The Environmental Pawprint of Cats
Are our cats an environmental disaster? And what can we do about it?
Across the world, a killing machine is running a rampage through our wildlife and shows no signs of slowing down. Inhabiting nearly every corner of the globe, these highly adapted creatures can hunt all manner of animals during all times of the day, collectively consume around the same amount of meat as a developed country, and annually claim the lives of more than 300 million native prey in Australia alone. It’s a serious pest and is arguably second only to humans in its ability to hamper biodiversity levels.
I am, of course, talking about roaming domestic cats.
Cats have long ruled the world. Wherever we’ve gone, they’ve ultimately followed and been suitably worshipped by all who’ve come across them. In ancient times, we built statues of them, wrote literature in their honor, ingrained them into our mythologies, and even took them along on war campaigns. Today, we use what is arguably our greatest invention — the internet — mostly to share pictures and videos of them online.
Speaking as a cat owner, I think cats are great. So, it’s not with any glee that I bring up the fact that there are some uncomfortable truths we need to face up to concerning our feline friends, especially when it comes to…
