Val
Buying 2 cats wont deter possums, if she leaves them out at night.......we have
tiny little gliders out there and ringtails and Cats are the main causes of
their death. If she bought a cat to kill the possums that would be a RSPCA
matter then.
There are plenty of deterents your daughter could use I'll find the fact sheet
I have and I'll email it through to you privately.
Her neighbors are most probably feeding them and they become pests to others.
To have them around every night is wonderful for most people to even have
ringtails and brushies around.
We humans are killing our wildlife out because of habitat loss, etc..
The cats will destroy the wildlife, tell her to get rid of the cats. They are
natural hunters and kill so much of our wildlife. Cats have a bacteria in their
saliva so if they pick up a small glider/possum or bird and there are no
injuries that glider/possum and bird will die. They can be active flying around
until a bird will just drop dead within 24-48 hours. With a possum/glider it
can take up to 6 days and they will die suddenly too from infection.
Being a wildlife carer I see a lot of this and it is absolutely cruel to buy a
cat to get rid of the nuisance possums, that her neighbours are probably
feeding. Talk to the neighbours.
Read the attached and please tell her to get rid of the cats or lock them up 24
hours a day. A cat can live happily inside or be prepared to buy a cat cage for
them. Cats are known to climb trees at night and take baby birds out of their
nest whilst sleeping!!
Go to this site it will help.
http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/dse/nrenpa.nsf/FID/-9F280C2CC74580F4CA256D8F001D3915?OpenDocument
Marian
Wildlife carer 7yrs
>
> From: "Val Ford" <>
> Date: 14/07/2005 5:54:18
> To: <>
> Subject: [mammals-aus] Possums and cats
>
> Hi all
>
> My daughter-in-law, who lives in inner suburban Melbourne, is stressed out
> with possums [mainly brushies and some ringtails] pooing on her patio etc.
>
> She had now gone out and purchased 2 cats as she was told they would deter
> possums. As I have never heard this theory before I wondered if anybody
> else had.
>
> I am stressed out thinking about what the cats will do to the wildlife in
> the area!
>
> Cheers
> Val
>
>
>
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> Yahoo! Groups Links
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A recent study by Deakin University in Melbourne
set out to test the repellency of fourteen products most of which
are commonly used to deter possums. The following is a summary of
this study and does not represent the Department of Sustainability
and Environment's view or endorsement of any of the products
listed.
Products tested
included:
Garlic spray
Tabasco sauce®
Hot English mustard
Indonesian fish sauce
White King®
Camphor
Naphthalene flakes
Quassia chips
Blood and Bone
Keep Off®
Stay Off®
D-Ter®
Scat®
Bitrex
All of these products are readily available either
at the supermarket or at a plant nursery with the exception of
Bitrex. Bitrex is a bittering agent commonly added to make certain
products unpalatable and is an ingredient in some proprietary
repellent products, such as D-Ter®.
Products were
organised in categories according to their supposed method of
repellency, either by taste (gustatory repellents) or odour
(olfactory repellents). Different tests were devised for each
category. Two of the products were tested in both categories because
they could conceivably repel by both taste and odour (garlic spray
and D-Ter®).
Gustatory
repellents were tested on piles of apple pieces laid out in a grid
pattern, with untreated apple and three different repellent
treatments tested in each trial of two hours during which wild
possums had free access to the food. The behaviour of the possums
and the amount of food in each treatment remaining at the end of the
trial period were recorded. The results showed that when possums
were hungry, none of the repellents prevented them from eating all
the apple provided. The products tested in this series of trials
included: Tabasco sauce®,
Hot English mustard, Indonesian
fish sauce, Bitrex, Garlic spray and D-Ter®.
Olfactory
repellents were tested by placing treated and untreated chopped
apple in a cage suspended above the ground. A counter recorded the
number of times a possum attempted to gain access to the contents of
the cage. A large number of attempts to get the untreated apple,
compared with few attempts to get at the treated apple would be
taken as an indication of successful repellency.
The results suggested that
five of the tested compounds may show some degree of repellency.
These were: White King®, Keep Off®, Camphor, Naphthalene and Scat®.
The other products tested in the olfactory trials were: D-Ter®, Stay
Off®, Blood and Bone, Garlic and Quassia chips.
It should be noted that these trials were
undertaken on one population of possums at one site. The results do
not necessarily indicate that similar responses will be displayed by
possums elsewhere, or that other kinds of tests would yield similar
results.
Reference
Cooney,
Janine 1998. An evaluation of commonly used deterrents for urban
Common Brushtail Possums Trichosurus vulpecula
(Kerr, 1792). BSc (Hons) Thesis, School of Ecology and Environment,
Deakin University.
The University of NSWSchool of Computer and Engineering
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a compilation of material sent by many people to the mammals-aus mailing list. It has not been checked for accuracy nor its content verified in any way.
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