Australian cats kill two billion native animals eat year.

Buzz Lightbulb · Guru

Australian cats kill two billion native animals eat year.

bgt · Guru

I thought all cats in Perth had to wear collars with bells. Or was it somewhere else?

Greg 1 · Guru

Cats are pretty bad but so are dogs. We live in the Perth hills and used to have a large number of small marsupials around particularly brown bandicoots. Over the last decade or so all our neighbours have changed and the current crop all have dogs. Since then the bandicoot population has diminished to just the odd one now and again. Domestic pets do not fit in with the native wildlife.

Corndoggy · Senior Member

How many billions of things get killed each year by humans.
And we should know better.

Craig1 · Guru

how can they count to two billion?

oldbloke · Guru

Not well known, but in Vic it's illegal to shoot cats in the wild, such as State Forrest. Yep crazy.

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Omg who counted them ??

peter67 · Guru

Dead right Kiwi, apparently wildlife counters (say for a duck species population) will observe targeted area populations, and then extrapolate that data australia wide, taking in to account rainfall variations, computer program hiccups, which way the wind was or should have been blowing and damn it the pizza drivers late again.

peter67 · Guru

Corndoggy wrote:
How many billions of things get killed each year by humans.
And we should know better.

Ya wanna eat or not?...just pulling your leg.

Craig1 · Guru

While the scientists cannot say how many animals died, Professor Dickman said the prospects for animals which escaped the flames were probably not that great because of a lack of food and shelter or being forced into habitat already occupied

A quote from the Bushfire report. I still cant count. I know there were lots, BUT ????

Bicyclecamper · Guru

Dogs have to be registered but cats don't have to. Cats are allowed to roam the streets and hills, but dog's are not. I believe most pollies have cats, and couldn't give a damn if their cat killed a possum, or any native animal, they usually say, "OH. Isn't that cute".

Corndoggy · Senior Member

If you have a pet cat it has to be registered same as a dog. Is recomended the cat be kept indoors after dark. A cat might wander 1 or 2 houses away, a dog will wander klms away. If your cat is a hunter it's advised that you have a bell on it's collar but might not work if the cat is cunning. A dog will kill if it finds something strange or is hungry. Your right with the polling though. Don't blame the animals blame the owners.

Corndoggy · Senior Member

peter67 wrote:

Ya wanna eat or not?...just pulling your leg.

Can you pull the other one, is not as sore as the one your tugging on.

Greg 1 · Guru

If would have to be a serious cat to kill a possum. An adult possum can be a pretty savage thing and will give the average cat a run for it's money. At one time we had cats and none would tackle full size bandicoots or possums. Don't have any pets now because of the wildlife.

Mike Harding · Guru

Greg 1 wrote:
If would have to be a serious cat to kill a possum.

Clearly you have never seen an established feral cat. They routinely grow to the size of a small dog and would be quite capable of killing possums.

New cat ownership in Australia should be made illegal and the existing herd allowed to die a natural death, that will at least, eradicate the problem of domestic cats going wild. It will thn take a considerable programme to deal with the remaining 20,000,000 feral cats.

Cats are OK, I have nothing against cats, but they do not belong in Australia.

Mike Harding · Guru

oldbloke wrote:
Not well known, but in Vic it's illegal to shoot cats in the wild, such as State Forrest. Yep crazy.

Will you please site a source for that?

I have an authority to hunt pest animals in State Forests and feral/wild cats are on the pest animal list.

dorian · Guru

Mike Harding wrote:
oldbloke wrote:
Not well known, but in Vic it's illegal to shoot cats in the wild, such as State Forrest. Yep crazy.
Will you please site a source for that?
I have an authority to hunt pest animals in State Forests and feral/wild cats are on the pest animal list.

https://agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity/pest-animals/priority-pest-animals/cat-feral-or-wild

On specified Crown land in Victoria, cats (feral or wild) are a declared established pest species under the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994. This declaration came into effect on 26 July 2018.

