nontarget species (eight mammals, four birds, and one reptile) were at high risk of individual mortality, with individuals of 11 of those 13 species (seven mammals, four birds) observed consuming enough toxic Eradicat in a single visit to ingest a lethal dose of 1080. Feral cats (the target species) consumed only 3.1% of monitored baits, which was only 52% of the 31 baits they encountered. We recommend undertaking targeted population monitoring of species identified at high risk of individual mortality, to determine whether Eradicat baits present a population-level risk to these species. Our findings suggest that the small-sized Eradicat baits present a greater risk to nontarget species in eastern Australia than the larger traditional 1080-based meat baits used for the control of wild dogs and foxes. Our study highlights the importance of performing risk assessments for different bait types, even when the same toxin is used, and of performing site-specific nontarget risk assessments of new baits such as Eradicat to assist developing guidelines for their safe and effective use in different environs. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2022;18:224-244. © 2021 State of Queensland. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management © 2021 SETAC.
野猫（Felis catus）通过捕食、疾病传播和与本地动物竞争，对野生动物、农业和人类健康构成重大威胁。然而，控制野猫及其影响具有挑战性。新出现的基于 1080 的野猫诱饵在澳大利亚西部和中部显示出有希望的结果；然而，这些新诱饵对澳大利亚东部非目标物种的安全性尚未评估，在澳大利亚东部，许多本地动物对 1080 化合物（氟乙酸钠）比它们的西部同类动物更敏感。我们调查了在澳大利亚东部的五个不同环境中，499 种有毒的 Eradicat 诱饵被非目标动物摄取的情况，并在另外两个地点调查了非毒性的 Eradicat 和 Hisstory 诱饵的摄取情况。通过对物种吃或移走诱饵的实地观察，我们确定了 13 种非目标物种（8 种哺乳动物、4 种鸟类和 1 种爬行动物）有个体死亡的高风险，在这 13 种中的 11 种（7 种哺乳动物、4 种鸟类）观察到在单次访问中摄入了足以摄入致命剂量 1080 的有毒 Eradicat。野猫（目标物种）只消耗了监测到的诱饵的 3.1%，这还不到它们遇到的 31 个诱饵的 52%。我们建议对个体死亡风险较高的物种进行有针对性的种群监测，以确定 Eradicat 诱饵是否对这些物种构成种群风险。我们的研究结果表明，在澳大利亚东部，与用于控制野狗和狐狸的传统基于 1080 的肉诱饵相比，较小尺寸的 Eradicat 诱饵对非目标物种构成更大的风险。我们的研究强调了即使使用相同的毒素，对不同诱饵类型进行风险评估的重要性，以及对 Eradicat 等新诱饵进行特定地点的非目标风险评估的重要性，以协助制定其在不同环境中安全有效使用的指南。2022 年综合环境评估与管理 224-244。©2021 昆士兰州政府。综合环境评估与管理 ©2021 SETAC。
