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Murra, a four-year-old Bluetick Coonhound, works with her owner, Paul, as a feral cat Detection Dog on Kangaroo Island in South Australia. Together, they support a conservation program focused on reducing the impact of feral cats on native wildlife. Murra's exceptional scenting ability is central to this effort and demonstrates the value of using dogs in conservation.
Murra’s main role is working on the Kangaroo Island feral cat eradication program, as Kangaroo Island aims to be one of the world’s largest feral cat-free areas where a lot of people also live.
Using a mixture of traditional tools and advanced technology, the main objective of these efforts is to locate and eventually reduce and remove the feral cat population.
Murra, along with Jager, Spur and Indi, who are also Bluetick Coonhounds, search and indicate if they detect the scent or scat of feral cats. If the feral cat is not located during the search, then the trapping team sets out traps, or a shooter may be called in to the area.
Using detection dogs like Murra also plays a crucial role in the proof of absence phase, which is done in the latter stages of eradication. Murra will search the area to confirm there are no cats present, fulfilling the role of a proof of absence monitoring tool.
“The use of detection dogs gives us a clear idea if feral cats have been active in the area, and then we can determine the best way to remove them, a technique that is proving to be highly effective.”
Paul, along with Murra, Jager, Spur and Indi, give a lot of landholder demonstrations.
“We go out and work with farmers and the community and help them understand the detection dog work that they're very target specific and don't show any interest in wildlife or stock.”
“A lot of farmers understand the role of working dogs, and they see that these dogs are bred for specific behaviours and traits and are very efficient at what they do.”
“We also go out on properties, and we walk around with the landholders and give them a demonstration of how these dogs work in locating and indicating the presence of feral cats."
"These demonstrations build confidence in the work these dogs do and help us to develop a good relationship with landholders, as we need their support to make this program a success." Paul said.
Other methods that can be deployed are the use of thermal drones, cameras, and thermal ground shooting.
There are legal frameworks that affect the use of feral cat detection dogs in South Australia. The Dog and Cat Management Act 1995 (SA) allow and considers dogs to be a specialised control tool in this field of work. The Landscape South Australia Act 2019 allows authorised personnel to manage feral cats on public and private land. The Animal Welfare Act 1985 ensures the humane treatment of animals and humane control methods.
There are Laws and Regulations when using Detection Dogs in South Australia. The Dog and Cat Management Act allow working dogs to be within one kilometre of a residence if written consent is given by landholders. An increase in the recognition of contractors and agents working in feral cat control means more people can lawfully perform this role.
Unique to Kangaroo Island on the Dudley Peninsula, trained detection dogs like Murra are considered authorised tools in detecting "cage-shy" feral cats, helping to locate and remove the last remaining feral cats to achieve eradication. Bluetick Coonhounds are ideal for this role as they will bay instead of engaging with the targeted animal. They are also a critical and complementary part in showing a proof of absence, along with the use of cameras and thermal drones.
While landowners can manage feral cats on their own land, the use of dogs to locate them requires approval from landholders and neighbours, along with compliance with private property permissions. Domestic cats are protected, and it is illegal to injure, seize, or destroy an identified cat (cats that are microchipped or wearing a collar).
To get Murra certified, Paul attended detection workshops held by Steve Austin and run by community members. The certification is a K9 Conservation Certification Council, with the target scent being feral cats. Paul had previously attended these workshops to get his first dog, Jager, the Bluetick coonhound, certified.
“Workshops provided the foundation, and then learning information from American podcasts like Houndsman XP, there are a lot of resources online, but not too many doing this sort of work in Australia, so it was hard to find someone to talk to about it.”
“Once certified, I got approval from the director of national parks after 12 months working with a lot of the park managers demonstrating how the dogs would perform their role,” Paul said.
“Then I was allowed to use specialist feral cat detection dogs in reserves and wilderness protection areas, impacted by the 2019-20 bushfires in Kangaroo Island.”
Paul says in places like New Zealand, there are structured conservation dog programs, and he hopes to see improvements in Australia, as currently, processes are done at a more local level to get approval.
