Australia completes world's largest cat-proof fence to protect endangered marsupials

[Judi Lynn]

Feral cats kill a million native birds every night and have caused extinction of 20 native species since introduction

Naaman Zhou

@naamanzhou
Wed 23 May 2018 14.00 EDT Last modified on Wed 23 May 2018 14.01 EDT

The world’s largest cat-proof fence has been completed in central Australia, creating a 94 square kilometre sanctuary for endangered marsupials.

The 44km fence – made of 85,000 pickets, 400km of wire and 130km of netting – surrounds the Newhaven wildlife sanctuary, a former cattle station that has been bought by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.

Endangered species such as the bilby, the burrowing bettong and the mala (also known as the rufous hare-wallaby) will have a chance to replenish their populations inside the massive sanctuary, safe from Australia’s feral cat epidemic.

Feral cats kill a million native birds every night across Australia and have caused the extinction of 20 native species since they were introduced by the first fleet.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/24/australia-completes-worlds-largest-cat-proof-fence-to-protect-endangered-marsupials