Feral cats

CJhaughey

New Zealand SPCA gives honest advice and gets slated for being realistic
Link to article here
If you analyse it what they say is quite correct, its not cost free to control feral cats be it TNR, rehoming and all the associated costs and ultimately the cat population will still be doing damage to the native wildlife through predation.
Its my view that they should be supported for being honest, very similar arguments could be made for this country as well.
Maybe cats should be licensed as well and the money raised could help with controlling feral cats?

Traumadoc

Where I lived in Australia , cat traps would be provided free to trap domestic or feral cats if they wandered into your garden.

CJhaughey

Thats possible if the money is there but the scale of the problem in an underfunded area means they just don't have the resources to deal with it.
I'd like to see the same here but I would be doubtful about the funding.
I think the article said they had 55 in cages and had rehomed 300+ thats an awful lot of cats no matter how you look at it.

The Aussie

Traumadoc wrote: »

Where I lived in Australia , cat traps would be provided free to trap domestic or feral cats if they wandered into your garden.

And true Feral Cats are massive, getting upto 15kg...

Like this one.



I once saw a cat of this size stand upto a Pig Dog and have it on the back foot, until unfortunatly 2 more Pig Dogs arrived and turned it into a fairly one sided debate.

They are a Pest in Australia decimating Native Fauna to such a level never seen before.

CJhaughey

The Aussie wrote: »

They are a Pest in Australia decimating Native Fauna to such a level never seen before.

Its exactly the same in NZ, and they also have possums which are native to Australia and which are doing massive damage to birdlife.
Its also happening here with Ferals but the problem isn't being recognised or dealt with at an official level.
In fact every country with cat populations is slowly waking up to the damage they are doing to native species...

Traumadoc

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/science/that-cuddly-kitty-of-yours-is-a-killer.html?_r=0

Billions of birds killed, in the US alone.