The sausages contain kangaroo meat, herbs, chicken fat, and a poison known as 1080, which can kill the cats within 15 minutes of consumption. They were carefully developed to ensure they’d be as appealing to the cats as possible. Officials are also trapping and shooting feral cats as they try to eliminate as many felines as they can. Their goal is to kill at least two million cats by the year 2020, with 200,000 already killed by 2016.
Planes have been enlisted to drop 50 of the poisoned treats every kilometer in areas where the cats are known to roam free. There are believed to be anywhere from 2 to 6 million of these wild cats throughout the country.
Australian government cites biodiversity concerns as the reason behind the mass killings
According to the government, the animals are posing a serious threat to several rodent species Down Under that are already facing extinction, with at least 27 unique species at stake including the big-eared hopping mouse.
The cats are said to be responsible for the death of 649 million reptiles and 377 million birds in Australia every year. Since their introduction by European settlers sometime in the 17th century, feral cats in Australia have been responsible for driving roughly 20 species of mammals to extinction, making them the biggest single threat to the country’s native species.
Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, National Commissioner of Threatened Species Gregory Andrews said: "We have got to make choices to save animals that we love, and who define us as a nation like the bilby, the warru (Black-footed rock-wallaby) and the night parrot."
Not surprisingly, this move is not going over well with people who are concerned about animal welfare. More than 160,000 people so far have signed online petitions asking Australia not to murder the cats, with celebrities like Brigette Bardot calling it “animal genocide.”
One particularly mean-spirited Australian council in the northeastern state of Queensland is offering a bounty of 10 Australian dollars (roughly $7) per feral cat scalp, which isn’t exactly helping public perception of the plan to eliminate the animals.
Meanwhile, conservationists are expressing concern that the government is overly focused on cats at the expense of dealing with other factors impacting biodiversity, such as logging, mining and urban expansion. It is estimated that 80 percent of the mammals and 45 percent of the birds in the Australian wild cannot be found anywhere else on the planet.
Although preserving Australia’s native wildlife is certainly an important goal, this particular approach is ill-advised to say the least. Murdering animals is never the answer, and on top of that, how can they ensure that the poisoned sausages are only consumed by feral cats and not people’s pets or even some of the very wildlife they are so eager to save?
Of course, what do we expect from a country that has no qualms about poisoning its population through mandatory vaccines? In Australia, children who aren’t vaccinated cannot attend school, and their parents lose government benefits and their rights to welfare rebates – and no non-medical exemptions are allowed. With such little respect for their people, it’s not surprising that they would be so unapologetic about the mass murder of animals.
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