birding-aus

Re: Pursuing the Great Outdoors

To: Carl Clifford <>,
Subject: Re: Pursuing the Great Outdoors
From: Helen Larson <>
Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2010 02:34:05 +0000 (GMT)
hear hear. Big dogs near us chase and can kill cassowaries esp chicks, cats 
don't. 

But cats kill all the smaller creatures that we are trying to encourage to live 
in our new yard. So we have a cat that lives indoors and only goes outside on 
its harness and lead so it cannot get birds, skinks etc. It is easy to teach a 
cat to walk with a harness - this one learned in a week though our Darwin cat 
took over a month. Cat enjoys watching the birds outside (sunbirds building 
nests outside window makes the cat turn inside out with wishing); though 
hatchling house geckos foolish enough to come with striking distance pay the 
price; adult geckos stay on the ceiling.
We enjoy having a commensal mammal in the house and cats are easier to 
housetrain than dogs.
Helen

<')/////==<



________________________________
From: Carl Clifford <>
To: 
Cc: 
Sent: Sun, 14 November, 2010 9:00:32
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Re: Pursuing the Great Outdoors

And should not dogs be treated the same? After all, there is considerable 
evidence that that species also has considerable deleterious effects on avian 
populations. And they present with pretty much the same injuries as cats and I 
imagine to pretty much the same degree.

Before I get stomped on, I love cats (to the point of paying to have 2 
air-freighted to New Zealand and back 4 years later) and I like dogs. I made a 
decision some 10 years ago not to "keep" any pets on environmental and ethical 
grounds.

Carl Clifford


On 14/11/2010, at 8:28 AM, <> <> 
wrote:

Interesting discussion

Regarding cats, responsible cat owners need to be keep their cats inside at all 
times. This should be law in my opinion, not mentioning desexing of all cats 
and 
having a license to breed. This may sound harsh, but it's best for both the 
native animals and the cats. Let me explain.

I am a vet working in an emergency centre and more than 95% of cats we see are 
as a result of them being allowed outside. They present being hit by car, being 
bitten by other cats/dogs, with tick paralysis etc.

The effect on wildlife is self explanatory. On a sad note most wildlife 
presenting with cat bites die despite treatment.

Regards
Heyn




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