We know that Australians in government are waging a war against the dreaded feral cat in their country because they feel that it is killing too many native wild animals. There have been many proposals on the best way to kill feral cats. They are all inhumane. TNR has never been discussed.
Now they have devised robotic killers which detect feral cats and then spray poison onto the cat’s fur. The poison is licked off by the cat and the cat dies. These devices have been deployed in the desert.
The device has been invented by John Read. He is an ecologist. It took him seven years. He has manufactured four of these devices and the first one is currently in action in a nature reserve in South West Queensland.
He says that “this trap targets the cat’s Achilles heel”. What he is referring to is that all cats are fastidious self-groomers. They’re bound to lick the poison off their fur. His robotic device exploits this “weakness” as he sees it.
The device employs laser range finders. It detects when something moves in front of it. If it detects that the animal is taller than a cat it shuts down. The same response takes place if the animal is “low-slung” such as a wombat. Obviously the intention is to avoid killing native species!
Two rangefinders at the front and back of the device have to be triggered simultaneously for the device to spray poison on the animal in front of it, which should be a feral cat if the device is functioning properly. What about domestic cats who are wondering outside?
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John has clearly given a lot of thought about how to avoid killing native species which would be the exact opposite to his intentions. Another way to ensure that the device kills cats is that the poison being used is called “1080”. This occurs naturally in some plants. The idea is that native animals are less susceptible to it — i.e. to being killed by it. The dosage used is able to kill three cats but unlikely to kill a native animal, John says. I am not sure that his thinking is logical. Is it logical to state that just because an animal is native to a country it is less susceptible to a poison simply because it happens to be contained within some plants which are also native to the country? I’m not sure about that.
Another argument that John makes is that most animals other than cats are less likely to lick their fur as cats do and therefore are less liable to ingest the poison.
In addition, this poison producing device emits sounds similar to those of the prey of feral cats which hopefully will attract the cats to the device.
There are, in fact, three trial locations. Based on the trials the devices will be optimised with the intention of manufacturing 50 or more for further and more extensive trials over a wider range in the future.
Up until now just under AU$500,000 has been spent developing the traps. Part of the funding comes from the South Australian government.
It is hoped that the devices will help protect parrots at the Pullen Pullen Reserve.
What you think about this? Australian scientists are certainly exercising their brain matter to devise ways to exterminate the feral cat in Australia. This device is one in a long list of proposed methods. Poisoning seems to be coming to the fore as the most effective means of achieving their aims. The great weakness with poisoning is that you might poison animals other than feral cats. The fact that the death is inhumane and cruel and that Australians created the feral cat appears to be irrelevant to their thinking. Oh…and they also ignore the simple fact that humans kill far more wildlife than cats through habitat destruction. Hypocrites.
Louise I understand your emotions about feral cats but….you can’t tell me that you actually agree to mass poisoning of feral cats by a robot can you? You say you love cats. You can’t love domestic cats and hate feral cats to that degree. If you truly love cats you love all animals and want to behave decently towards them all. TNR works. Yes it takes time but it prevents births which is the equivalent to deaths. If Aussies had started TNR 20 years ago you’d have had what you want now with respect to native species protection. To me, it seems that Aussies screwed up and are now looking at expediencies and you don’t mind it they are horribly cruel. Shame really.
What are you saying Shelby? Trap = yes; neuter then release! Sorry, neutered or not, the cat needs to eat. Please, do a little reading about the damage feral animals do in the bush, cats in particular as there are more of them and they reproduce at an alarming rate. Feral cats are found in the deserts and dense bush (forests) of Australia where ignorant humans have abandoned them. They MUST be removed.
And by the way, I love cats to the point that the word (or meows) spreads and neighbourhood cats keep moving in with me!
Until you are better informed Shelby, do not visit Australia, you would not like it!
Pam we have a country 100 times the size of the UK we have some farms here that are the size of the UK and the cats live in the bush and outback so just how would we band all those trees, and when we do manage this how are the native animals meant to climb them.
Micheal is lying out of his ass again. There is not ONE community ANYWHERE in the USA that has reduced cat populations from TNR programs–NOT ONE. Even their own researchers have finally admitted publicly that TNR is a failure and does NOTHING that TNR promoters claim that it does. It does not reduce cat populations, it does not protect communities and wildlife from the 3dozen+ deadly diseases that cats are spreading everywhere, and it doesn’t even keep new cats away either.
Every last thing about TNR is just one big manipulative LIE. That’s all it is and all it has EVER been!
Michael, likewise. You cannot possibly have an objective view on Australia’s feral cat problem because you are a cat lover, and see absurdly out of perspective thinking that TNR could possibly work in a country the size of Australia with its sparse population for its landmass.
I do not hate cats, just the people that own them and are negligent in keeping them under control. Cats should never have been taken to Australia, let alone be allowed to escape and turn feral. Even domestic cats kill native Australian wildlife and should be kept inside or taken out on a leash. No cat should be roaming freely anywhere in Australia.
Saying that Australians should have been more careful 50 to 20 years ago is also preposterous, because unless you have invented a time machine recently that the scientific world is yet to be made aware of and can go back and sort the problem decades ago, then that proposal and view point is moot. We have to deal with the problem today, not bleat about the past.
The unfortunate skew that exists with the majority of your audience, judging by their comments, is that they associate ‘Feral Cat’ with a semi tame moggy, that lives behind McDonalds and steals a little food from the bins. Feral cats are not really an urban problem in Oz, they’re a nationwide outback problem. Australia has a land mass comparable to the whole of mainland U.S.A. with a population that is less than a third of that of the U.K. and thinking that TNR could even be achieved over such a large area is crazy. Feral cats in Australia are truly wild animals and I dare any of you cat loving readership to try and pick one up ans pets it.
Clive, you are not qualified to comment on this subject because you hate cats. You cannot provide a balanced viewpoint. Therefore what you write is not worth reading. If Australians had acted more responsibly 50 to 20 years ago there would no “feral cat problem” today. And if Australians took responsibility for their actions in destroying wildlife habitat they would not be the number one killer of native species today. You are just passing the buck onto cats. Yes, feral cats are a problem. Definitely. But deal with it humanely because doing what you are doing makes you look like indecent idiots.