Australia: Unexpectedly, gentle animals kill more than 2 billion wildlife every year

The number startled many people after giving a summary of hundreds of "hung gods" studies that are thought to be quite gentle, close to people in Australia.

According to Live Science, Australian environmental researchers report an alarming number when summarizing the results of hundreds of studies of domestic cats (free- roaming ) as well as wild cats in Australia .

In just one day, millions of cats in the country of kangaroos can kill about 1.3 million birds, 1.8 million reptiles and more than 3.1 million small mammals.

Picture 1 of Australia: Unexpectedly, gentle animals kill more than 2 billion wildlife every year
More than 2 billion animals are killed each year by this familiar animal.

Cats were brought to Australia around the 17th and 18th centuries by people from Europe. Originally, the number was sparse but according to a 2017 report, stray cats were discovered in almost all of Australia, including 80% of Australia's islands.

The current number of wild cats in Australia ranges from 2 to 6 million in heavy rainy years, as the prey species of wild cats proliferate very quickly. Sarah Legge, a researcher at the University of Queensland, said every wild cat killed about 740 native animals every year.

Meanwhile, there are about 4 million domestic cats in Australia. The owner of the cats, who let go of their pets, may never see their killer instincts. On average, each domestic cat kills about 75 animals a year. This number is only 1/10 of that of wild cats, but the number of domestic cats tends to increase.

Australian officials are using many strategies to control the number of wild cats including shooting down, trapping or killing with poisonous bait. All for the year 2020, about 2 million wild cats will be destroyed.

The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Gregory Andrews, a national commissioner of threatened species, saying the hunt for wild cats left at least 20 species of mammals in Australia extinct. This turns wild cats into the biggest threat to native animals in Australia.

"We kill cats not because they hate them but to protect native Australian animals , " Andrews said.