© AFP/Getty ImagesAs part of efforts to become predator free by 2050 the Australian government is trying to wipe out the feral cat population already blamed for 20 extinctions.
The country is trying to cull two million felines by 2020 in order to save native species which the animals are preying on.
Officials are already trapping and shooting cats but now the authorities are turning to a less conventional weapon - sausages.
Chunks of kangaroo meat are combined with chicken fat, herbs, spices and 1080, a poison predominantly used in New Zealand to kill invasive species like rats, the New York Times reports.
The cats that eat the treats meet their maker within 15 minutes.
© Getty Images/iStockphotoPoison sausages are air dropped over large open areas
Shootings still equate for 83% of killings, though.
It's estimated cats, which were introduced by European settlers, have driven 20 native species to extinction and a 2017 report published in journal Biological Conservation found they kill 377m birds and 649m reptiles every year.
Gregory Andrews, the national commissioner of threatened species, said: "We have got to make choices to save animals that we love, and who define us as a nation like the bilby, the warru (Black-footed rock-wallaby) and the night parrot."
He said they are the single biggest threat to native species.
Dr Dave Algar was part of the team to develop the deadly recipe and tested it on his own cats - minus the poison - to make sure they'd got it right.
"They've got to taste good," he said, "they are the cat's last meal."
The government attracted fierce criticism when they announced their planned cull in 2015, with 160,000 people signing petitions calling for them to scrap the scheme, dubbed "animal genocide" by activist and former actress Brigette Bardot.
Conservationists say the government is failing to address other factors, such as development, logging and mining, and using the cull as a distraction.
But Australia, which is aiming to become predator free by 2050, isn't the only country to come down hard on felines, New Zealand is toying with the idea of a total ban.
Last year coastal town Omaui on the South Island tried to outlaw domestic cats but decided against it after a backlash.
Comment: While pest control and mitigating the effects of human activity on local ecosystems are understandable, mass culls and even rewilding efforts can have disastrous unforeseen consequences: