I suspect that the impact on wildlife of cats or cane toads will pale into
insignificance against that of Gamba Grass, and I can't see any body,
Government or otherwise, investing much money in fighting that weed!
Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow
PO Box 71, Darwin River,
NT 0841
043 8650 835
On 7/7/13 9:48 PM, "David Clark" <> wrote:
> I am currently travelling through northwestern Queensland and I have been
> surprised at the number of feral cats scavenging around campsites, crossing
> roads in broad daylight and feeding on roadkill.
>
> My first response was to bemoan the increase in the population of feral
> cats and to wonder about what damage they are doing to native fauna.
> However, the situation is not that simple.
>
> There has been no wet season for the past two years and the seed bearing
> plants haven't produced seeds. This has had a dramatic impact on the
> numbers of seed eaters, particularly finches and small rodents. The latter
> are the main prey of feral cats and, in their absence, the cats are
> starving. There is not an increase in the feral cat population; the
> starving survivors are congregating where they may find food and are more
> visible to the casual observer than they are in normal conditions.
>
> I'm not saying that feral cats aren't a problem but, in terms of impact on
> native animals, they come in well behind the Cane Toad. Goannas used to be
> common in the area through which I am travelling but not anymore. Olive
> Pythons are absent from most of their range. A dead Freshwater Crocodile
> floating down the creek two days ago was most likely a victim of Cane Toad
> poison. The Kites are back, and have presumably learned to avoid Cane
> Toads.
>
> There is a lot of local concern about feral cats and many of the north
> Queensland shires offer a bounty on cats' tails. While that may put some
> money into the pockets of local people, it won't really address the problem
> and I'm not sure that Governments are prepared to invest the money
> necessary to control feral cats, Cane Toads, feral pigs, feral camels,
> feral goats, feral dogs, Common Mynas, etc, etc.
>
> Cheers
>
> David
>
> On Sat, Jul 6, 2013 at 6:21 PM, Peter Morgan <> wrote:
>
>> We felt sickened when we found a large ginger tabby curled up in what we
>> presume is a Letter-wing Kite nest in the tree where we found a family of 2
>> adults and 2 young last year in SA. Bev got one poor photo, but the cat
>> scooted down and out of the tree as she approached to get better shots.
>> We have seen more cats on this trip through NSW, Qld, and SA than ever
>> before. Today, we watched a large grey cat stalking a huge mob of Little
>> Corella feeding on the ground just after we came out of Sturt NP on our way
>> to Tibboburra.
>> Throughout the trip, we have had many locals, some from the grazing
>> industry, bemoaning the number of cats and the damage they are doing. One
>> suggested that explosion of bush rats in western Qld in 2011 led to an
>> increase in cats that lives on to this day.
>>
>> Peter and Bev Morgan
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