Lock up killers: One million birds die every night

Antipodean feral cats kill 1m native birds every night and have caused the extinction of 20 native species, according to Australia’s Wildlife Conservancy (AWC).

To counteract that carnage the organisation has built the world’s largest cat-proof fence in central Australia, establishing a 94sq km cat-free sanctuary for endangered marsupials.

The 44km fence — made of 85,000 pickets, 400km of wire and 130km of netting — surrounds the Newhaven wildlife sanctuary, a former cattle station.

At a conservative estimate, AWC says cats have been killing 73,000 native mammals, reptiles, and birds a year in a fenced area in the Northern Territory.

In Britain, the Mammal society estimates cats kill up to 275m prey animals a year, of which 55m are birds, a figure endorsed by the RSPB.

Apart from habitat destruction it is hard to imagine another threat on a similar scale to cats’ prey species.

Inevitably, Irish cats exact a proportionate toll on our wildlife making those cat owners who imagine themselves animal lovers culpable in this mass slaughter.

Lock up or neuter the moggies!