The declaration applies to areas of Crown land managed by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), Parks Victoria, Phillip Island Nature Park and the four Alpine Resort Management Boards.

Feral cat control will be implemented by department and agency staff, and their agents, to ensure efforts are targeted and to protect the threatened wildlife most at risk of predation by feral cats.

Feral cats are not declared an established pest on private land, meaning farmers and other private landholders are not required to control feral cat populations on their properties. Importantly, the hunting of pest animals on Crown land does not extend to feral cats, unless it being conducted by accredited volunteer shooters engaged to participate in control programs managed by Parks Victoria or DELWP.

Tony LEE · Guru

"Cats are OK, I have nothing against cats, but they do not belong in Australia" But humans are OK are they?

dorian · Guru

Tony LEE wrote:
"Cats are OK, I have nothing against cats, but they do not belong in Australia" But humans are OK are they?

Humans who allow their pet cats to become feral are not OK. Regardless of how you feel about cats, feral cats have become a problem, and this problem is only getting worse. AISI, if pet cats are to stay, then their owners need to be punished when they allow them to roam. To me, it's come to a point where we have to decide whether we love our wildlife more than our cats. We can't have both.

Mike Harding · Guru

Oldbloke and Dorian - thanks for that, I was not aware and I suspect most are not. I assume it's a recent change to the legislation.

Looks like I'll have to stick to rabbits mind you... at a distance sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between a cat and rabbit....

oldbloke · Guru

Mike Harding wrote:
Oldbloke and Dorian - thanks for that, I was not aware and I suspect most are not. I assume it's a recent change to the legislation.
Looks like I'll have to stick to rabbits mind you... at a distance sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between a cat and rabbit....

Yep, utterly crazy. But eventually it will change for the better. That's if we can still own a firearm.

bgt · Guru

We have trapped federal coats, by accident of course, and they are complete nut cases. You need to count all your fingers afterwards.

peter67 · Guru

Mike I'm glad you mentioned how clever feral cats can be. I've mistakenly shot hundreds of feral cats that were in disguise, they were unmasked after receiving a direct hit via 22/250.

ps on one property I shot a huge ginger tom sitting on a rabbit burrow. The CSIRO had a goat research station next door so bagged the cats head and took it over, you should have seen the researchers eyeballs when that came out of the bag.

bgt · Guru

We used a long handle shovel to release ferral cats from rabbit traps.

Greg 1 · Guru

Mike I was talking about your average domestic pet cat. Yes I have seen and shot many feral cats some of whom were monsters, but whilst they may look very similar there is a world of difference between a feral cat and a domestic moggy. I certainly would not be in any sort of hurry to give a feral a stroke.

Izabarack · Guru

I have three cat traps deployed around my property. I regularly supply captured cats to local survey group who document the stomach contents.

Local council requires domestic cats to be registered and contained. I am amazed at the number of feral cats I remove from this environment who have collars decorated with bells and sometimes, name tags and flea collars. Clearly these cats were once domestic pets that have escaped and gone feral. No matter, just doing my bit for the local wildlife.

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Who is counting the numbers born, hatched ? Would have to be gov job ? I doubt a truck driver, GN in spare time ?

msg · Guru

Mike Harding wrote:
Oldbloke and Dorian - thanks for that, I was not aware and I suspect most are not. I assume it's a recent change to the legislation.
Looks like I'll have to stick to rabbits mind you... at a distance sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between a cat and rabbit....

I thought rabbits were not allowed in Queensland

Bicyclecamper · Guru

I have seen more rabbits in western QLD, then in a lot of other states, their everywhere up their, the thing is they just can't read the signs, that state they are not allowed in there. The reason being the signs are all locate 6 foot high off the ground, they need to be down a ground level, then the rabbits have a chance to read them.

-- Edited by Bicyclecamper on Wednesday 5th of May 2021 08:27:31 PM

peter67 · Guru

My apologies BC I've badly underestimated your sense of humour.