feral cats in Australia

Introduction

cats were introduced to Australia by the Europeans in the late 18th century
there are now some 2-6 million feral cats covering 99% of Australia at an average density of one cat per 2km².
native wildlife have not evolved with cats and are not instinctively afraid of them or their smell
feral cats are responsible for the extinction of at least 20 species of native wildlife
according to the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, these cats kill 2000 native animals every minute, or over 1 million birds and over 1 million reptiles EVERY DAY - including our snakes which are amongst the most venomous in the world!
they even search out bushfires and will roam 12km or more to a burnt out region where any surviving animals are 3x easier to kill due to loss of their usual protective scrub - in fact after a bushfire, surviving animals have a 20-fold increase in mortality due to predation ¹⁾
feral cats will also roam to desert areas after rains as these periods result in increased animal numbers
the Australian Wildlife Conservancy has completed the world's longest cat-proof fence in 2018 - a 44km electrified fence to create a predator-free area of almost 9400 hectares some 350 kilometres northwest of Alice Springs
in 2018, the govt is planning to cull 2 million feral cats by 2020

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