Over the years, mankind has learned to domesticate animals to become their companions. This domestication has even given rise to new species over the years. But regardless, everyone knows that the two main domestic animals are dogs and cats.
However, as everyone knows, despite being domesticated, they are still animals. In other words, no matter how intelligent they may be, they are still irrational. And what would happen if these animals were returned to the wild?
Logically, many who are already accustomed to living with human beings would end up dying. However, some would survive and return to their feral habits.
This is exactly what happened to cats in Australia. This is because, between the 18th and 19th centuries, there were two major environmental problems regarding exotic animals in Australia.
One of them was Thomas Austin’s “brilliant” idea of introducing 24 rabbits into the Australian ecosystem. As you can imagine, just a few years later, there were already millions of rabbits destroying the environmental balance.
However, the real terror for the Australian environment is cats. Yes, those same, cute and lazy little furballs. But we won’t leave you without an explanation. It all started around the year 1788, when cats arrived in Australia through European settlers.
The problem is that these animals are not found naturally in this ecosystem, that is, those that escaped from their owners and began to reproduce in nature, found ways to survive by devouring other species.
The effect of cats on the Australian ecosystem
Even though they may be cute and lazy at home, in the wild, cats are some of the biggest predators on the planet. Fast, agile, flexible and sullen, they are creatures adapted to hunting. In addition, basically everything about their bodies is perfectly conditioned to make them the most skilled hunters around.
Therefore, in a place that has no predators, cats, despite being small, quickly took the top of many food chains.
If you still don’t understand the situation, some information will help:
- Australian feral cats threaten at least 142 species of native animals; and
- Each year, cats across virtually the entire Australian territory kill more than 1.4 billion animals, including mammals, reptiles and birds.
The cat problem in Australia is so bad that controversial measures have been taken. In 2021, the Australian government agreed to a curfew for domestic cats – which are also responsible for a proportion of deaths – and even a containment plan that would not allow domestic cats to leave their homes.
But most controversially, the government was planning ways to kill more than two million feral cats in the Australian environment. The plan was to release poisoned treats with a toxin that was fatal only to exotic animals in Australia. These would be released by planes and drones in order to eradicate the majority of the animals.
Despite being a toxin, it would not be cruel to the animals; it would basically put them to sleep and they would die without any pain or agony. However, the plan was not well received by NGOs and animal protection organizations, as well as the general population. It even generated petitions to stop the plan from being implemented.