The British singer says the plan, which the government says will save endangered native animals, ‘is taking idiocy just too far’

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

British singer Morrissey is a seasoned animal rights advocate and, heaven knows, he’s now miserable about Australia’s plan to slaughter 2m cats.



Morrissey has called an Australian government plan to cull feral cats “idiocy”, calling the animals smaller versions of Cecil the lion, the noted Zimbabwe-based predator who was shot by a US dentist in July, sparking outrage.

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“We all know that the idiots rule the earth, but this is taking idiocy just too far,” Morrissey said in a statement released to several British music news websites.

“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.

“The cats are, in fact, 2m smaller versions of Cecil the lion.”

Australia’s environment minister, Greg Hunt, clearly not considered a charming man by Morrissey, has called feral cats a “tsunami of violence and death” that are killing vast numbers of Australia’s native wildlife.

Australia has the worst mammal extinction record in the world, with animals such as bandicoots and poteroos wiped out in large areas of the country due to feral cats and other introduced pests.

Hunt’s plan to kill 2m of these cats by 2020 has, however, proved controversial in some quarters. The French actor Brigitte Bardot wrote an angry open letter to the minister calling the cull “inhumane and ridiculous.”

Morrissey, like Bardot, is a veteran animal rights campaigner. The former Smiths frontman, who released an album called Meat is Murder, has been a vegetarian since he was 11 and has previously railed against McDonald’s in Canada over its seal cull and celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver for the promotion of meat eating.

A spokeswoman for Hunt said that feral cats were the biggest threat to more than 120 endangered species in Australia.

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“With around 20m feral cats in Australia and with each feral cat estimated to kill at least five native animals a day, they pose an enormous threat to our native species,” she said.

“Any culling of feral cats should be humane and must not subject feral cats to unacceptable suffering.”

“The government has invested $4.1m in developing humane, target-specific feral cat bait called Curiosity. The toxin in Curiosity works in a way that is similar to the cat falling into a deep sleep and not waking up.”