Australian commissioner for threatened species backs away from plan to keep cats indoors 24 hours a day

Australia's commissioner for threatened species has retracted his suggestion that cats should be banned from going outside.

Gregory Andrews, the position's inaugural commissioner, on Wednesday backed away from the idea, which would force domesticated cats to be kept indoors 24 hours a day, in order to protect some of Australia's at-risk native animals.

"Categorically the Australian government will not be forcing Australians to lock up cats," Andrews told Melbourne radio on Wednesday.

"Our agenda is focused on feral cats which are doing the overwhelming majority of harm to our native animals."

There are believed to be 3.3 million house cats and between 15 to 23 million feral cats in Australia. It is estimated they kill, on average, 74 million animals every day, and have been directly responsible for the extinction of 28 mammal species.

Andrews has created a taskforce designed to humanely cull the 20 million feral cats by 2020.

A poison targeted at the feral cats is the preferred means to reduce the population, according to Andrews.

"It's a poison that doesn't damage the environment and when the cats consume it they simply go to sleep," he said.

"Also the design of this bait means it's overwhelming cat specific which means if we use it in the right way it won't harm our native animals."

Despite Andrews distancing himself from the plan, Zoos Victoria' s Rachel Lowy said the idea was perhaps a plausible way for both cats and their targets -- small possums, bandicoots and birds -- to coexist.

"They (cats) do a good job at hunting them it's what they are good at," Lowy said.

"We've got over 20 million cats estimated running across Australia's landscape and we've got the highest rate of extinction right now of threatened species."

"Cats have been identified as one of the largest threats to Australian wildlife." Endi