Hi Evan,
> No-one has levelled any guilt at cat owners.
That is partly my point: cats that kill wildlife are behaving
normally, and we can't change that. However, we CAN change the
behaviour of cat owners and, whether you like cats or not, educating
people about the simple steps they can take to protect wildlife from
their cats (or dogs) is constructive and positive.
Cheers,
Beth.
On 13/06/2008, at 11:40 AM, Evan Beaver wrote:
Do you protest too much Beth?
No-one has levelled any guilt at cat owners. Tony just said he hates
cats, as he is entitled to do. I don't like them much either. Just the
cat's though, No-one has mentioned their owners.
EB
On 6/13/08, Beth Mantle <> wrote:
Ah yes, another opportunity to start "cat-bashing" on the Birding-
Aus email
list.
I am wearied by those who relish an opportunity to make bird-loving
cat-owners seem like traitors to the Australian Ecology. I think
it is
quite rude, and I for one am completely fed up with it. I find it
particularly offensive when I am regaled with tales of cat cruelty,
in the
name of "saving the Australian natives", usually after I have
confessed to
owning a cat (like a criminal - I feel it is a "confession").
I could write on for paragraphs as to why (in my humble opinion)
cat-bashers
are generally quite ignorant about the complexity of the feral animal
problem, and instead use domestic cats as a scape-goat for the
atrocious way
we are managing the Australian landscape.
Instead, read some literature and get informed. Prof, Chris
Dickson from
Sydney University (mentioned in the below article) has himself said
"Despite the abundance of observations linking cats to extensive
losses of
native species, other evidence suggests that their impact has been
minimal".
Furthermore, domestic "suburban" cats are making very little
difference to
suburban ecology for the simple reason that the animals they are
killing are
dominant species that occur in large numbers (e.g. Crested pigeon,
Magpie-lark, Noisy miner etc.) (Low, 1999).
I agree that introducing the Ashera hybrid into Australia would be a
disaster and I hope it is prevented.
However, domestic cats were brought here by Europeans and they are
here to
stay. Instead of attacking cat-owners who clearly have a strong
sense of
ecological responsibility (like Bill, who keeps his cat contained),
they
should be congratulated and held up to the general public as a
shining
example of responsible cat ownership. Then petition your local
council to
make cat neutering, registration and containment compulsory. It is
much
more productive than "the only good cat is a dead cat" email or
conversation.
Thank you.
Dr Beth Mantle
Ecologist AND cat-owner (gasp!)
Canberra
On 13/06/2008, at 9:27 AM, Alastair Smith wrote:
From the ABC news website:
Supercat or superbad? An 11kg ashera, a cross between an African
serval,
an
Asian leopard and a domestic cat (Reuters: Mike Blake, file photo)
*
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/06/2267441.htm>
Related
Story: Push to outlaw hybrid supercats
Forty of the nation's leading feral animal researchers are calling
for
urgent changes to prevent hybrid supercats from being imported into
Australia.
The Federal Government has been under fire after it was revealed
last week
that savannah cats - twice as big as domestic species - are being
imported
by pet shops.
Scientists are warning that bandicoots, bettongs, potoroos and
possums
could
soon be on the menu for the imported creatures, which were
originally bred
by crossing domestic cats with the African serval cat.
Scientists, environmentalists and bureaucrats attending a National
Feral
Cat
Workshop in Darwin this week have angrily condemned the quarantine
loophole.
The University of Sydney's professor of ecology, Chris Dickman, is
warning
hybrid cats - which can jump up to two metres from a standing
start -
would
be uncontrollable in the Australian outback.
"It's taken a lot of people who are concerned about the impacts of
cats in
the Australian environment off guard," he said.
"I think there will be some real concern expressed at the meeting
that
here
is an example of another species, a predator that is quite capable
almost
certainly of taking a wide range of native species.
"It hasn't come in through the usual quarantine processes, risk
assessments
that would otherwise need to be done."
Professor Dickman fears savannah cats would prey on the same
Australian
wildlife as foxes.
He says that while foxes can be poisoned, cats have proved
extremely hard
to
control in the outback.
"It would be competing with the fox for food in the same size
class. We
can
control the fox, we are not very good at controlling cats at the
moment,"
he
said.
"Cats tend to prefer living food, live food, that they catch
themselves.
And
as a consequence, it's much more difficult to put baits out and
expect
feral
cats to eat them."
The Environment Department says it has been in contact with two
people
proposing to import savannah cats later this year, and is
examining the
implications.
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Evan Beaver
Lapstone, Blue Mountains, NSW
lat=-33.77, lon=150.64
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