Other animals that are extinct on small islands where they were once abundant include:
- Burrowing Bettong (Bettongia lesueur)
- Spectacled Hare-Wallaby (Lagorchestes conspicillatus)
Whilst cats do prey on rabbits, they do very little to reduce
the population. Rabbits just sustain the amount of feral cats in
Australia.
Not only does the feral cat have a substantial affect on the
food chain, it affects the other native predators by depleting
their food sources which are the same as that of the feral cat.
Such animals are:
- The Eastern Quoll
- The Wedge-tailed Eagle
- Hawks
- Reptiles, such as the Goanna and the Lace Monitor
- Dingoes (they’re not native but the ecosystems have evolved and adjusted so the Dingo doesn’t have the effect cats and foxes have)
Cats eat the food vital for the other predators and due to
the high population numbers, not only do they eat all the small
native animals, they leave nothing for the other predators. In
most areas, eagles and hawks have had to change their diet so
they can survive.
Our own ‘native cat’ is endangered. The Eastern Quoll was once
abundant throughout Australia and Tasmania. They are now rare on
the mainland and with the recent establishment of foxes in
Tasmania and the lacing of 1080 in wood and traps that the
Quolls eat; they aren’t going to be as abundant as what they
have been recently.
Cats also add to the endangerment of this little ‘cat’ more so
than a lot of people know. If a cat comes near a female Quoll,
the Quoll becomes infertile quickly. It cannot be helped, but
since there are so many cats in their habitat, so many female
Quolls are infertile and their numbers are declining.
Cats also carry a fatal disease that is harmful and fatal,
particularly for the native marsupials. It is called
Toxoplasmosis. It causes blindness, paralysis, respiratory
disorders, and loss of young due to stillbirth and spontaneous
abortion.
Cats are also carriers of the disease, Rabies, and if it were to
be introduced it would be devastating to the fragile Australian
ecosystem. Rabies is a disease that affects not only animals,
but also humans. There is evidence that states that a bite from
a rabid cat is worse than the bite from a rabid dog. It is also
more painful. When a rabid dog attacks, it goes for the arms and
legs of the victim, whereas the cat attacks the head of the
victim and bites and claws violently. If rabies was introduced
into Australia, with the amount of feral animals, primarily the
cat, there would be no hope in eradicating it.