Big cats sightings back in the news

[on_one_wheel]

Again ..... https://au.news.yahoo.com/tradies-huge- ... 07928.html

Personally I think this tradie has misidentified the prints.

[Wm.Traynor]

The tradie could walk on the sand, "and not leave a mark".
Hmmm

[animalpest]

That story was such a crack-up. So obviously the tracks from a dog

[niteowl]

DOG !

[geoff]

Anything to distract us from the reality of 200 years owning pet cats and letting them roam....the public believe pantherism before they believe that their own cats are part of the bigger problem.

Obvious dog tracks aside, surely that's just bad advertising for old mate as well. Sand so compacted a human allegedly won't leave a footprint and you're just going to lay turf over the top of it? Hey Siri what is "root penetration"

[Oldbloke]

That story was such a crack-up. So obviously the tracks from a dog

100%

[stihl88]

Cats claws are retracted when they walk so don't leave claw marks like this

[wrenchman]

the feral cats you guys have are making news over here in the states as some of the largest if not the largest in the world a feral cat can mess up the ground nesting animals and even take large snakes.

[stihl88]

the feral cats you guys have are making news over here in the states as some of the largest if not the largest in the world a feral cat can mess up the ground nesting animals and even take large snakes.

Feral cats cause mayhem here, the impenetrable scrub offers the perfect habitat to hunt their prey, mostly vulnerable species like ground dwelling birds and snakes as you say. The sad part about our feral cat population is they are provided certain protections, one cannot dispatch a feral cat on crown land unless being conducted by accredited volunteer shooters engaged to participate in control programs managed by Parks Victoria or DEECA.

There's been reports of Black Panthers (Jaguars) mascots left behind by US Airman during WW2 but there's been no conclusive evidence of this. The reality is they are very unlikely to survive in our scrub as it is not condusive to large cats being able to stalk their prey unlike the smaller domestic/feral cats, our bush is virtually impeneterable and provides good protection and cover for the native mammals from large predators like this, forcing them out to prey on livestock and sorts but to date none have been shot and killed or captured and/or clearly photographed over the past 80 years since their so called inception.

Even a $400 drone these days offers 4k video and they can cover a lot of ground, therefore if they do exist their days are surely numbered!

[Flyonline]

The sad part about our feral cat population is they are provided certain protections, one cannot dispatch a feral cat on crown land unless being conducted by accredited volunteer shooters engaged to participate in control programs managed by Parks Victoria or DEECA.

Do you have a link for that? I thought the same but couldn't find anything to back it up when I tried to find it.

[Wapiti]

So, if one of you guys was legally hunting on crown land and saw a cat, you wouldn't give the native animals a break and mist it?
Maybe it's my diagnosed Sigma male personality, but dumb rules made by man-buns or long-grey-ponytails are dumb whether on private OR crown land.

[Oldbloke]

The sad part about our feral cat population is they are provided certain protections, one cannot dispatch a feral cat on crown land unless being conducted by accredited volunteer shooters engaged to participate in control programs managed by Parks Victoria or DEECA.

Do you have a link for that? I thought the same but couldn't find anything to back it up when I tried to find it.

That's correct for Victoria. Been discussed here in the past. Don't recall where it's written tho.

[Finniss]

https://www.service.vic.gov.au/services ... st-animals

Has a small list of animals you can hunt and states below cats are a no no.

[Finniss]

Under FAQ section....no good with links

[Wapiti]

https://www.service.vic.gov.au/services/registration-of-interest-to-hunt-pest-animals

Has a small list of animals you can hunt and states below cats are a no no.

No point in me commenting any further.
That is a law that nobody can ever respect.
That is the result of mentally ill lawmakers, and obliged by lemmings worse than indoctrinated robots.

I remember some blokes hunting here who were after feral deer (and not doing so well), told me of the wild dog they busted sniffing around a pig trap. They watched it from about 50m or so, it wandered up as they sat downwind. They didn't drop it because they were after deer. They never came back because that shows selfishness beyond acceptance.
I could not walk past a cat and not take it out of the food chain.

