Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Eradicating Cats Devastated Macquarie’s Environment
Eradicating Cats Devastated Macquarie’s Environment: "Eradicating the cat population on Macquarie, a remote island between Australia and Antarctica, has damaged the local environment, allowing rabbits to rapidly reproduce in their absence.
Wiping out the feral cats that were introduced on Macquarie in the 19th century to control rabbits, brought to the island by sealers as a source of food, has instead led to a rabbit explosion, the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology reported. Hungry rabbits and rats have caused 40 percent of Macquarie’s native flora to vanish, helping erode island slopes."
Wiping out the feral cats that were introduced on Macquarie in the 19th century to control rabbits, brought to the island by sealers as a source of food, has instead led to a rabbit explosion, the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology reported. Hungry rabbits and rats have caused 40 percent of Macquarie’s native flora to vanish, helping erode island slopes."
