You often mention Gamba Grass here, Denise, but there's rarely any response. I
know nothing about it, do you have any online references about the problem?
Peter Shute
> -----Original Message-----
> From:
> On Behalf Of
> Denise Goodfellow
> Sent: Monday, 8 July 2013 7:11 AM
> To: David Clark; Birding Aus
> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Cats
>
> 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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