Australia Plans to Kill 2 Cats Million by 2020

Australia plans to exterminate 2 million feral cats as a measure to protect their native species that apparently face extinction, due to the predatory nature of cats. Kind of ridiculous if you ask me. There’s definitely got to be better ways to resolve this and how does Australia have 2 million feral cats to begin with?

Excerpt:

“Speaking to a national radio station, Gregory Andrews, the country's first threatened-species Commissioner, said Australian Environment Minister Greg Hunt "is declaring war on feral cats, and he's asked me to take charge of that program."

Hunt unveiled the five-year plan at a Melbourne zoo on Thursday, vowing to protect Australia's native mammal and bird populations.”


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How they gonna do that?

 

As the article you linked says, there are around twenty million feral cats in Australia, probably because they breed relatively quickly and will have no natural predators there.

I would have thought if there were any better ways to address the problem they'd be using them instead. This doesn't sound like it'll be easy, cheap or popular so I can't see any reason other than expected success.

 

Australia has always had a very balanced ecosystem until introduced species were introduced. There are no native large carnivores, dingoes were introduced around 4,000 years ago. The last Australian large carnivore, the Thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) went extinct in 1937 due to human eradication.

While the domestic dog has lost most of its hunting instincts, the domestic moggy hasn't. After a couple of centuries of interbreeding with feral cats (originally domestic cats), feral cat numbers have gone through the roof. Wild cats are at the top of the food chain except maybe for foxes, another introduced species. If a household cat goes missing, there's every chance the cat has gone wild, especially living near bushland. Cats have accounted for more species extinction than any other animal

As long as I can remember there's always been a campaign to neuter your cats. Blame irresponsible cat owners.

 

This sounds cruel to me.

 

If you think this sounds cruel or "bad", look up the goat eradication program on the Galapagos Islands. I like goats a LOT more than cats. They shot them all from helicopters.

 

Trapping of cats is common and has been going on for a long time - they are trapped then shot.

It is actually fairly popular as most Australians are aware of the damage they do

 

Some countries make delicacies out of cat. Maybe export them instead?

 

[video=youtube;OE1lMiJwKvE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE1lMiJwKvE[/video]

 

come to my neighborhood and kill the cats there, too....


worthless creature....

 

First world nations should be able to find a better solution.

MOD EDIT - Rule 3

 

Feral cats are an environmental disaster in areas of the USA too. They are pushing chipmonks to the edge of extinction and kill billions of wild birds each year. Some species have little defensive instinct to them. Cats were breed to be killers, that was their purpose.

 

Cat lovers are the most irresponsible pet owners on the planet, that's how feral cat populations grow to such enormous proportions. We have the same problem here. I have to put out traps constantly. Meanwhile, the cat lovers keep feeding the nasty things and sniveling about my traps, as if the rest of us are supposed to love it when they crap all over our yards, tear up our storehouses, and spread diseases to other animals, kill wildlife, etc.

Keep the filthy things in your house, if you like them so much.

 

we had a big issue with cats back in the 90's at my house when I was still in college living at home. Cats would get on our car hoods on cold nights, and pee and scratch up everything.

Of course, local animal control, a bleeding heart animal lover, had no sympathy for the property damage they were causing us, and had this "it's just a car" mentality whenever we complained about it. We pointed out that leash and fence laws applied to both cats and dogs in our area, and demanded a trap. She said it would take 6 weeks. When we told her she may not have to worry about it in 6 weeks, because I plan to flush my radiator and might accidentally forget the anti-freeze when I go in that night.... she went nuts. We had the traps the next day.

it was a gawl damn habitat for humanity house that got dumped in our neighborhood with 10 cats. They can't afford to pay for electricity, or a house, but can afford 10 cats, 5 kids, and 10 cars on a 50ft wide x 175 long interior lot....

 

There is no moral equivalency here. We are hunting Boas because they are wiping out other snake populations.
And I dare say the Glades are worth protecting.

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I have 5 cats. I like them a lot. You? Not so much. Mine are indoor animals as well. Because of people like you.

 

Gives a whole new meaning to cat and dog food .

 

ummmm, you did read that these ferral cats are wiping out other species in Australia, right? or did you gloss past that part because your kitty, Sox, is just so cute?

there, I quoted it for you so you can't ignore it

good, keep them there.... if you can't control them and keep them in your yard.... they belong in the house.

 

You are trying to compare a domestic animal to a wild animal.
Snakes have never been domesticated.

 

A genetically engineered virus that only affects cats that renders them infertile would get rid of most wild cats in about 15 years as they die out from old age with few replacements. It would also crash the population of non breeder sourced domestic cats as well as those would be the only cats vaccinated against the virus. Only downside is people who love cats will pay a lot more for them & it could affect mice/rat numbers.

 

Any suggestions?

 

There is no other solution. We brought them there in the first place. They all must die.

 

Worth a lot more than many humans I have known.

 

And cat gut makes good surgical thread!

 

Don't they have a lot of Asians?
They eat cats. Just announce free cats for meals in the Asian community. Problem solved.

 

Good grief, mega assumptions.