Australian Capital Territory (ACT) acts humanely towards feral cats while the other jurisdictions do not

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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 …

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Australians are ‘nativists’ who want to destroy feral cats and restrict cat ownership

Nativism and speciesism is behind the mass killing of Australia's feral cats

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 …

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Tasmania’s feral cats are attracted to a feather boa

Tasmania's feral cats are attracted to a feather boa in a study conducted by Alexandra Paton. The photograph is by her using a camera trap.

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 …

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Confused and potentially criminal attempt by Australian local authority to protect wildlife from cat predation

Australian council misguided in trying to protect wildlife from cats

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 …

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Complex interplay between Australia’s feral cats, invasive rabbits and native mammals

Feral cat of Australia

There is a confusing (to me) and complex interplay between the feral cats on the Australian continent, the rabbits upon which they prey, and the conservation of precious native mammals. European rabbits were introduced to Australia in the 18th century. European cats were also introduced to the continent at a similar time (as were …

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Catastrophic loss of wildlife hits Australia. Cause? Humans.

Land clearance in Australia causing huge loss of wildlife

Land clearing was given as the primary cause of wildlife losses in Australia in the Australia state of the environment report 2022. It paints a grisly picture of catastrophic loss on that continent which is so enriched with native species. More than 80% of the country’s nearly 400 mammal species are native only to …

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Scientists have designed a contraceptive to limit gray squirrel numbers so why not feral cats?

Grey squirrel in my garden

On reading the story about the creation of a contraceptive specifically designed to reduce the population size of gray squirrels in the UK, I immediately thought of the feral cat in Australia. If you want to do something humane for feral cats on the planet, think of the feral cats of Australia where they …

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Independent newspaper’s BIASED headline about the feral cat threat to the Kangaroo Island dunnart

Kangaroo Island dunnart and stray cat

NEWS AND COMMENT-KANGAROO ISLAND, AUSTRALIA: The headline on the online version of the Independent newspaper is: “Tiny marsupial that survived wildfires now under threat by feral cats”. The headline is based upon research from the University of Adelaide in Australia. I am unable to read that research because I don’t have access to it …

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