birding-aus

Feral cats kill 75 million individual Australian animals per day [roughl

To: Kim Sterelny <>, colin trainor <>, "" <>
Subject: Feral cats kill 75 million individual Australian animals per day [roughly]
From: Nikolas Haass <>
Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2013 13:34:41 -0800 (PST)
Hi Kim,

Yes, you are right and these numbers seem to be quite handwaving to me, too. 
However, applying some basic rules of ecology ('real' ecologists out there 
please correct me), regardless of the numbers of killed native animals is 
significantly lower than calculated, it might still have a major impact on the 
population - especially that of small carnivorous marsupials that aren't (yet) 
adapted to the predation/competition by cats. In contrast, even if the cats 
kill a lot of introduced rats, mice and starlings, they won't have an impact on 
their population.

Cheers,

Nikolas
 
----------------
Nikolas Haass

Sydney, NSW


________________________________
 From: Kim Sterelny <>
To: colin trainor <>; "" 
<> 
Sent: Wednesday, January 9, 2013 12:24 AM
Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Feral cats kill 75 million individual Australian 
animals per day [roughly]
 
Colin

How do you know what proportion of this 75 million are native animals, as 
distinct from rabbits, introduced rats and mice; starlings and the like? I 
would be astonished if feral cats did not have a major adverse impact on native 
populations in many cases, but I doubt whether its uniform across habitats

Kim
________________________________________
From:  
 on behalf of colin trainor 

Sent: Tuesday, 8 January 2013 8:30 PM
To: 
Subject: [Birding-Aus] Feral cats kill 75 million individual Australian animals 
per day [roughly]

Australian Wildlife Conservancy

http://www.australianwildlife.org/images/file/WILD322361_Wildlife%20Matters_Summer%202012_13%20SP.pdf

"Feral cats occur right across the continent in every habitat type
including deserts, forests and grasslands. Total population
estimates vary from 5 million to 18 million feral cats, with the
Federal Government citing a figure of 18 million cats in its
statutory Threat Abatement Plan.


Each feral cat kills between 5-30 animals per day. While they
appear to prefer small mammals, they also eat birds, reptiles
and amphibians. Taking the lower figure in that range (five)
– and multiplying it by a conservative population estimate of
15 million cats – gives a minimum estimate of 75 million
native animals killed daily by feral cats."


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