A 34-pound cat, walking in the wild, eats wallabies for lunch and lambs for dinner. At this time, you look at the kitten that is lying next to you meowing, is it not lost in thought, is such a cat different from your cat? You think it's only on TV, but it's happening in Australia. But Australia has declared war on these cats, in order to kill cats, air-dropped poison sausages, why is this?
Cats become the culprit
Originally a lonely continent, Australia had no connection with the rest of the world for millennia, and there were no cats in the Australian species, but since the 17th century, Australia has changed.
In the 17th century, the first cat was brought into Australia by european immigrants by steamship, and since then a new species has begun to appear in Australia , the cat. These cats helped the crew catch rats on the ship, and after arriving in Australia, they first became people's pets in the southeast coastal area of Australia.
Until the 20th century, cats did not make much waves in Australia and have always been one of people's pets. But since then, people have begun to find that some small animals in the local area have begun to disappear, and the number of familiar animals in ordinary days has begun to decline sharply.
Pictured: Wildcats prey on small birds
People began to investigate, and found that the cat that did not care was the culprit. At this time, cats are no longer obedient small domestic cats for people to play, a large number of wild cat breeding, coupled with Australia's original lack of natural enemies of cats, wild cats reproduce faster, and the good natural environment stimulates the hunting nature of wild cats.
After increasing attention to cats, it was found that not only did wild cats prey on mice, but birds, and even local snakes and kangaroos would become a lunch for wildcats.
It wasn't until the 21st century that people realized the seriousness of the cat problem, and after investigation, nearly 20 species of mammals in Australia are close to extinction, including Australia's cherished kangaroo and bird species. By calculation, more than 1 million birds and 1.7 million reptiles will be killed by feral cats every day, and it is only then that people realize the seriousness of the problem. Gregory Andrews, national commissioner of endangered species, has proposed that wild cats are the biggest threat to indigenous Species in Australia.
Not only that, at this time, the wildcat has developed into an unmanageable situation. According to an article published by Dr Sarah Legge of the University of Queensland, there are nearly 2.1 million feral cats here during the dry season, while up to 6 million can be found during the rainy season. Even more incredible is that wildcats are found in almost all of Australia.
Pictured: A large number of feral cats
Wildcats hunt wildly in Australia
Wild cats live in the wild, completely out of the domestic environment, the wild is completely released, an adult wild cat can often grow to more than 15kg, the larger the body, the stronger the hunting ability, coupled with australia's natural enemies without cats, has become a wild cat paradise, whether it is flying in the sky, crawling on the ground, hiding in the hole, swimming in the water can not escape the hunting of wild cats.
Pictured: A feral cat preying
Farmers can often see wild cats coming in and out of the farm, and in addition to killing rats and birds, snakes are also regular food. What is even more frightening to the farmer is that the farm's captive cattle and horses will also be killed by wild cats, and the farmers are very resentful of these wild cats.
Australia's national treasure kangaroo has also been brutally attacked by wild cats, and smaller kangaroos or young kangaroos often become the staple food of wild cats. The most popular bird for wildcats is 377 million killed by wildcats a year, including many endangered birds. Some other species threatened by cats include the tailed rabbit rat and the rat-like golden kangaroo that are classified by the government as vulnerable.
These wild cats, which have long been less obedient than domestic cats, a series of hunting actions have not only caused a sharp decline in a large number of species in Australia, but also destroyed the ecological balance and had a greater negative impact on the natural ecology. To this end, the Australian government has begun to act.
Australia officially took measures against cats
In 2019, the Australian government released a special sausage to various places, these sausages are specially made for wild cats, and the relevant government staff also specially prepared the taste of sausages to meet the taste of wild cats. But this special sausage is not to feed the feral cat without killing other animals, instead, the Australian government's special sausage contains toxins that can kill the wildcat in 15 minutes. This poisoning is indeed cruel, but with the rapid growth of feral cat populations, other species will face a huge threat if urgent measures are not taken.
Pictured: Air-dropped poisoned sausages
Previously, the most famous australian species invasion was the rabbit, which also had no natural enemies and had sufficient weeds and other foods, making the 29 rabbits that originally arrived by British farmers reach a total of 10 billion by 1926, and the grassland and arable land were damaged by the large-scale nibbling of rabbits, making it difficult for Australia's native animals to survive and eventually extinct. The same incident struck again, and in order to contain the situation as soon as possible, the Australian government hoped to kill 2 million wild cats by 2020 by air-throwing poisoned sausages, although there was strong opposition from animal protection groups, but Australia had to do so.
Prior to the poisoning, in 2015, the Australian government planned to kill more than 2 million feral cats by shooting, trapping and poisoning by 2020, and would provide rewards of AU$10 per feral cat to those who shot them, but there was also strong opposition from cat lovers.
Opponents argue that poisoning, rewards for killing cats, and trapping are all too cruel. For poisoning, wildcats may not eat, which will cause other animals to eat death by mistake; for bounties to kill cats, wildcats are very vigilant and generally difficult to hit at once, which will lead to a very cruel shooting process; and trapping is as cruel as shooting. So by 2019, Australian animal protection organisations will also have to acknowledge the existence of wildcats, and the massive killing of wild animals has made it difficult for other species to survive.
Pictured: Hunting wildcats
In addition, more people have proposed the method of sterilization, which can not only treat existing wild cats well, but also can well inhibit the speed of wild cat reproduction, and it is also more humane. The measure has also become one of Australia's responses to wildcats.
But killing all cats does not solve all the problems, and it should be systematic and long-term to consider the problems. The previous excessive killing of cats, in fact, also caused damage to the ecological environment, the food chain suffered damage, in May 2021, Australia broke out the worst rat plague in 40 years, but also reflects that Australia's previous plan to kill cats has a big loophole.
In order not to let more pet cats become wild cats, but also to prevent more wild cats from being hunted for overbreeding. Not only Australia, as a human being, as the owner of pet cats, should start from itself, avoid the production of more stray cats, and more stray cats to care for. More stray cats can be adopted into a home, which can either have their own kittens and reduce the number of feral cats; at the same time, the cats can be neutered to prevent unwanted pregnancies and reduce the production of feral cats. I hope that humans can live in harmony with animals and make the earth a better place.
Resources
(1) China News Network - Wildcat flood causes extinction of many animals Australian government wants to kill 2 million wildcats - April 27, 2019
（2）CNN—The case against cats: Why Australia has declared war on feral felines—Giulia Hollingsworth—April 30,2019
（3）CBS NEWS—Australia is trying to kill millions of stray cats by airdropping poisoned sausages—SOPHIE LEWIS—April 26, 2019
Author: XiangYi Proofreader: Plum