Allegedly feral cats killed 145 young Cuban crocodiles at a breeding farm

The Cuban crocodile is an endangered species particular to that country with particular characteristics such as having the ability to leap high out of water and be curious and aggressive by temperament. Because they are endangered the Cuban authorities have been breeding them to restock the swamps. 

Every year, the Zapata Swamp Crocodile Breeding Farm, the world's largest Cuban crocodile breeding operation, releases some 500 Cuban crocs into the swamp, in the hope that they'll flourish and reproduce according to Etiam Pérez-Fleitas, a biologist who's affiliated with the farm.

And then suddenly, during October and November 2022, Mr Pérez-Fleitas said that there were a series of predator attacks resulting in the death of 145 four-month-old crocodiles. They believe that feral cats killed and ate the crocodiles based upon the evidence but there's no certainty that this has happened.

The clues that they have relied upon include:

• "Suspicious markings and fur recovered in the vicinity"
• Camera traps which recorded at least one feral cat entering the breeding farm's pens.
• And on one occasion "farm staff witnessed several cats feeding on something nearby".
• The staff members found "fragments of crocodiles".
• The attacks on the crocodiles stopped a month after seven feral cats were captured.
• And lastly, there is no evidence that other predators have been involved.

That said, they don't believe that feral cats are a major problem i.e. an "existential threat to the Cuban crocodile".

That's because these attacks occurred in a breeding farm, an unnatural environment. Feral cats would struggle to attack the Cuban crocodile in the wild where they are much more dispersed.

That said, it is another story which effectively attacks the feral cat. The feral cat is receiving a huge amount of negative press nowadays with increasing pressure on the authorities to do something about the large numbers of feral cats in many countries. 

Of course the problem is a human created one. What the authorities should be doing is educating people to take better care of their cats, to spay and neuter them, to perhaps keep them indoors full-time and provide an excellent environment indoors. They should do things to prevent predation as is happening right now in Australia.

The authorities should not be reactionary by which I mean going around trapping and killing feral cats. That doesn't cure the problem. What cures the problem is stopping procreation and preventing the existence of feral cats. Feral cats ultimately come from domestic cats and domestic cats that are carelessly owned can end up becoming stray cats and stray cats become feral cats. Deal with human behaviour to cure the problem.

And lastly, I think without being too harsh on people, we can put this alleged feral cat attack down, once again, to human carelessness. Why weren't the pens constructed in a way which prevented feral cats getting in? This breeding farm is not protecting young crocodiles well enough. I hope the authorities are looking at that as well.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.