After dark in central Queensland paddocks, farmers with shotguns, rifles and homemade traps are on the lookout for an elusive feral pest.

Farmer Sib Torrisi shoots any feral cats he sees on his property in the Banana Shire, west of Rockhampton.

"They're a monster within our environment — some are half the size of dogs," he said.

When Mr Torrisi moved to their property almost two decades ago, the landscape was teeming with tiny native birds and sand goannas.

He said that changed as feral cats moved in.

"They climb up trees — they choke the life out of the animals by grabbing them by the throat," he said.

Last month, researchers found feral cats living in Australia's largely natural landscapes killed 272 million birds every year.

Mr Torrisi said feral cats were "a monster within our environment". ( ABC News: Emilia Terzon )

That staggering statistic prompted Mr Torrisi's local council to put a bounty on feral cats — $10 for adults and $5 for every kitten — for the first time in its history.

The council allocated $25,000 in its land protection budget to cover the cost of the bounty and plans to continue the program until this funding is exhausted.

Banana Shire Mayor Nev Ferrier said the council had no conclusive data about the spread of the problem in their patch, however local farmers "know there's a problem".

"They're [feral cats] very determined," Cr Ferrier said.

Animal activists deplore bounty as 'cruel'

Bounties on many feral animals, including foxes, rabbits and feral dogs, have been in place across Australia for decades, and Banana Shire was by no means the first to put a bounty on feral cats.

(LtoR) Banana Shire Council's director of services John McDougall and Mayor Nev Ferrier with cat traps. ( ABC News: Emilia Terzon )

Yet when the council announced the bounty last month, it received a barrage of criticism from across the world.

Some believed the council was condoning cats being skinned alive, because it required residents to bring in the scalps of dead cats to collect their bounty.

"We've had a fair few ridiculous letters to us, emails, abusive phone calls," Cr Ferrier said.

Animal activist group PETA last week put up a billboard near the council's office in Biloela, warning local residents to lock up their pet cats so they did not get killed too.

PETA regional spokesperson Laura Weyman-Jones conceded there was a huge problem with both feral and domestic cats killing wildlife in Australia.

Yet she said shooting or trapping feral animals caused "animals to suffer", and had not reduced their numbers in the long term.

PETA said it believed the feral cats should be left alone entirely until a non-invasive way was found to sterilise them so they could not breed.

Council won't back down on cull

Cr Ferrier said contemplating widespread de-sexing programs was "ridiculous".

Meanwhile, Mr Torrisi welcomed the shire's bounty on feral cats but said $10 for a scalp was "not worth the petrol" to collect it.

The council's bounty on dingoes is as high as $50.

Cr Ferrier said they had not had anybody bring in a cat scalp since they announced the bounty late last month, but it was only a matter of time before they did.

"I've had a couple of farmers call me up up and say they want to give us money to increase the bounty," Cr Ferrier said.

"Someone's got to do something sooner or later about it, because our grandchildren won't see a bird or anything flying around — it'll only be cats half the size of a lion, running around killing everything."