The Australian government wants to eradicate up to two million wildcats by 2020. But in Kangaroo Island, in front of Adelaide, some have given themselves the mission to kill all cats on the island until 2030.
This is the case of Barry Green also nicknamed "Catman", a retiree who worked in a slaughterhouse and who appears in the report Investigative Supplement: "Matous to mater", released October 4, World Animal Day.
A really strange character; in the video, he shows the camera the lifeless body of a little cat he just killed and weighs it in a plastic bag to add to his hunting book, with a cat drawn on the cover.
"How are you feeling?" Asks the journalist. "Like someone who has done a good job," he replies without emotion.
Barry has just killed 1,441 cats.
In his house, there are skins of cats from the same family hanging on the walls, stuffed cats, cats' heads, objects "made in cats".
A cat skin of about 7 kilos is nailed to a door. The cat trapper has also created an, what he called "artwork" with mouths of cats stuffed with bird's feather in the mouth. He also made a cat's corpse a box - he calls it kitty - to put his rolls of toilet paper, it's sordid and macabre.
Yet he is considered a kind of saviour, a local celebrity. He even received an award, as a reward for "his work" by the island council that manages the pests. He also invites the curious to visit his house and manages to sell them some skins.
"Barry claims to have nothing against cats, hatred, nor obsession," says the voice over the report.
Australia wants to get rid of its wild cats, counted to between 6 and 15 million hunting in the bush, but this way of eradicating is it really the solution?
