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Conservation or politics? Australia's target to kill 2 million cats
Conservation Letters ( IF 8.5 ) Pub Date : 2019-02-19 , DOI: 10.1111/conl.12633
Tim S. Doherty 1 , Don A. Driscoll 1 , Dale G. Nimmo 2 , Euan G. Ritchie 1 , Ricky‐John Spencer 3
Affiliation  

The Australian Government's 5‐year Threatened Species Strategy contains four priority action areas and associated targets. Here, we argue that the well‐publicized target to cull 2 million feral cats has a weak scientific basis because: (1) reliable estimates of Australia's cat population size did not exist when the target was set; (2) it is extremely difficult to measure progress (numbers of cats killed) in an accurate, reliable way; and, most importantly, (3) the cull target is not explicitly linked to direct conservation outcomes (e.g., measured increases in threatened species populations). These limitations mean that the cull target fails to meet what would be considered best practice for pest management. The focus on killing cats runs the risk of distracting attention away from other threats to biodiversity, most prominent of which is widespread, ongoing habitat loss, which has been largely overlooked in the Threatened Species Strategy. The culling target is a highly visible symbol of a broader campaign around feral cat research and management in Australia, rather than a direct indicator of conservation action and success. We are concerned that progress toward the 2 million target could be misinterpreted as progress toward conserving threatened species, when the link between the two is not clear.

中文翻译:

保护还是政治?澳大利亚的目标是杀死200万只猫

澳大利亚政府的“五年濒危物种战略”包含四个优先行动领域和相关目标。在这里,我们认为,广为宣传的饲养200万只野猫的目标缺乏科学依据,因为:(1)设定目标时,澳大利亚猫种群数量的可靠估计尚不存在;(2)以准确,可靠的方式衡量进度(被杀死的猫的数量)非常困难;最重要的是,(3)剔除目标与明确的保护结果没有明确的联系(例如,受威胁物种种群的实际增加)。这些限制意味着淘汰目标未能达到有害生物管理的最佳做法。将重点放在杀死猫上的风险在于将注意力转移到其他对生物多样性的威胁上,其中最突出的是广泛的,持续的生境丧失,这一点在《受威胁物种战略》中被忽略了。淘汰目标是澳大利亚野猫研究和管理范围广泛运动的明显标志,而不是保护行动和成功的直接指标。我们担心,当两者之间的联系不清楚时,实现200万目标的进展可能会被误解为在保护受威胁物种方面取得的进展。
更新日期:2019-02-19
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