Tuesday, April 5, 2011

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MACQUARIE ISLAND’S UNDERGROUND-DWELLING FERAL CATS

Macquarie Island is a sub-Antarctic island halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. Soon after being discovered by Europeans in 1810, rats and mice that were inadvertently introduced from ships. Cats were subsequently introduced deliberately to keep the rodents from eating human food stores.

However, the feral cats introduced to the island had a devastating effect on the native seabird population. From 1985, efforts were undertaken to remove the cats. Licensed rangers shot, trapped and gassed the felines, and the Australian government spent US$6500 per cat to rid the island of its last cats, which weighed up to 6kg (13lb) and lived in underground burrows due to a lack of flora over 1 metre in height. (words/photo)


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