Australia’s Environment Minister, Tanya Plibersek, recently declared war on feral cats. I thought that Australia had been at war with feral cats for a very long time so this statement came as a surprise to me. They’ve been killing feral cats (and the occasional pet cat or dog) in Australia for many years as a …
Proactivity is the way to deal with feral cats in Australia Read More »
As an introduction I would like to say this: the volunteers who manage feral cat colonies under TNR programs are very decent, kind people. They do their work without charge, freely and with a love of the cats. One TNR volunteers sums it up, “The amount of suffering is the reason that we do this”. …
I had never heard of the word ‘nativist’ until Nathan Winograd used it. It is good one when used to describe the Aussie attitude to feral and stray cats. Nativists believe in nativism which means, “the political policy of promoting or protecting the interests of ‘native-born’ or established inhabitants over those of immigrants, including the …
Australians are ‘nativists’ who want to destroy feral cats and restrict cat ownership Read More »
A study found that feather boas are effective in luring feral cats. The person who carried out the study, Alexandra Paton, a PhD student at Tasmania’s School of Natural Sciences at the University of Tasmania, doesn’t tell us in so many words exactly why she is so excited about feral cats being lured by feather …
Tasmania’s feral cats are attracted to a feather boa Read More »
NEWS AND OPINION: The video explains the alleged crime. It is a good video as it covers all the points. Briefly it is about two boys who allegedly abducted a 17-year-old ginger tabby cat outside the cat’s home with, apparently, the intention of killing her with a baseball bat. A level of wickedness which is …
NEWS AND OPINION– AUSTRALIA: Inflation in America 2023 is around 6%. In Australia it is around 8% and, in the UK, it is around 10%. Inflation hurts dog and cat ownership. Therefore, it hurts the animals and it probably leads to an increase in shelter animals being killed. There is a really uncomfortable report from …
New Zealand and Australia lead the way on discussing and implementing obligatory cat registration through specific legislation. This is because the authorities believe that they have valuable native wild species, normally small mammals and birds, which need protection against predation by indoor/outdoor cats. For example, New Zealand is a country with a low human population …
Is mandatory cat registration the future of cat ownership? Read More »
Nathan Winograd, American’s leading animal advocate in respect of animal shelters and on other topics, has written an excoriating article about the people who wish to kill non-native species such as feral cats because they prey on native species. He examines the motivation of these people and the horrendously unethical and debased way people are …
School teacher encourages kids to kill non-native animals including cats Read More »
A Bengal cat living in the state of Victoria, Australia has been bitten by snakes three times and survived. The story reported by ABC News doesn’t tell us the species of snake but my research indicates that the eastern brown snake is responsible for an estimated 76% of reported snake bites on companion animals in …
Cats are better at withstanding snake venom than dogs Read More »
The war against domestic and feral cats in Australia continues unabated. It looks like a war to me and in line with that analogy, the latest policy of a north-west Sydney council, Hornsby Shire, was cruel because it would have led to pointless and possibly illegal cat killing. On my understanding, Hornsby Shire local authority …
Introduction (2023, January) : I first published this page about 10 years ago. At that time the Australian Mist was a relatively little-known cat breed except perhaps in Australia and New Zealand. Nowadays, a Google search for this breed produces lots of entries. At the time I thought that it would be a success and …
I have noticed, today, a few articles on online news media about taxidermists creating rugs out of domestic cats and dogs. It’s obviously disgusting. It is obviously self-indulgent. It obviously highlights a human weakness about death and being separated from their loved ones. And finally, it highlights a failure in the domestication of cats and …
Unsophisticated Aussies and Kiwis turn their pets into rugs and it’s disgusting Read More »
This is a really tricky question although people tend to oversimplify it. First, what is too many cats? It is subjective. That’s the first hurdle but let’s say that without question your neighbour has too many cats. He or she may have, let’s say, 25 cats. Nearly everybody would say that is too many under …
What can I do if my neighbour has too many cats? Read More »
In some Australian jurisdictions families are being forced to give up dogs and cat when they go into rental accommodation because landlords ban pets. Australia is not alone. There is a dearth of rental accommodation allowing pets. Or if pets are allowed the conditions are too tight. This can lead to tenants with pets breaking …
5 things that can happen to improve rentals to pet owners Read More »
The information comes from a study in which 1,210 cats were assessed. As I understand it, the study looked at lost cats in America and Australia. The summary opens up with the words: “At least 15% of cat owners lose their pet in a five-year period and some are never found”. Only 61% were found …
Some information about where, when and how cats became lost and found Read More »
