Australia lacing sausages with poison to kill two million cats

(As someone points out in the article, I wonder if this will even work. Also other animal species could die by eating the sausages or the dead cats.)

https://metro.co.uk/2019/04/27/australia-lacing-sausages-poison-kill-two-million-cats-9326751/?fbclid=IwAR3J2H1bur5dPCHG5EHnV_5UBrTaY34rW2K1bqYuET23PjPlOdtnmjna8Bk



Poisonous sausages are being airdropped across huge swathes of Australia in a bid to kill millions of cats. The government has been accused of ‘animal genocide’ for murdering feral cats with kangaroo meat sausages, laced with poison. It is part of a plan by the authorities to kill two million cats by 2020 in a bid to protect native species. Cats are also being trapped and shot by government officials. Planes are dropping 50 poisoned treats every kilometre in areas where cats roam free. It takes an animal 15 minutes to die after they consume the so-called treat, made of kangaroo meat, chicken fat, herbs, spices and the poison 1080.

The recipe was devised by ‘Dr Death’ Dave Algar, principal research scientist in the Department of Biodiversity Conservation and Attractions for the state of Western Australia. He tested the recipe out of his cats – minus the poison – to make sure they were edible. Dr Algar said: ‘They’ve got to taste good. They are the cat’s last meal.’ Feral cats were first introduced by European settlers and scientists say they have now helped drive an estimated 20 million mammals to extinction. A 2017 study found wild cats kill 377 million birds and 649 million reptiles every year across Australia. 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, such as the bilby, the wallaby and the parrot.’ The cull was first announced in 2015 but has now just started to happen. At the time conservationist and animal rights protesters warned the government was too heavily focused on cats, rather than addressing other issues that destroy biodiversity such as housing, logging and mining.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said culling in the past had proved to be ‘ineffective’ and called for non-lethal and long-term solutions, such as supressing the cats’ fertility. ‘Not only is shooting and poisoning cats cruel, culls have been shown to be unsuccessful in the long term. ‘The use of poison in suburban areas also puts domestic cats, dogs and carnivorous wildlife at risk.’ Animal rights campaigner Brigitte Bardot said the government was guilty of ‘animal genocide’ and said they risked ruining Australia’s reputation in the world. She said: ‘This animal genocide is inhumane and ridiculous. In addition to being cruel, killing these cats is absolutely useless since the rest of them will keep breeding.’ New Zealand is also looking at plans to reduce their cat population with some towns considering banning people from owning domestic animals.