In Australia, there was a partly successful attempt to eliminate rabbits with a virus popularly known as white blindness. By the thousands, dying rabbits staggered onto highways and were hit by cars, causing widespread alarm.
A member of the Australian parliament, Richard Evans, called for the total eradication of overpopulated cats in the country. In 1997, he drew a wide support with his proposal to kill all cats by 2020 by neutering pets and spreading fatal feline diseases in the wild. With the perception of that the survival of the native fauna is at stake, a hatred of cats swept the nation, causing some owners to keep their pets at home to avoid vigilantes.
In 1991, the shire of Sherbrooke, Australia, was the first local government to introduce a cat-control law, including prohibiting owners from letting their pets outdoors, and it did slow the killing of endangered lyrebirds.
Demonizing of cats led to a rise in cruelty toward them. People were getting out golf sticks and hit them. It became a sport. Anti-cat crusaders wear cat skin on their heads, with the small flat faces looking over their foreheads.
Responsible pet ownership and government regulation can solve the problem better than mass killings, which only create a temporary dip in cat population.