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在线翻译:
szdaily -> Kaleidoscope -> 
Australia set to kill 2 million feral cats
    2019-04-30  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

AUSTRALIA has a cat problem — and it’s not of the domesticated variety. According to The New York Times, there are between 2 and 6 million feral cats living on the continent.

Now, officials are trying to do something about them. Authorities hope to kill 2 million cats by 2020.

Although they look like household cats and might even meow like household cats, these animals display completely different behavior patterns, experts say.

According to CNN, the feral cats prey on Australia’s natural species.

“They are the single biggest threat to our native animals and have already directly driven into extinction 20 out of 30 mammals lost,” Threatened Species Commissioner Gregory Andrews told the Sydney Morning Herald.

According to the report, feral cats kill around 1,000 animals a year, on average. While most felines stick to smaller animals like lizards or crickets, some “catastrophic” cats have the capacity to go after larger prey repeatedly.

A spokesperson for Australia’s Department of the Environment and Energy said the feral cats are estimated to kill over 1 million native birds and 1.7 million reptiles every day in Australia.

The Australian Government first announced its plan to cull cats in 2015.

Part of its plan includes baiting the cats with sausages made with kangaroo meat, chicken fat, herbs and spices, and a poison named 1080. The poison is made from the gastrolobium, which is deadly to animals.

Planes are dropping 50 poisoned treats every kilometer in areas where cats roam free. It takes an animal 15 minutes to die after they consume the bait.

But the baiting isn’t the only method. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, indigenous species are being trained to avoid the feral cats. Guard dogs have also been employed to protect some of the native species that need it.

More active measures are being taken, too. In some cases, professional trappers and shooters are hunting cats with crossbows.

In some parts of the country, people are encouraged to hunt cats on their own. In Queensland, a northeastern state, a cat has a bounty of US$7.

Before Europeans brought the animals to the continent in the 19th century, there were no cats in Australia. (SD-Agencies)

Officials say that they are doing what they must to preserve the natural wildlife.

“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.”

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