Cat control

By Birding-Aus, on March 6th, 2015

Thanks Goeff Jones for the link to the AWC. Their work sounds remarkably good. The most relevant of their activities to Night Parrot conservation is the part where they have fenced off a large areas which are now cat and fox free, an obvious short term solution to preserving John Young’s Night Parrot population. New Zealand has a strong history of fencing off threatened populations of wildlife. The Western Australian CALM (now DEC) did at one time fence off several peninsulas on the WA coast, as I recall with an amazing bounceback of local native species after eliminating cats and foxes. The technology and expertise is patently available to similarly save the Night Parrot, how can the political will and money be generated? (State elections are coming up). Maybe the AWC could buy the relevant property and do their magic. (One query I have re AWC figures is their claim that 75 million native animals are killed every night by feral cats, presumably estimated by extrapolation from a tiny area. Conservation bodies do themselves a great disservice by crying wolf and otherwise exaggerating. That 75 million every night sounds very implausible, how, in specific detail, do they justify it?) Cheers Michael

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

stephen

March 7, 2015 at 4:10 pm

Further to Andrew’s comments .. To eradicate feral cats, we need to know how many are out there https://theconversation.com/to-eradicate-feral-cats-we-need-to-know-how-many-are-out-there-33014 by Tim Doherty of Edith Cowan University (published 17 Oct 2014) It’s a pretty good non-technical summary of the difficulties and assumptions used in estimating feral cat numbers in Australia and the quantities of prey taken. It’s also valuable in containing links to the relevant scientific papers and reports. Stephen Ambrose Ryde NSW —–Original Message—– Sent: Friday, 6 March 2015 4:33 PM “Feral cats occur right across the continent in every habitat type including deserts, forests and grasslands. Total population estimates vary from 5 million to 18 million feral cats, with the Federal Government citing a figure of 18 million cats in its statutory Threat Abatement Plan. “Each feral cat kills between 5-30 animals per day. While they appear to prefer small mammals, they also eat birds, reptiles and amphibians. Taking the lower figure in that range (five) – and multiplying it by a conservative population estimate of 15 million cats – gives a minimum estimate of 75 million native animals killed daily by feral cats.” Remember that ‘animals’ is used in its wider zoological sense to include birds, reptiles etc., not just marsupials. The number of animals killed per day is well documented from studies of stomach contents. With the area of Australia being around 8,000,000 square Km. that is 1 to 3 cats per square Km. Given the number of feral cats I have seen in some areas that number could even be an underestimate. see http://www.australianwildlife.org/media/27964/AWC-Wildlife-Matters-Summer-2012-2013.pdf Cheers Andrew

bill

March 6, 2015 at 9:17 pm

This number intrigued the researcher in me (I work at the Victorian Parliament). I started to chase down some of the sources and citations, and found I was running into a minefield of “he said, she said”, where everyone is quoting what other people are saying, but they’re only quoting someone else. However, before I got too far, I found that Auntie ABC has already done most of the legwork when they passed one of Greg Hunt’s claims to the Fact Check elves. Have a look at http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-20/environment-department-response-to-abc-fact-check-on-feral-cats/5907366 The funniest thing is that Gregory Andrews, Threatened Species Commissioner, Department of the Environment, responded to the ABC by running through the same figures again, calling them “conservative”, and then carefully citing three of the same sources that the fact checkers had already listed. He said, she said, now Gregory Andrews says. Bill ————————————————– Sent: Friday, March 06, 2015 5:46 PM < birding-aus@birding-aus.org>

ccgfh

March 6, 2015 at 7:40 pm

What I am sensing here is that some “funds” need to be allocated to confirm actual numbers of feral cats. No point arguing about it. I certainly respect the various hypotheses. We all know cats devastate our native fauna. As I’ve said before on this forum, I’ve seen BIG feral cats at several of my favourite bird watching sites across Australia. Where many endangered birds reside. First agenda point for GHunt at his proposed forum on feral cats is how many are there. This work would include a detailed study on their breeding capabilities in the wild. Also satellite tracking. Hard perhaps but there has to be a solution (like a collar). I’ll put in $1000 to kick off this study failing GHunt doing anything (likely). Need 300 – 400 of us doing the same to make it happen. I’ll also buy the domain http://www.catsinbackyards.net so we can survey and include domestic cats activity (which also hunt and kill native animals). If we are all this concerned, let’s put some money on the table and do something. Cheers, Charles Hunter

