No one could know what the actual number is but the world apparently has 600 million domestic cats, of which an estimated 480 million are roaming free. Cats, whether urban or bush, and roaming free, are just as feral as the fiercest wild cat in their destruction of native animal species – a massive problem. Feral cat eradication and repopulation with native species in the Pilliga sanctuary is a local success story, but a bigger long-term global answer may be at hand. A molecular biologist at Harvard has come up with gene therapy which effectively is a cat contraceptive delivered with a single injection meaning fewer kittens, domestic or feral.

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