Kim, perhaps you should swap your cat for something like a Jack Russell
terrier. My daughter moved into an old inner city house with a lot of rodents
about 18 months ago. Twelve months ago, she inherited a young Jack Russell. She
now has no rodent problem. Admittedly she does have a slight problem with small
craters in the back yard, caused by a rather over-enthusiastic ratter, but it
is a small price to pay for a fairly environmentally safe rodent control
measure.
Carl Clifford
> On 2 Jul 2014, at 16:57, Kim Sterelny <> wrote:
>
> Folks
>
> I have talked to quite a few ecologists about this at ANU, and the message I
> hear is much more mixed, suggesting that cat impact varies a lot from place
> to place, because cats do not only eat native animals, they eat a lot of
> rats, mice and rabbits. That said, there is a lot of variation in opinion.
>
> It is a while since I reread any of the work in WA on numbat reintroduction
> but at one stage their experimental manipulations on small mammal populations
> showed a large impact from fox control, but much less from cat control.
> Anyone kept up to date on this?
>
> I'll come clean on this: I do have a domestic cat in inner Canberra where we
> rent, which takes a lot of rats (over 30 in one month) and no birds; I also
> have a bush property, and I would never keep a cat there (not until too old
> to hunt, anyway)
>
> kim
>
>
>
> Kim Sterelny
> Philosophy Program
> RSSS, ANU
>
> e-mail
>
>
> ANU Contact Information
> Philosophy Program
> Research School of the Social Sciences
> Australian National University
> 0200 Canberra, ACT, Australia
>
> phone
>
> 61- (0)2 6125-2886; messages: Philosophy Program
>
> 61-(0)2 -6125 2341,
> fax 61-(0)2 - 6125 3294
>
>
>
>
>> On 02/07/2014, at 4:43 PM, Greg and Val Clancy wrote:
>>
>> I am with you Denise. There are a few responsible cat owners who keep their
>> pets in doors or in a run in the yard but the majority don't. With the
>> millions of domestic cats in Australia the toll on wildlife must be great.
>> People are usually aware of the impact of feral cats on native wildlife but
>> don't realise that their moggy is also a major threat. Any cat not in the
>> owners house or cat run should be declared 'feral' and be eliminated. Years
>> ago the NSW government produced a green paper on companion animals which
>> called for serious and much needed controls on domestic pets, including
>> cats. The pet food industry lobbied the government and the end result was a
>> lame act, particularly with respect to cats. My aging mother-in-law, who
>> had the early stages of dementia at the time, was being disturbed at night
>> by a neighbour's cat. The Council ranger said that they could only act
>> after it was established that the cat was a nuisance and that my
>> mother-in-law would need to keep a diary on the movements of the cat. I
>> don't blame the ranger as he has to work within the legislation but the
>> control of cats is like the human over-population issue, the elephant in the
>> room.
>>
>>
>> Regards
>>
>>
>> Greg
>>
>>
>> Dr Greg. P. Clancy
>> Ecologist and Birding-wildlife Guide
>> | PO Box 63 Coutts Crossing NSW 2460
>> | 02 6649 3153 | 0429 601 960
>> http://www.gregclancyecologistguide.com
>> http://gregswildliferamblings.blogspot.com.au/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message----- From: Denise Goodfellow
>> Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2014 4:02 PM
>> To: Carl Clifford
>> Cc: Birding Aus
>> Subject: Re: [Birding-Aus] Threatened species commissioner appointed to
>> helpsave native wildlife | Environment | theguardian.com
>>
>> I challenge prominent Australians to stick their necks out and call for
>> control of all cats.
>>
>> Denise Lawungkurr Goodfellow
>> PO Box 71
>> Darwin River, NT, Australia 0841
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 2 Jul 2014, at 2:56 pm, Carl Clifford <> wrote:
>>
>>> Nice to see that the Government is doing something about feral cat control.
>>> What the results will be, who knows. An awful lot of bait will have to be
>>> laid for effective control.
>>> http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jul/02/threatened-species-commissioner-to-combat-decline-of-native-wildlife
>>> Carl Clifford
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