Honouring traditional methods that have worked for many years, Paul says, while we often turn to technology for solutions, traditional methods developed over long periods of time are proof that, in the right hands, they are very effective.
Murra originally started working as part of a series of post-bushfire recovery programs with Paul as they tackled the aftereffects of the devastating 2019-20 bushfires.
“In the 2019-20 ‘Black Summer’ bushfire, about half of Kangaroo Island was burnt over a period of a few months, and the projects we were working on were trying to locate surviving threatened native species and then how to protect them post-fire.”
“Feral cats then took advantage of that, coming into the fire-affected areas and preying on those last remaining individuals.”
“We then started implementing a feral cat control plan, and detection dogs came in, helping us to remove them before they pushed out our threatened species closer to extinction.”
“Some of those species are critically endangered, and they could have become extinct as a result of the fire, as their habitat was all but gone.”
Paul saw the potential of using working dogs in conservation work and says it is an emerging industry that can utilise working dogs in many applications.
“I heard about one of the detection dogs used in Perth to detect leaks in water pipes three metres underground that couldn't be detected by any other method.”
“Being able to detect and locate the leaks in the water pipes would have saved a lot of money for the company.”
“Dogs have such a keen sense of smell, and to be able to harness that and to see them perform at their best is very rewarding.”
The Bluetick Coonhound hails from the United States of America and was originally used as a raccoon dog. Different bloodlines of the Bluetick Coonhound were also developed to target big game like bobcats, and even bears and mountain lions.
The breed was specifically about developing a dog that has an exceptional nose, locates a scent and then trails its target.
“Once they locate their target, they will do their trademark baying call and ‘holding them at bay’ without any physical engagement, and this is really important for our program as we don't want them physically engaging with the feral cats.”
They basically point it out to us that it's here, and for us to come along and make an assessment before you make a decision,” Paul said.
Paul’s conservation dog work first started as a hobby and turned into an obsession around training his dogs and seeing the years of work that went into developing the breed and their predictable traits and behaviours.
In selecting the Bluetick Coonhound, Paul spent around 12 months researching different breeds of dogs, their traits and working abilities. He was drawn to the Bluetick Coonhound for their temperament and ability to be a working dog, but also because they can be a social pet at home, are sociable with other dogs and wildlife and stock once properly trained.
The next challenge for Paul came in finding a registered pedigree breeder in Australia.
“After searching online, I came across Scentmaster Hounds, based in Echuca, Victoria, owned by Irene and Laura Hobbs, and reached out to them, and we started corresponding.”
"I learnt a lot, including that all of their working bloodlines had been selected by them and imported from the United States.”
"I have since purchased four dogs from Irene and Laura and will soon take on a fifth in April 2026, which I’m really excited about.”
“I feel like that the Bluetick Coonhound has been really refined over many, many years for a specific role, and that's why it suits what I do so well.”
”So much goes into the breeding of these dogs, which means that they are consistently exceptional at what they do.”
“Once you understand the personality of the dog, they're relatively easy to train, they're intelligent, learn fast and the purebred aspect that they're genetically programmed to be a great working dog.”
Paul loves the fact that when one of his canine team alerts to their target, the others will honour the call and come together and work as a unit.
Pauls says a lot of detection dogs are trained to detect a particular scent and not about finding the animal itself, and that is why a breed traditionally used to locate a target species using their superior scenting ability and working as a team is so well-suited to this important conservation role.
Dogs Australia is a not-for-profit organisation advocating for the preservation of purebred dogs through ethical breeding.
It champions the highest standard of animal welfare through education and fostering dog-loving communities.
Internationally recognised and established in 1958 as the Australian National Kennel Council (ANKC),
the organisation promotes responsible dog ownership; maintains the ORCHID* heritable canine diseases database;
funds research into canine diseases; and supports state and territory-based member bodies.
Dogs Australia promotes breed conformation shows and community sports for dogs that fulfil a breed’s natural instincts.
