New Zealand has announced plans to eradicate feral cats by 2050, as part of efforts to protect the country’s biodiversity.

Speaking to Radio New Zealand on Thursday, conservation minister Tama Potaka said that feral cats are “stone cold killers” and would be added to the country’s Predator Free 2050 list, which aims to eradicate those animals that have a negative impact on species such as birds, bats, lizards and insects.

Cats had previously been excluded from the list, which includes species such as stoats, ferrets, weasels, rats and possums, but Potaka used the interview to announce a U-turn.

  • SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    12 days ago

    Time for them to catch up in evolution’s arms race or be left behind with the other failures like the dodo and the dinosaurs

      • SlartyBartFast@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        12 days ago

        Survival of the fittest? No? Am I a slider? Did I land on a world where natural selection isn’t one of the evolutionary pressures on the ecosystem?

        • nforminvasion@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          12 days ago

          One of yes. Along with gene drift and flow, and genetic mutation. But our imperialist, capitalist societies really love to lean into the survival of the fittest as the end all, be all of evolution and life. There’s a whole lot more to the complexities of nature even if our “might equals right” societies don’t see it.

    • obsoleteacct@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      12 days ago

      Or the feral cats? Does humanity deciding to cull a species not perfectly fit that model as you imagine it?