The Government Is Gonna Pledge $2M to Eradicating Feral Cats

The task is simple: Enlisting community groups to wipe out two million feral cats; about a third of the total population.

If you’re a devout cat lover, hear them out for a sec.

Fairfax reports about 124 species of native wildlife are at risk of literal extinction due to feral cats. “They are the single biggest threat to our native animals,” decried Threatened Species Commissioner Gregory Andrews.

Every year we lose approximately 1000 native animals. Per cat.

These include small animals, like crickets and lizards, to (much cuter) furry critters, such as possums and numbats. “We are not culling cats for the sake of it, we are not doing so because we hate cats,” Andrews lamented.

Andrews understands it’s a hard decision to make, but insists: “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 rollaby] and the night parrot.”

How on Earth does the government plan on rounding up two million feral kitties?

Good question.

The Minister for the Environment and Energy Josh Frydenberg has announced a round of financial grants for community groups willing to trap and humanely (emphasise: humanely) euthanise feral cats in March. Andrews, who will be working on the initiative, has called on every major Australian city to provide free euthanasia for trapped feral cats.

Finally: A short anecdote, just to put into perspective how terrifying some of these wild cats can get.

Indigenous rangers in South Australia’s Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands once caught a 6.8kg cat with the remains of a 5kg warru in its gut, indicating that feral cats can hulk-out and turn to larger prey, if left to their own devices.