Cats and dogs are the most common animal partners of human beings, in many families have cats as pets, the latest research data show that the number of cats in the world exceeds 500 million, more than double the number of dogs, 2019 statistics show that the number of pet cats in China reached 44.12 million, that is to say, every 15 families in China, there is a pet cat. It can be seen that cats have become the most popular and loved pets of human beings.
wildcat
Humans keep pet cats for a very long time, according to fossil studies found that domestic cats first originated 3500 years ago, ancient Egyptian humans began to domesticate the local desert cat as a pet, and then gradually introduced to the world through the Persian Persian cat, but unlike dogs, the wild nature of cats did not completely disappear, at the same time that cats were introduced to the world, many cats were also abandoned and became stray cats, and these stray cats returned to their wild nature and became wild cats. These wildcats, as alien species, have a huge impact on native small fauna in many regions. According to scientists, there are currently about 63 species in the world that have been wiped out in connection with feral cats. Wildcats have been listed as one of the "World's Top 100 Invasive Alien Species".
First, Australia has become the most harmful area of wild cats on the earth, where do wild cats come from?
Looking at the most endangered areas of the world by wildcats, it is Australia, according to the latest statistics, in 2018, the population of Australia was 24.99 million, and the number of wildcats in Australia is at least 15 million, with the breeding rate of wildcats, in a few years can surpass humans to become australia's largest number of mammals.
Australian wildcat
Due to the harsh natural environment in Australia, since the extinction of large predators such as Australian thylacines and thylacines, there are almost no large predators, and later Australian wild dogs because they have better prey, and do not care to restrict wild cats, so in Australia, wild cats have no natural enemies, plus wild cats have strong environmental adaptability, can adapt to deserts, grasslands, forests and other environments and climates, at the same time, most of the australian native wild animals are slow to move, easy to catch, wild cats have no difficulty in survival. As a result, today, the Australian wildcat is almost 99% of the territory, almost complete the full coverage of the Australian territory, becoming the most extensive animal in the Australian area of activity.
In fact, like the famous Dingo, the wild cat is also an exotic species in Australia, but the Australian Wild Dog has experienced thousands of years of environmental adaptation, and now it has been integrated with the ecological environment of Australia, becoming a native species, basically maintaining an ecological balance. But wild cats do not land in Australia in recent centuries, in the 17th century, when European colonists set foot on the Australian continent, there were wild cats, because the ships at that time were mostly large sailing ships, slow sailing, often need to carry a lot of supplies, so many ships will raise cats to catch mice, but also as the crew's pet to alleviate the loneliness and boredom of the journey. When the cats set foot on the Australian continent, they were pleasantly surprised to find that it was a paradise-like place, rich in natural materials, effortless hunting, and no natural enemies, these domestic cats quickly ran into the wild, life was delicious, and multiplied in large quantities, and the number showed a geometric growth.
Second, wild cats have a catastrophic impact on Australia's native wild animals.
In the face of the invasion of Australian wildcats, the first to bear the brunt of the local wild birds and small reptiles, according to the statistics of Biological Dialogue magazine, in Australia, each wild cat hunts an average of at least 5 small animals per day, an average of more than 1 million native birds per day, 1.7 million reptiles are hunted by wild cats, and about 316 million birds die under the claws of wild cats every year.
Wildcat recipes on birds
Many birds are affected by it, almost half of Australia's birds are on its menu, including 71 endangered species of birds such as the spotted quail, dwarf rock dove and night parrot, and so far, the Australian wildcat has caused the extinction of more than 20 species.
The harsher reality is that Australian wildcats kill small animals not only for survival and food needs, but more often for fun, resulting in the vast majority of small animals being hunted worthless.
Third, some wild cats are mega,000, causing harm to large and medium-sized wild animals.
In Australia, wild cats unscrupulous breeding and hunting, so that the Australian wild cat data surge, and began to gradually show a trend of evolution in different directions, under natural selection, a part of the wild cat began to become huge, the largest wild cat can even reach 15 kg, these large wild cats even fearless of the threat of australian wild dogs, with sensitive skills, the australian wild dog also has to avoid its sharp edge, becoming a veritable wild animal brother in the local area.
Wildcat hunting
With that, they are not satisfied with the predation of birds and small animals, and the hunting targets are changed to large and medium-sized animals and their cubs, some large lizards weighing about 10 pounds have become new prey for Australian wild cats, and some wallabies, etc., and even some wild cats can take down kangaroos weighing more than 60 pounds. Today, the Australian wildcat has become a local ecological disaster.
Fourth, the construction of wild cat "isolation fences", poisoning, hunting, all kinds of measures eventually failed
Quarantine fence
In order to eliminate the harm of Australian wildcats, the Australian government has taken a lot of measures, the most famous is to build a "cat fence", in 2018, in order to prevent wild cats from threatening Australian native wildlife, to give some critically endangered wild animals a place to rest and recuperate, the Australian Animal Protection Society built the world's largest "cat-proof Great Wall", this fence is 44 kilometers long, composed of 85,000 piles, 400 kilometers long barbed wire, 1600 km of ordinary power lines and 130 km of barbed wire have created a cat-free area, focusing on the breeding of 10 species of native endangered wildlife, including rabbit-eared possums, wood bats, impala, Western quail and black-footed stone kangaroos. However, the reality is backbone, as in the case of australia against hares earlier, such a protective area is very general, and for a climbing wild cat, such a fence is like the emperor's new clothes.
Rabbit ear possum
In addition, Australia also actively encourages hunters to hunt, but due to the sparse population, such measures are only a drop in the bucket and have little impact on the number of wild cats.
At present, the latest way is poisoning, Australian scientists have extracted a new toxin from Australian green plants, because the native species coexist with it for a long time, so it will not have an impact, but it is very effective for Australian wildcats, this toxin is made into "Eradica" synthetic substance, at present, the effect is not bad, but in the long run, whether wild cats will produce immunity is also unknown.
V. Why is the Australian wildcat so strong?
There are many factors why Australian wildcats can breed rapidly, one is that its adaptability is very strong, wildcats can adapt to forests, grasslands, mountains, and even desert environments, coupled with the rapid breeding of wildcats, resulting in a large number of wildcats difficult to control.
Australian wildcats prey on
On the other hand, the domestic cats raised by the locals are constantly abandoned and become the reserve force of wild cats.
The third is the obstruction and release of "cat lovers" and so on. At the same time as the killing of feral cats in Australia, 160,000 people signed a petition to save the cats, hoping that the government would stop the plan to poison the wildcats.
Australian wildcat hunting
However, for the overall protection of wild animals, on the one hand is cats, on the other hand is endangered native organisms, which is more important than a glance, the current international commonly used stray animal management main measures are containment, hunting or euthanasia, TNR. TNR is the most acceptable to the public, and TNR (Trap-Neuter-Return) refers to capture, sterilization, and release. That is, the stray cat is captured and then neutered, and then neutered, and finally released. However, the human and material resources required to do so are also huge, and it also takes more time, and how to maintain ecological balance has indeed become a difficult problem facing Australia.