pveerman

March 6, 2015 at 4:46 pm

Michael asked: “One query I have re AWC figures is their claim that 75 million native animals are killed every night by feral cats” Things like that should be justified. How does that calculation as Andrew forwarded justify inserting the word “native”. Also if that is the night numbers then what are the day numbers? Even if the population numbers are right, unless this issue is included I suspect it is based on one very wrong assumption: that cats only eat native animals, which is of course a total nonsense. They also eat rabbits, mice and other ferals and carrion. So native fauna killed is a fraction of the total. Whether that fraction is 99%, 95%, 75%, 10% or whatever, is another issue and will surely vary geographically and temporally. The problem with cats is that they can be a generalist or a specialist, allowing them to switch to whatever is available….. Also the question is somewhat pointless as it is also true that native carnivores (hawks, owls, quolls, etc) eat X million animals too. In the end the estimated number doesn’t matter a lot. What matters is establishing whether cats are a specific danger, over and above other predators (in many cases circumstantial evidence suggests they are) and which native species are severely impacted by cats, in what places…… Philip —–Original Message—– Andrew Hobbs Sent: Friday, 6 March 2015 4:33 PM How about “Feral cats occur right across the continent in every habitat type including deserts, forests and grasslands. Total population estimates vary from 5 million to 18 million feral cats, with the Federal Government citing a figure of 18 million cats in its statutory Threat Abatement Plan. “Each feral cat kills between 5-30 animals per day. While they appear to prefer small mammals, they also eat birds, reptiles and amphibians. Taking the lower figure in that range (five) – and multiplying it by a conservative population estimate of 15 million cats – gives a minimum estimate of 75 million native animals killed daily by feral cats.” Remember that ‘animals’ is used in its wider zoological sense to include birds, reptiles etc., not just marsupials. The number of animals killed per day is well documented from studies of stomach contents. With the area of Australia being around 8,000,000 square Km. that is 1 to 3 cats per square Km. Given the number of feral cats I have seen in some areas that number could even be an underestimate. see http://www.australianwildlife.org/media/27964/AWC-Wildlife-Matters-Summer-20 12-2013.pdf Cheers Andrew

cmelrose099

March 6, 2015 at 3:52 pm

Thanks for that estimate Andrew. Always wondered how they got that figure. Christine Christine Melrose 0407705140 cmelrose099@gmail.com

Andrew Hobbs

March 6, 2015 at 3:32 pm

How about “Feral cats occur right across the continent in every habitat type including deserts, forests and grasslands. Total population estimates vary from 5 million to 18 million feral cats, with the Federal Government citing a figure of 18 million cats in its statutory Threat Abatement Plan. “Each feral cat kills between 5-30 animals per day. While they appear to prefer small mammals, they also eat birds, reptiles and amphibians. Taking the lower figure in that range (five) – and multiplying it by a conservative population estimate of 15 million cats – gives a minimum estimate of 75 million native animals killed daily by feral cats.” Remember that ‘animals’ is used in its wider zoological sense to include birds, reptiles etc., not just marsupials. The number of animals killed per day is well documented from studies of stomach contents. With the area of Australia being around 8,000,000 square Km. that is 1 to 3 cats per square Km. Given the number of feral cats I have seen in some areas that number could even be an underestimate. see http://www.australianwildlife.org/media/27964/AWC-Wildlife-Matters-Summer-2012-2013.pdf Cheers Andrew — *********************************************************** Andrew Hobbs pardalote@iinet.net.au ***********************************************************

March 6, 2015 at 11:44 am

Hi Michael, I can see two potential problems arising from fencing off an area containing Night Parrots: 1. Night Parrots colliding with the fence, assuming that they fly close to the ground (i.e. below the top of the fence). 2. Do Night Parrots disperse to other areas when local environmental conditions are unfavourable (or if previously unfavourable areas become favourable)? If so, then they are likely to disperse to areas outside the fence. Stephen Ambrose Ryde NSW —–Original Message—– Sent: Friday, 6 March 2015 11:55 AM Thanks Goeff Jones for the link to the AWC. Their work sounds remarkably good. The most relevant of their activities to Night Parrot conservation is the part where they have fenced off a large areas which are now cat and fox free, an obvious short term solution to preserving John Young’s Night Parrot population. New Zealand has a strong history of fencing off threatened populations of wildlife. The Western Australian CALM (now DEC) did at one time fence off several peninsulas on the WA coast, as I recall with an amazing bounceback of local native species after eliminating cats and foxes. The technology and expertise is patently available to similarly save the Night Parrot, how can the political will and money be generated? (State elections are coming up). Maybe the AWC could buy the relevant property and do their magic. (One query I have re AWC figures is their claim that 75 million native animals are killed every night by feral cats, presumably estimated by extrapolation from a tiny area. Conservation bodies do themselves a great disservice by crying wolf and otherwise exaggerating. That 75 million every night sounds very implausible, how, in specific detail, do they justify it?) Cheers Michael

Birding-Aus

Cat control

7 comments to Cat control

Mailing List

Book Search

Meta