War against cats: Australian government aims to kill at least two million feral by 2020

The Australian government is at the receiving end of criticisms for a very controversial step which initiates to kill off least two million feral cats by 2020. Reports to kill off the felines in an attempt to save the extinction of more than two dozen of Australia's native species started in 2015 when the Australia’s government launched the Threatened Species Strategy. According to reports by abc7news, they're employing a new controversial method to accomplish the killing of feral cats using sausages laced with a toxic chemical.

One of its four key strategies related to feral cats, and the policy outlined a target of culling 2 million such cats by the year 2020 and eradicating feral cats entirely from five of Australia’s islands, among other goals. A government report launching the initiative stated that:

“The scientific evidence is unequivocal that feral cats are one of the greatest threats to Australia’s land-based mammals. They have been a major contributor to the extinction of at least 27 mammals since they were first introduced to Australia. Today, they imperil at least 142 species or more than one third of our threatened mammals, reptiles, frogs and birds. As an extinction driver for so many of our native animals, and a threat that has been relatively neglected in the past, tackling the threat of feral cats is the highest priority of this Action Plan.”

New reports now claim that frozen poisoned meat is being airdropped all across the outback in an effort to kill as many feral cats as possible to reduce the island's wild cat population. Government officials say the felines pose a large threat to the country’s natural wildlife where about 400 million birds and nearly 700 million reptiles are killed by cats each year.