Protecting Australian mammals from introduced cats and foxes: the current status and future growth of predator-free havens

Many Australian mammal species are highly susceptible to predation by introduced cats (Felis catus) and European red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). At least 34 Australian endemic mammal species have been made extinct since 1788, about 10% of Australia’s terrestrial mammal. Predation by introduced cats and foxes was a major contributor to most of those extinctions. The Australian mammal extinctions make up about one-third of all global mammal extinctions over the last ca. 500 years. Cats and foxes have also driven large distributional and population declines for many more surviving species. Cats now occur across the entire Australian mainland and Tasmania, and are present on many of the larger islands