You notice that the warm and fuzzy critters always seem to get preferential treatment? Its also funny how AR orgs point to the astronomical monetary damage ($137 billion) due to invasive species, yet they seem to forget that the list of animals that they have exempted have caused part of that $137 billion. Cats alone are responsible for an estimated 17 billion of that 137 billion cited! Not only that, but feral and "pet" cats are responsible for considerable strain on many species survival.



Now, I like cats, but someone needs to point out these half truths about the figures AR prople cite. They don't seem to cite that fact that their exempt list animals are responsible for a good portion.



Having said that, a considerable portion of that $137 billion is from plant pathogens that produce crop losses for instance ($33 billion). Another harmful group, exotic microbes and parasites, have been intoduced when "livestock" (again, exempt animals) were brought to the U.S. and are responsible for a $9 billion loss per year.



So what percentage of that $137 billion loss are from reptiles? Well, the total cost associated with the brown tree snake is approximately $12 million.

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