Australia is a big place, but not if you’re a cat. Strict curfews banning pet felines from prowling the streets at night are springing up across the country to protect native wildlife. Some councils have forced owners to keep them permanently cooped up in their homes or in enclosures outside.
Australia is thought to be home to almost five million domestic cats as well as three million strays, classed as pests and routinely culled. Together they have helped wipe out 27 native species, from the pig-footed bandicoot to the desert rat kangaroo, since being brought to the country by European settlers in the early 1800s.
With dozens of other species from the greater bilby to the night parrot now under threat, many councils have banned