Many of Australia’s native wildlife species are threatened by imported predators, especially cats.
The Australian Wildlife Conservation Society has completed construction of a 44km fence in central Australia in an effort to save wildlife and native vegetation from the devastation of feral cats. The world’s longest cat-proof fence helps establish a predator-free conservation area of nearly 9,400 hectares, AFP reported yesterday.
“Australia has no truly effective strategy for controlling cats. So the only way we can save native species from extinction is to establish large areas that are free of human interference.” feral cats, by building protective fences like this,” said Attius Fleming, CEO of the Australian Wildlife Conservation Foundation.
Several endangered mammal species such as pangolins, western quolls, groundhogs and Australian rock mice will be protected at the new reserve. The project to build cat-proof fences is funded by the government and contributions from people. The conservation area is expected to continue to expand from 9,400 hectares to 100,000 hectares by 2020.
Australia is currently the country with the highest animal extinction rate in the world. Climate change, habitat loss and especially the impact of predators such as foxes, rabbits and feral cats are the causes of extinction or rapid decline in the number of wildlife species. native breast.
Introduced cats were brought to Australia by Europeans in the late 18th century. Initially, they were kept as pets, but then many individuals began to live in the wild and quickly spread throughout the continent after more than 100 years. . It is estimated that there are currently 10-20 million feral cats living throughout Australia.
