Tasmania to tackle feral, stray cats

Tasmanian feral and stray cats beware.

They're the focus of a reference group set up to deliver the state's first Cat Management Plan.

It is a complex problem and a range of approaches is required to manage their impact on native wildlife, livestock and human health, Minister for Primary Industries Jeremy Rockliff said on Wednesday.

That's why Biosecurity Tasmania will work with the new Cat Management Reference Group to deliver a plan by year's end.

Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association chief executive Peter Skillern says stray and feral cats are an enormous, underestimated problem in the state.

Mr Skillern said feral cats were the major host of toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease that was not only lethal for animals like sheep and native animals, but for humans too.