Morrissey Says Aus Govt's Feral Cat Cull Plan Is 'Taking Idiocy Just Too Far'

Renowned singer/songwriter, activist and veteran Sadman^TM Morrissey has weighed into the controversy over the Australian government's plan to cull 2 million feral cats over the next five years in an effort to save at-risk mammals, slamming the decision as "taking idiocy just too far".

The Threatened Species Strategy is designed to aid 20 species of mammals that have come under threat from the introduced felines, including, as News Corp reports, bilbies, numbats and bandicoots.

According to Morrissey fan-zine True To You — and for reasons best known to himself — Moz has offered his two cents on the issue, describing the federal government as "a committee of sheep-farmers who have zero concerns about animal welfare or animal respect".

"We all know that the idiots rule the Earth, but this is taking idiocy just too far," TTY quotes Morrissey as commenting.

"The cats (who keep the rodent population under control) will be killed in a ferocious manner, using Compound 10/80, which is a gut-wrenching poison of the most unimaginable and lengthy horror.

"The people of Australia would never agree to this — but of course they will not be consulted, because the Australian government as ruled by Tony Abbott is essentially a committee of sheep-farmers who have zero concerns about animal welfare or animal respect."

Despite Morrissey's concerns over the use of Compound 10/80 in the cull (or possibly exacerbating them), according to the plan itself, a wealth of methods are being deployed to decrease the cats' numbers, including "trialling a new pain-free bait, called Curiosity, which is not attractive to other mammals", "training guardian dogs to protect small colonies of native animals in the wild", "developing grooming traps that identify and spray cats that are poisoned when they lick themselves", "a 'feral cat scan' mobile app for people to report sightings", "investigating whether dingoes and Tasmanian devils can be released to recalibrate the ecology" and "looking for a safe biological control, such as myxomatosis for rabbits".

That probably won't really come as much comfort for Morrissey or others opposed to the mass killing of feral cats, with the ex-Smiths frontman rounding out his concerns by drawing a (rather long) bow to a recent viral sensation, the late Cecil the Lion, before once again expressing his latent desire to see the whole damn planet blown up.

"The cats are, in fact, 2 million smaller versions of Cecil the Lion," Morrissey said.

"All I can say is… come, come, nuclear bomb..."

Feral cats were introduced to Australia sometime between the 17th century and the 1850s, by which time colonies had established themselves in the wild. In the second half of the 19th century, intentional releases were made "in the hope that cats would control rabbits, rats and mice". On the mainland, feral cats are regarded as a threat to 35 species of birds, 36 mammals, seven reptiles and three amphibians, and are known as carriers of infectious diseases such as toxoplasmosis and sarcosporidiosis.

Find out more about feral cats in Australia here.