Diet of feral cats - impact probably greater than thought

["Philip Veerman via Canberrabirds " <>]

Funny, when I read the subject I thought it was about whether humans eating feral cats can have any impact on reducing cat numbers (some people do – well I have seen it on TV for aboriginal communities).

 

But it is not about this. It demonstrates that DNA analysis of cat stomach contents can find a lot more information than visual analysis does. That is a good advance on research. It includes a graph that indicates zero identification of doves in stomachs. I know this is just from that study sample but I can add to that. One feral cat that was shot (at my request he was actually targeting foxes) and I opened it up to look at its stomach and it had a Crested Pigeon and a beetle in the stomach. It presumably was from a recent feeding. There were plenty of identifiable feathers and feet and the whole head, still intact and with the crest feathers on it.  This was long ago (1977 in central NSW near Ivanhoe). I was researching coat colour genetics of feral cats at the time and I collected the skin.

 

Philip

 

From: Canberrabirds On Behalf Of Michael Lenz via Canberrabirds
Sent: Tuesday, 4 August, 2026 7:33 AM
To: chatline <>
Subject: [Canberrabirds] Diet of feral cats - impact probably greater than thought

 

https://theconversation.com/feral-cats-likely-kill-far-more-australian-native-animals-than-we-thought-first-dna-analysis-287871?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=One%20Nation%20bans%20major%20media%20outlets%20-%203895939676&utm_content=One%20Nation%20bans%20major%20media%20outlets%20-%203895939676+CID_e05114e1aa597a1f55d93e74097aac89&utm_source=campaign_monitor&utm_term=Feral%20cats%20likely%20kill%20far%20more%20Australian%20native%20animals%20than%20we%20thought%20first%20DNA%20analysis

 

Hope the link works.

 

Michael Lenz

 

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