Feral cats have taken over Australia; 99.8% of the pacific island, to be precise.
If you’ve ever chanted “cats rule the world,” you might not have envisioned wild cats escaping from captivity or domestication to literally conquer a country.
The invasive species roam at a density of one cat for every four square kilometres, according to new research by the Journal of Biological Conservation.
The Australian authorities had seen this coming. Two years ago, they declared an open war on feral cats and vowed to kill two million of them. New Zealand joined them, too.
This isn’t a game of thrones between cats and humans, it’s more of Tweety and Sylvester taken to another level – feral cats are being blamed for pushing native species to extinction.
The video above follows the origins of this debate between the governments and activists, and traces an anti-cat movement that is taking place in the West.
Culling of cats has raised eyebrows, and the tactics are even more surprising. The weapon used by staff managers of Parks Victoria, an Australian national park, is KFC fried chicken.
According to The Guardian, this food just happens to be “the most effective bait for luring feral cats”.
Everything comes at a price, though, especially KFC’s chicken. A Freedom of Information (FOI) request – Australia’s version of India’s RTI – revealed that $260 was spent over a four-month period. This comes after the park staff was under fire for spending taxpayer money on Netflix, iTunes, and jewellery purchases.
It’s tricky capturing the “outsider” mammals, who are efficient in hunting and breeding.
As for the war, the number of deaths and casualties will only be known by 2020. For now the cat-and-mouse game continues.
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