Indigenous rangers from around Australia converged on Parliament today to call on all major parties to grow and secure Indigenous Protected Area funding.

We couldn't be more excited to welcome the Oak Valley Rangers as partners of the Country Needs People campaign.

Country Needs People recently posted on our social media channels about the work many Indigenous ranger groups are doing to control the number of feral cats on country. Rangers undertake strategic and humane feral cat culling to reduce their predatory impact on native wildlife.

There was a range of responses to the social media posts. Most people were supportive (Country Needs People supporters are the best), saying “More rangers, less ferals!” and “At least double [Indigenous ranger] jobs as feral cats are causing havoc.”

There were also a few of supporters who were dismayed Indigenous rangers were culling feral cats. “Instead of killing feral cats”, they said, “we should be focussing on teaching responsible cat ownership,” or, “We should trap, desex and rehome these cats. Not cull them.”

Whilst we understand the sensitivity around cats – after all, cats are humans’ second most popular animal companion – I thought I might clear up some misunderstandings, so Country Needs People supporters understand why the work Indigenous rangers do to control feral cats is so important for the health of our Outback.

“On the tenth anniversary of our sea rights win in the High Court’s Blue Mud Bay case, we are at last moving towards exercising our law (rom) over our traditional clan estates from the shore’s edge out to sea where the storm clouds stand.”

- Barayuwa Mununggurr, Chairman, Laynhapuy Homelands Aboriginal Corporation, at a moving ceremony that last week tripled the size of the Laynhapuy Indigenous Protected Area (IPA), including, for the first time, over 500,000 hectares of sea country.