A remote Australian island that has been overrun by wild cats has come up with an imaginative solution to the problem, turning the feral felines into fur hats.
The plague of cats is threatening native wildlife on King Island, between Tasmania and mainland Australia, including the rare orange-belliedparrot, one of the world's most endangered species.
National park rangers trap the cats and shoot them with rifles. Those with the best pelts are then given to locals, who skin them and turn their hides into Davy Crockett-style hats.
"I'm a mother and a grandmother and it is very like undressing a baby, except that you don't use a knife when you're undressing a baby," said hat maker Robyn Eades, describing how she skins the cats before tanning their pelts and turning them into hats on an old sewing machine.
The hats, some with detachable tails fastened by Velcro or buttons, are sold at the island's cultural centre.
