Australia declares 'war' on feral cats

The Australian government has declared a "war" on cats, announcing they plan to kill 2 million feral cats within the next five years.

Gregory Andrews, Australia's first Threatened Species Commissioner says Environment Minister Greg Hunt is leading the charge.

"Of the 29 mammals that we've lost to extinction, feral cats are implicated in 28 out of those 29 extinctions, and over 120 Australian animals are at risk of extinction from feral cats," Andrews told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "It's very important to emphasise too that we don't hate cats. We just can't tolerate the damage that they're doing anymore to our wildlife."

See images of feral cats around the world:

According to the Washington Post, feral cats are the biggest threat to endangered mammals in Australia, a country that has one of the worst extinction records in the world. Some of the mammals on the verge of extinction include the greater bilby, eastern bettong, western quoll, and the numbat.

The government is asking Australian cat owners to contain, desex, and microchip their pets to aid the initiative.