What affects us affects cats
I think it might be useful if the New Zealand and the Australian authorities did a study on the number of abandoned cats in their countries as a means to assess whether they need to take proactive steps to prevent the creation of feral cats rather than just focusing on eliminating them.
A nation’s conservationists are always hostile towards non-native species. It is axiomatic. It is automatic. Non-native species must be bad for the environment and native species. This is certainly the case for Australian conservationists and environmental experts who provide advice to local and national governments. These ‘experts’ colour opinion. They change opinions. They create …
Does the large scale killing of rabbits in Australia to protect the landscape cause feral cats to switch prey and commence predation on native, endangered species? The authorities don’t know. A study is being set up to find out.
We routinely hear from the authorities in Australia that feral cats are having a terrible impact upon Australia’s native species. I have consistently said that by far the biggest impact on Australia’s native species is the impact of human activity. Here is a good example. One relatively minor threat to koalas is the feral …
Killing feral cats in order to protect wildlife is a short term fix but in the long term there will be failure. Conversely, trap-neuter-release (TNR) is a long term solution which if carried out consistently and with commitment produces success. The underlying difference is short termism versus long-term solutions. In many cases the long …
Yes, we are back to that evergreen topic: the Australian government’s proposals to cull millions of feral cats in order to save native animals that they love and who define the nation. They’re making a choice between an invasive species that they dislike and native species which they love. They should remind themselves that …
I can’t leave this discussion alone. The discussion about how the Australian authorities are deciding how to deal with what they consider to be a national pest and destroyer of native wildlife: the feral cat. There must be a more humane, reasonable and decent way of dealing with the feral cats other than poisoning …
There are claims that global warming will result in more unwanted cats. It looks like humankind has screwed up again and it is ironic that one negative impact of manmade global warming is an increase in feral cats in a country where they are, in general, hated. The feral cat is certainly hated by …
