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Threatened species commissioner appointed to helpsave native wildlife |

To: Carl Clifford <>
Subject: Threatened species commissioner appointed to helpsave native wildlife | Environment | theguardian.com
From: Denise Goodfellow <>
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2014 18:58:42 +0930
Kim
We have small Children’s and Olive pythons living in our drains and roof.  I 
can send you a photo if you wish of one of our housemates in action!  We now 
have no rats.

Obviously this is not the solution for an inner city dwelling, but it works 
well out here.

Denise








On 2 Jul 2014, at 4:45 pm, Carl Clifford <> wrote:

> Kim, perhaps you should swap your cat for something like a Jack Russell 
> terrier. My daughter moved into an old inner city house with a lot of rodents 
> about 18 months ago. Twelve months ago, she inherited a young Jack Russell. 
> She now has no rodent problem. Admittedly she does have a slight problem with 
> small craters in the back yard, caused by a rather over-enthusiastic ratter, 
> but it is a small price to pay for a fairly environmentally safe rodent 
> control measure.
> 
> Carl Clifford
> 
>> On 2 Jul 2014, at 16:57, Kim Sterelny <> wrote:
>> 
>> Folks
>> 
>> I have talked to quite a few ecologists about this at ANU, and the message I 
>> hear is much more mixed, suggesting that cat impact varies a lot from place 
>> to place, because cats do not only eat native animals, they eat a lot of 
>> rats, mice and rabbits. That said, there is a lot of variation in opinion. 
>> 
>> It is a while since I reread any of the work in WA on numbat reintroduction 
>> but at one stage their experimental manipulations on small mammal 
>> populations showed a large impact from fox control, but much less from cat 
>> control. Anyone kept up to date on this?
>> 
>> I'll come clean on this: I do have a domestic cat in inner Canberra where we 
>> rent, which takes a lot of rats (over 30 in one month) and no birds; I also 
>> have a bush property, and I would never keep a cat there (not until too old 
>> to hunt, anyway)
>> 
>> kim
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Kim Sterelny
>> Philosophy Program
>> RSSS, ANU 
>> 
>> e-mail
>>  
>> 
>> ANU Contact Information 
>> Philosophy Program
>> Research School of the Social Sciences
>> Australian National University
>> 0200 Canberra, ACT, Australia
>> 
>> phone
>> 
>> 61- (0)2 6125-2886; messages:  Philosophy Program 
>> 
>> 61-(0)2 -6125 2341, 
>> fax 61-(0)2 - 6125 3294 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> On 02/07/2014, at 4:43 PM, Greg and Val Clancy wrote:
>>> 
>>> I am with you Denise.  There are a few responsible cat owners who keep 
>>> their pets in doors or in a run in the yard but the majority don't.  With 
>>> the millions of domestic cats in Australia the toll on wildlife must be 
>>> great. People are usually aware of the impact of feral cats on native 
>>> wildlife but don't realise that their moggy is also a major threat.  Any 
>>> cat not in the owners house or cat run should be declared 'feral' and be 
>>> eliminated.  Years ago the NSW government produced a green paper on 
>>> companion animals which called for serious and much needed controls on 
>>> domestic pets, including cats.  The pet food industry lobbied the 
>>> government and the end result was a lame act, particularly with respect to 
>>> cats.  My aging mother-in-law, who had the early stages of dementia at the 
>>> time, was being disturbed at night by a neighbour's cat.  The Council 
>>> ranger said that they could only act after it was established that the cat 
>>> was a nuisance and that my mother-in-law would need to keep a diary on the 
>>> movements of the cat.  I don't blame the ranger as he has to work within 
>>> the legislation but the control of cats is like the human over-population 
>>> issue, the elephant in the room.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Regards
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Greg
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Dr Greg. P. Clancy
>>> Ecologist and Birding-wildlife Guide
>>> | PO Box 63 Coutts Crossing NSW 2460
>>> | 02 6649 3153  | 0429 601 960
>>> http://www.gregclancyecologistguide.com
>>> http://gregswildliferamblings.blogspot.com.au/
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -----Original Message----- From: Denise Goodfellow
>>> Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2014 4:02 PM
>>> To: Carl Clifford
>>> Cc: Birding Aus
>>> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Threatened species commissioner appointed to 
>>> helpsave native wildlife | Environment | theguardian.com
>>> 
>>> I challenge prominent  Australians to stick their necks out and call for 
>>> control of all cats.
>>> 
>>> Denise Lawungkurr  Goodfellow
>>> PO Box 71
>>> Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On 2 Jul 2014, at 2:56 pm, Carl Clifford <> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Nice to see that the Government is doing something about feral cat 
>>>> control. What the results will be, who knows. An awful lot of bait will 
>>>> have to be laid for effective control.
>>>> http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/02/threatened-species-commissioner-to-combat-decline-of-native-wildlife
>>>> Carl Clifford
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>> 
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