[Oldbloke]

https://www.service.vic.gov.au/services/registration-of-interest-to-hunt-pest-animals

Has a small list of animals you can hunt and states below cats are a no no.

No point in me commenting any further.
That is a law that nobody can ever respect.
That is the result of mentally ill lawmakers, and obliged by lemmings worse than indoctrinated robots.

I remember some blokes hunting here who were after feral deer (and not doing so well), told me of the wild dog they busted sniffing around a pig trap. They watched it from about 50m or so, it wandered up as they sat downwind. They didn't drop it because they were after deer. They never came back because that shows selfishness beyond acceptance.
I could not walk past a cat and not take it out of the food chain.

They both make my head hurt.

[Blr243]

Not allowed to shoot a feral cat in state forests. ? Insane

[Wapiti]

Rules made by man-buns.

[stihl88]

The sad part about our feral cat population is they are provided certain protections, one cannot dispatch a feral cat on crown land unless being conducted by accredited volunteer shooters engaged to participate in control programs managed by Parks Victoria or DEECA.

Do you have a link for that? I thought the same but couldn't find anything to back it up when I tried to find it.

4th paragraph in https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/inva ... feral-cats

[stihl88]

So, if one of you guys was legally hunting on crown land and saw a cat, you wouldn't give the native animals a break and mist it?
Maybe it's my diagnosed Sigma male personality, but dumb rules made by man-buns or long-grey-ponytails are dumb whether on private OR crown land.

I've trapped and shot my fair share of them in the high country, all authorised and approved of course. We were also tasked with checking stomach contents and documenting our findings taking down their particulars, taking photo's etc.

[stihl88]

the feral cats you guys have are making news over here in the states as some of the largest if not the largest in the world a feral cat can mess up the ground nesting animals and even take large snakes.

Our ferals have nothing on your Mountain Lions Wrench, those things can pull off a 40' horizontal pounce and lunge 20' vertically

[Oldbloke]

The sad part about our feral cat population is they are provided certain protections, one cannot dispatch a feral cat on crown land unless being conducted by accredited volunteer shooters engaged to participate in control programs managed by Parks Victoria or DEECA.

Do you have a link for that? I thought the same but couldn't find anything to back it up when I tried to find it.

4th paragraph in https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/inva ... feral-cats

My head still hurts.

[Flyonline]

The sad part about our feral cat population is they are provided certain protections, one cannot dispatch a feral cat on crown land unless being conducted by accredited volunteer shooters engaged to participate in control programs managed by Parks Victoria or DEECA.

Do you have a link for that? I thought the same but couldn't find anything to back it up when I tried to find it.

4th paragraph in https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/inva ... feral-cats

Thanks, that's the part I couldn't find

The cynic in me asks if the so called "accredited shooters" were also involved in making this decision, but maybe I'm just getting old and tired

[animalpest]

the feral cats you guys have are making news over here in the states as some of the largest if not the largest in the world a feral cat can mess up the ground nesting animals and even take large snakes.

Feral cats cause mayhem here, the impenetrable scrub offers the perfect habitat to hunt their prey, mostly vulnerable species like ground dwelling birds and snakes as you say. The sad part about our feral cat population is they are provided certain protections, one cannot dispatch a feral cat on crown land unless being conducted by accredited volunteer shooters engaged to participate in control programs managed by Parks Victoria or DEECA.

There's been reports of Black Panthers (Jaguars) mascots left behind by US Airman during WW2 but there's been no conclusive evidence of this. The reality is they are very unlikely to survive in our scrub as it is not condusive to large cats being able to stalk their prey unlike the smaller domestic/feral cats, our bush is virtually impeneterable and provides good protection and cover for the native mammals from large predators like this, forcing them out to prey on livestock and sorts but to date none have been shot and killed or captured and/or clearly photographed over the past 80 years since their so called inception.

Even a $400 drone these days offers 4k video and they can cover a lot of ground, therefore if they do exist their days are surely numbered!

