Domestic Cats Classified as Invasive Alien Species

The respected state-run Polish Academy of Sciences on Tuesday have classified domestic cats (Scientific name: Felis catus) as an "invasive alien species" due to the significant damage they inflict on birds and other wildlife. 

Predictably,  cat lovers have reacted emotionally to the decision and put the key scientist behind it on the defensive. 

Wojciech Solarz, a biologist at the said institute wasn't prepared for the disapproving public response when he entered the common house cat, into a national database run by the academy's Institute of Nature Conservation. The database already had 1,786 other species listed with nary an objection, Solarz told the Associated Press. 

The uproar  over invasive alien species No. 1,787, he said, may have resulted from some media reports that created the false impression his institute were calling for feral and other cats to be euthanized. 

Solarz described the growing scientific consensus that domestic cats have  harmful impact on biodiversity  given the number of birds and mammals they hunt and kill. The criteria for including the cat among invasive alien species, "are 100% met by the cat", he maintained.