I’ve recently been doing research on whether owning a caracal is illegal in Australia (I shouldn’t have bothered). It was very hard research because the documentation provided by Australian administrations was poor. What I found was a continual reference to “pests” and “invasive species” or “alien species” or “non-native species”. To Australians non-native species …
There are 3 reasons why domestic cats apparently torture their prey by playing with them. I list and discuss them here. It is a form of feline behaviour which at best irritates their human caregiver and at worst disgusts them. It does, however, provide the cat’s owner with an opportunity to save the mouse. …
NEWS AND COMMENT-NEW ZEALAND: The website stuff.co.nz have published an article in which they attack the feral cat, which I see a lot of because they don’t like their feral cats in New Zealand. You see the same thing in Australia where the news media constantly blame the feral cat for killing off native …
This is a rare photograph of an Aussie feral cat (much hated by Aussies) killing a venomous mulga snake. The cat has blood on his nose and mouth. From the photo it is not entirely clear that the cat won the battle but it’s clear enough. The cat looks fine. He appears to have …
In 2021, the reputation of the domestic cat is becoming frayed because of predation on native wildlife species. This bad publicity mainly comes out of Australia where the authorities are more concerned than in other countries about the loss of native marsupials and mammals due to predation by feral cats. They’ve got themselves a …
It is said that Australia’s out-of-control mouse plague could last for up to 2 years unless the government takes urgent action in giving farmers free poison which is an anticoagulant. The mice die of internal bleeding. The trouble is that the poison is dangerous to other wildlife. Trying to kill a specific animal with …
You could also ask whether feral cats attack chickens. The answer has got to be that sometimes they do but it is rare judging by my research and using common sense. People say that hens are too large for a domestic cat to successfully attack and kill. I don’t believe it. It depends on …
Every scientific paper that you read regarding the extinction of native species on small islands in archipelagoes always refer to cats and rats as the top two culprits. One scientific study starts, “Invasive rats are one of the world’s most successful animal groups that cause native species extinctions and ecosystem change, particularly on islands”. …