If the bush was so impenetrable then dingoes wouldn't exist. You argument is fundamentally flawed.

[stihl88]

If the bush was so impenetrable then dingoes wouldn't exist. You argument is fundamentally flawed.

I think you've missed the point, i'm saying that the feral cats are built to thrive in this impenetrable scrub (think wire grass, sword grass etc...) where they predate on our native fauna; ground dwelling birds, snakes, frogs etc. These native species evolved to live and thrive in this environment free from natural predators and then came the feral cat...

Feral cats are far more adept at thriving in this scrubby environment compared to Dingoes. The Dingo has only been on mainland Australia for approx 5k years. but they made quick work of wiping out our open plains type vulnerable species and are now relegated to hunting over long distances and in open areas and not the impenetrable scrub as claimed. Dingoes never made it to Tasmania. That’s probably why the thylacine survived there long after all the mainland thylacines had disappeared.

Most of the feral dogs (dingo interbred) we spotted, trapped and shot were on the patrol tracks, open areas or snow plains higher up. They thrive in the Sub-alpine woodland areas which is a type of open forest that grows in mountainous regions at high elevations, characterized by snow gums, shrubs, and herbs. That's not to say they wouldn't work their way into fire affected areas to predate on the mammals grazing on the regen.

If feral cats also thrived in these Sub-Alpine areas then we would have focused our eradication/control programs in these areas also. Next time you're in Victorian try and walk more than 5 meteres in this impenetrable scrub and picture if a Black Panther or Dingo could do the same?

[stihl88]

Here's one with treddle snare trace still attached to the front right foot.
Now and then we'd re-snare a dog that had previously evaded capture by chewing it's foot off... they were the tricky buggers to catch.

1 (1).jpg (208.73 KiB) Viewed 626 times

[stihl88]

The following habitat findings strongly support the aformentioned habitat findings on wild dog habitats and behaviors in Victoria. Many of the wild dogs and feral cats we captured were later studied by researchers, ultimately contributing to the scientific literature on these introduced species.

CSIRO Publishing "Movements and habitat selection by wild dogs in eastern Victoria"

ABSTRACT
Research was conducted on nine wild dogs (Canis lupus dingo and Canis lupus familiaris) captured in eastern Victoria in summer 2007.
DNA testing revealed all these wild dogs to be related.

"both sexes preferred subalpine grassland, shrub or woodland at the landscape and home-range scales. Wild dogs were recorded more often than expected within 25 m of roads and less often than expected within 25 m of watercourses."

"One wild dog travelled 230 km in 9 days before returning to its home range and another travelled 105 km in 87 days. The home-range sizes reported in this study are much larger than previously reported in south-eastern Australia."

[animalpest]

Here's one with treddle snare trace still attached to the front right foot.
Now and then we'd re-snare a dog that had previously evaded capture by chewing it's foot off... they were the tricky buggers to catch.

1 (1).jpg

Having personally trapped thousands of cats, foxes and dogs, how on earth did a dog be given the time and opportunity to chew it foot off?

[stihl88]

Here's one with treddle snare trace still attached to the front right foot.
Now and then we'd re-snare a dog that had previously evaded capture by chewing it's foot off... they were the tricky buggers to catch.

1 (1).jpg

Having personally trapped thousands of cats, foxes and dogs, how on earth did a dog be given the time and opportunity to chew it foot off?

Really, I guess we breed them differently down here

I've seen rabbits chew/twist their leg off (steel jaw) let alone a wild dog albeit only a few of the many thousands also trapped...

Traps were checked daily, happens quickly if they're determined enough. This was at the time of a mixture of steel jaw and snares, steel jaw obviously aiding in cushing the bone at times incentivising the animal to chew or twist off the foot.

We even invented the "Treddle Snare" to negate the need for steel jaw traps, the design afforded the snare to be thrown higher up the leg leading to greater success rates. Being a seasoned trapper, are you familiar with the Treddle Snare over in yonder?

[Bugman]

I have intensely studied those "paw" photos and have come to the conclusion that it was a cat, wearing a set of tiger paws.