Should there be a BOUNTY on feral cats ?

[womble]

Oh dear. You always paint a very interesting picture of your experiences Ziege

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UQeRN3UJyMY

[Harrynsw]

It wouldn't hurt, it would definitely make them more of a target. 1 cat = 700+ dead prey items a year.

[marksman]

of course there should be

[wanneroo]

Wanneroo: "A lot of the farmers around here shoot, shovel and shut up."

I like that!

By the way in what state do you live and are there differences from one state to the next?

Jim

Pennsylvania. There could be differences state to state but I think overall feral cats are protected across most of the USA as domestic animals, so exterminating them would fall under animal abuse.

[wanneroo]

It's all too clear to me that cat owners are ignorant and belligerent, at least by in large, and I have exactly 0 tolerance for any cat I see outdoors.

It's funny the owners are usually just as obnoxious and destructive as their cats. The owners are a big part of the problem. Right now I don't know if the cats I have around the house belong to anyone or not, they have no collar.

[Ziege]

Shoot them and say nothing to no one

[NTSOG]

G'day,

While I was out looking for foxes a mile or so down the road last night - until the ground mist blocked all sight - the beggar in the photo turned up at my bait station. I came home and went out the back to have a look at the bait site, but could only sit and whistle at the back gate as there were two foxes looking for insects at about 150 yards +/- on the open paddocks across from me. The mist made getting a clear sight impossible, they didn't respond to my calling and there was no way for me to sneak across the open ground to get closer. As for the cat: no collar - not that it matters - and a new candidate for best dead cat of the month. No wonder that the vixen I've been after didn't stay long later in the evening; all the tucker was eaten.

Jim

[AJB]

[Blr243]

Does everybody agree that the abovmentioned, [above destroyed] cat has the most common coloration in our Aussie bush ?

[Ziege]

The old grey tabby is pretty common, around here there are a lot of black ones as well as that tortoise shell looking pattern, had a heap of ginger tabby cats at one point too

[Ricochet]

[quote="Ziege"]
I just started giving them the shark cage experience for 10 mins each time I caught one[ /quote]
I didn't know you could get scuba gear for cats, is it expensive?

[Oldbloke]

I've seen a fair few black ones. Little Panthers. Lol

[Blr243]

Yes it’s true. There are panthers in our bush Seen the young ones plenty of times But they hide when they grow up

[marksman]

another one bites the dust
good job Jim

[NTSOG]

Thanks Marksman. Moggie is now, in the immortal words of the Pythons, an 'ex cat'.

Jim

[AussieCapitalist]

Just supply the ammo and people will be keen to get out there. Every skin gets you a box of the required caliber.

[GQshayne]

I read a CSIRO article a while back on feral cats. I remember some info from it.

Estimated numbers are between 10 and 20 million in Australia.
They hunt for fun, not only food, so kill more than they eat.
They kill between 3 and 6 native animals a day each.

Think about those numbers a minute. Take the lower estimate of 10 million cats each killing 3 animals a day. That is thirty million animals per DAY.

Australia was quoted as having the highest extinction rate of any country on the planet. No wonder.

[Ziege]

Yep owning cats should be outlawed, all feral cats come from pets

[GQshayne]

Yep owning cats should be outlawed, all feral cats come from pets

I reckon the big issue is that we do not have a good control measure for feral cats, so the scientists are looking at biological control. How do you release that and not have cat owners not kick up a stink? It would be a political issue, not an environmental one. But it may be the only way to control them in the wild.

[Ziege]

Personally couldn't care less if every cat in the country died, would be great for the lizard and bird and marsupial populations

[NTSOG]

G'day,

The cat issue is paralleled by the wild horse problem in the high country where the over-breeding of brumbies is destroying the land, yet bleeding heart fools don't want the huge herd culled. We have horses and know the damage they [and cattle] do to the ground with their hard hooves, but 25,000 wild horses running wild damaging the land is ridiculous just as the cats are killing millions of small animals each week and both animals are being protected by people who claim to be environmentalists and animal lovers. When the brumbies over-breed their range and Mother Nature 'allows' them to starve and die, as is the natural consequence of overbreeding, I bet the animal lovers will demand air drops of fodder - at taxpayer expense - to save the starving beasties.

