Strange and cute wildlife may be one of Australia's most attractive features. Colorful parrot, variety as many as innumerable;
Kangaroo of all sizes and sizes,
The meaning of life is sleeping and eating koala!
Everything was so peaceful and harmonious that the predator, the cat, appeared on this continent.
Yes, Wildcats are killer-class pests in Australia. Because its fighting power explodes, let the Australian native protozoan, especially the marsupial small animal does not have the ability to fight back, successive extinctions or is on the verge of extinction again and again!
According to statistics, there are at least 20 native Australian species extinct as a result of wild cats, and combined with the super-survival and reproductive power of wild cats, the war between Australians and wild cats has been going on for decades.
The number of wild cats counted in 2017 is about 2.1 million, but when Rain Water is abundant and prey increases, the number of wild cats will increase to 6.3 million!
The Australian wildcat epidemic is no longer news,
Park, roadside, field, more than 99.8% of the Australian mainland has traces of wild cats, you should know that Australia is the only continent in the world, except Antarctica, in the evolution of species, the only continent that has not evolved cats!
What do you mean? That is to say, all kinds of big animals and small animals on the Australian mainland have not seen cats since ancient times! Of course, it is impossible to evolve the ability to resist cat attacks. Therefore, Australia's small animals face the invasion of wildcats, there must be no force to fight back!
Recently, the Australian environmental authorities are determined to turn South Australia's kangaroo island into the largest cat-free island in the world! The environment department will launch the second phase of the plan, which aims to eliminate 5000 harmful cats.
According to research over the past 18 months, about 5000 wild cats have killed a large number of native birds and mammals on the kangaroo island that are already in danger. In addition, farmers spend about $2 million a year to control wildcat-borne disease among herds.
During Christmas last year, an Australian girl was scratched by accident because she teased the roadside wild cat, causing her to become infected with pneumococci, causing meningitis and even serious brain abscess, and finally had to operate. It can be said to be from the ghost door closed a circle.
How horrible the Australian Wildcats are.
Australian wildcats kill about 316 million birds a year, while pet cats kill 61 million each year. 377 million birds die each year, and more than 99% of the birds die locally.
Katherine Moseby, an ecologist at the University of Adelaide, says wildcats have led to the decline of native species. "the most unsuccessful of the species introduced from Australia is the Wildcat, which hinders the reconstruction of species and has a huge impact. These cats are not domestic cats abandoned by their owners. They do not live near garbage bins in slums. 90% of them live in uninhabited areas, where it is unrealistic to trap wild cats alive and castrate them. Many people do not understand the seriousness of the Australian Wildcat problem. "
In addition, the Australian Wildcat has developed a super-giant cat twice the size of a domestic cat in the wild!
The Wildcats caught in Outback are all huge!
In 2015, Australian scientists dissected the captured Australian wildcats, and experts found 157 reptiles, 123 birds, 58 marsupials, 27 rodents and 21 frogs in their stomachs. There are also nine species of exotic mammals.
So, in fact, the Australian Wildcats are simply the small beasts at the top of the continental food chain.
You may think that only wild cats are the only ones, but while the majority of birds are generally killed by wild cats, domestic pet cats also contribute a sizeable number.
According to statistics, Australia's domestic cats and wild cats together, can kill an average of more than 1 million birds a day! The domestic cat couldn't do it, at least he had to control the wild cat first.
Next month, kangaroo island will fence 15000 hectares of land, using state-of-the-art technology and humanitarianism, it will first clean up to 500 wild cats in Dudley Peninsula before promoting it to the entire kangaroo island.
Mr. Miley, regional head of South Australia's environment and water division, said, "globally, wildcats are doing a terrible job of getting rid of them. We decided to try out a bunch of new technologies that would make it easier to start on the island, and then we could spread it all over the world. "
During the first phase of the plan, 33 wildcats were first put in a radio ring and tracked to collect a lot of important baseline data. At the same time, cameras installed on the Dudley Peninsula also record the hunting behavior and the range of hunting of wild cats. 207 wild cats will be euthanized, and will be used to dissect and test their insides, and a variety of trapping tools will be put into use.
"Ministry of the Environment staff will set up and manipulate these camouflaged traps, and landowners and volunteers will also be involved in data monitoring and analysis. Dudley Peninsula will install anti-cat fencing in the coming months, which will trap local wildcats."
Specially designed fences will extend to oceans and lakes, and the fence will traverse four landowners' territories and control 15000 hectares of land. Funding is also being sought for another program, the formation of a trained search dog team dedicated to hunting wild cats.
Australia's struggle with wildcats has long been the subject of social criticism, but it is only humans that are facing fear of being dominated by giant wildcats, which are almost to be wiped out by wildcats.