FW: Cats

—–Original Message—– From: david robertson [mailto:drdeath@picknowl.com.au] Sent: 05 July 2014 10:41 To: ‘Tony Russell’ Subject: RE: [Birding-Aus] Cats Tony The problem is that there is no head of power in the Constitution that the Commonwealth could use – without being challenged by the States (egged on by the cat fanciers et al). David —–Original Message—– From: Tony Russell [mailto:pratincole08@gmail.com] Sent: 05 July 2014 09:53 To: ‘david robertson’; birding-aus@birding-aus.org Subject: RE: [Birding-Aus] Cats David, except for your last para you make my point. To stop all the interstate/inter-council/inter-shire confusion and bickering the feds should bite the bullet and take control, making the keeping and breeding of cats illegal across the whole country on urban, private,and government land, and in national/state parks. A great start could be made by neutering domestic cats and shooting and baiting ferals. Impose hefty fines for owners not conforming _ and there are plenty of shooters who would be willing to take on the job given a suitable bounty, as with goats. The real problem lies with lily livered legislative authorities who fear a backlash from cat lovers. Which would be better? A bit of a whinge from cat lovers for a while or an unresolved and ongoing cat problem ? There really is no contest is there ? Tony. —–Original Message—– From: Birding-Aus [mailto:birding-aus-bounces@birding-aus.org] On Behalf Of david robertson Sent: Friday, 4 July 2014 5:51 PM To: birding-aus@birding-aus.org Subject: [Birding-Aus] Cats Control of cast is a very tricky question, primarily because it is a State responsibility not the Commonwealths (apart from on Commonwealth land). No two States have the same classification of cats between domestic home cats, feral cats in the Outback and those in between. The latter is bogged down because in law those in between could be regards as ‘property’. To molest them in any way could be a tort and might, just might, result in a law suit for damages to property. Complicating matters even further is that control of cats, if at all, is variously split between the States equivalent of the Department Parks and Wildlife and the States’ Department of Local Government. If it falls to the latter then it is usually hand balled to individual Councils or their equivalent. Some Councils in Adelaide have cat by-laws regarding registering, micro chipping, numbers permitted but for all practical purposes this is purely voluntary. No animal health officer could or is capable of rounding up cats to check whether they comply with the by-law. In the longer term one has to consider what might happen if one removed a predator in the food chain. Do feral cats keep foxes in control by competing for the same food supply? Look what happened in India when the vultures were almost exterminated. Feral dogs multiplied, human rabies cases increased, and so did leopards because dogs is their favourite food, and if there wasn’t a dog handy then a human would do. _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org —– No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG – www.avg.com Version: 2014.0.4716 / Virus Database: 3986/7800 – Release Date: 07/04/14 _______________________________________________ Birding-Aus mailing list Birding-Aus@birding-aus.org To change settings or unsubscribe visit: http://birding-aus.org/mailman/listinfo/birding-aus_birding-aus.org