Jim

[Grandadbushy]

Yes NTSOG I agree although horses and cats are different in their harmful ways they still come under the same umbrella of harming the environment, these horses were brought in by people and so was the cat and the cane toad as well as many others all of which have a devastating effect on wild life and the environment , these pests have to be dealt with, with a common sense approach not give in to bleeding hearts or do gooder's ,( most of which have never seen a real pest) or for chasing votes ,we don't have people in power that have a practical approach to this problem because of pressures put on them from minority groups of do gooders and bleeding hearts as you say, also you mention drought and the like affecting the health and well being of these animals and I agree, if half of these bleeding heart people were taken to the animals in such a time then I guarantee they will come to the conclusion of eradication to having them die over 3mths in bog holes or starvation or maybe they would turn a blind eye to that for their cause and want food drops that have their own environmental problems as I've seen in the past and that is noxious weeds being dropped in with food bale you only have to look at ''rag weed or (parthenium)'' up here in the north , brought in with feed, it's poison if, eaten and blankets the ground and kills out the grass ( bit like putting a poisonous snake in the kitchen to stop the rats, eventually you will suffer if you don't take a practical approach and that's all that is needed, then put a bounty on them all and you will find over time it will sort itself out.

[Ziege]

Agree Jim

[DaveZ]

Yep owning cats should be outlawed, all feral cats come from pets

That is absolutely ridiculous. There are plenty of responsible cat owners who ensure their animals do not interact with wildlife in any way. I've never been a cat person, but my Mrs is, we have 2, and they never leave the house except on the rare occasion she takes them out on the lawn on a leash.

What you've suggested is no different to suggesting that all firearms should be banned because some firearm users are irresponsible.

And yes, I think there should be a bounty. The more ferals that we can kill, the better.

Cheers.

[Ziege]

Dear Dave, sorry to trigger you about your Mrs' cats.

However it is entirely different to banning firearms, and in so many ways I can think of 3 off top my head definitively right now but above all is that a cat is a sentient being, it will kill things without instruction to so so or without having to be operated/manipulated by another sentient being.

It's also different because unlike firearm owners, cat owners are largely and disproportionately irresponsible. I would happily say at least 99% of cat owners are irresponsible and not feel like I'm exaggerating at all, whereas 99% of firearms owners are very responsible.

[DaveZ]

Still, the point remains, you're happy to punish everyone for the actions of the irresponsible. There needs to be tougher penalties and enforcement by local authorities on roaming animals. Most councils don't care, even if they have rules that prohibit roaming animals, it's really quite ridiculous.

When I lived in town, we had peoples cats in our yard all the time, the council had rules that stated roaming cats would be impounded. When I inquired, the best they could do was loan me a trap. They had no interest in dealing with the trapped animals after I caught them, nor even the facilities to impound them, so essentially the rule was unenforceable.

Now I'm out of town and don't have an issue with cats. However, some renters moved in to the block next door and we constantly had their dog visiting and s**ting on our lawn, stirring up our animals. We caught it, had it impounded and the owners instructed to keep it on their block. The second time the pound people assured me they would not give the dog back to its owner until they had the facilities to keep it locked up. The third time they came and picked the dog up (all in a one month period) I told them they would not hear from me again. I don't know what happened to the dog after that, but I do know where it is buried.

Yes there will always be people who are irresponsible, but legislating away the rights to enjoy every thing that can be misused/abused is not a path I want to be pushed down. Education about the damage done by these animals would be better, and penalties and enforcement for those that can't do the right thing.

[Die Judicii]

we have 2, and they never leave the house except on the rare occasion she takes them out on the lawn on a leash.

All well and good with best intentions no doubt,,,,,,,,,, but,,,,,, would you have children and rear them the same way ?
Only to be let out of the house on rare occasions,,, but on a leash.

Not much quality of life there eh.

If you did that to children, the welfare mob would be on you like a ton of bricks.
Where is the equality, ???
And the "irresponsible / fanatical" animal lovers lobby seems strangely quiet when it comes to things like this.

[Ziege]

Most illegal guns are not from law abiding people, most guns on the street come from criminal activities.

Moreover cats in the environment conversely come from pets, there really isn't any reasoning that away, I personally think it's cruel to own an animal and not give it enough space to live as it was intended to. People with border collies and Kelpies in small city yards for example. Can't see how a cat is a happy pet if trapped indoors all day every day when left to their own devices travel in excess of 20km a day and upto 50km in a day.

But whatever they really are superfilous creatures, people would be better off captive breeding native species and working within some breed and release programs for endangered species than owning something that causes such issues. Plenty of fuzzy cute native animals that would benefit from intensive breeding and repopulation.

[DaveZ]

You could say the same for pretty much any animal we keep in captivity really so what's the answer? Every activity us humans undertake has an impact on the lives of other animals around us, you can't avoid it. Would you rather the cat had an awesome free range life at the expense of thousands of other animals? The difference with a child is that you can educate a child about what proper behavior is, not really a thing cats are into.

[Ziege]

No lol, I would rather the cat didn't exist in Australia. How the hell you got that other assumption together I will never know.