Australian Capital Territory (ACT) residents will have to confine their cats to their homes

The ACT government has plans to confine domestic cat to their homes from July 1, 2022 regardless of the suburban where they live. It's called the ACT Cat Plan 2021-2031. It's a policy which has been developed in consultation with others including environmental groups and cat owners which is designed to "help cats live longer and healthier lives while better protecting native wildlife."

ACT Legislative Assembly. Photo in public domain.

There are already cat containment regulations with respect to 'containment suburbs' in Canberra. Outside of "declared suburbs, cat containment will only apply to new cats, because we understand that existing cats and their owners may not be prepared or used to containment", said ACT Minister for Transport and Silly Services Chris Steel.

The new rules will also allow owners in cat containment suburbs to take their cat for a walk on a lead. This is currently prohibited. At the moment there are 17 cat containment suburbs in the ACT.

The maximum penalty for breaching the new local laws will be AU$1600. Steel said that the ACT is a leader in introducing cat containment. This is certainly correct. I do not know of any other country where these concepts are in place and being expanded. It is certainly part of Australia's desire to protect native species. It comes with a package of procedures including the destruction of feral cats designed to protect, primarily, small Australian native ground dwelling mammals but birds and reptiles too.

There are other plans to encourage responsible cat ownership. They say that there are seven other strategies to be rolled out over the next 10 years, one of which is a compulsory requirement for new cat owners to register their cats in the way that dog owners do currently. And from July 1, 2022 new cat owners will have to pay a fee when they register their cat for the first time. Registration will need to be updated annually. Existing cat owners will also have to register but there will be no fee.

The authorities say that they estimate free roaming cats kill 61,000 native birds, 2000 native mammals and 30,000 native reptiles together with 6000 native frogs annually, on my understanding.

They believe that domestic cats confined to the home can still live happy and contented lives. This is true but there are more demands upon cat owners to ensure that their cats are stimulated for obvious reasons. Confined domestic cats live in an artificial world and there has to be some substitutes to nature within that world to which domestic cats are attuned. They need the sights, sounds stimulation of nature.

I do not believe that the average cat owner will be able to satisfactorily substitute what their cats will be missing once they are confined to the home.

The Conservation Council ACT Region welcomed the plan but said that they could go further and also that they could introduce it sooner. They say that it is wrong to allow one more year of newly-acquired cat be free to roam and hunt.

Australian citizens can have their say online. If you are interested you can read about the government's vision and the ACT Plan 2021-31 by clicking on this link.

Wallabies are cat snacks in New South Wales, Australia

Young wallabies have been described as "cat snacks" by scientists in New South Wales. This is because it's what they are to feral cats in that region of Australia. Too many of them are being eaten by feral cats and scientists have come up with what they refer to as "headstarting". It's a strategy which means moving the young wallabies to a fenced off area devoid of cats, where they can develop to become large enough to be able to fend off the advances of feral cats. Scientists from the University of New South Wales conducted a trial and declared it an unqualified success.

 Wallabies are cat snacks in New South Wales, Australia. Photo: iStock.

"These wallabies are really affected by predators only when they are very small - they're easy snack-sized for a feral cat," said Alexandra Ross from the university.

Bridled nailtail wallabies are vulnerable with only an estimated 500 individuals in the wild in three areas of the east coast of Australia. They apparently relocated the wallabies to the Avocet Nature Refuge, which is south of Emerald in central Queensland.

This happened between 2015-2018 and 89% of them survived to become large enough to be put back into the wild resulting in a more than doubling of the overall population size over that period.

The said that there was minimal disruption to their lives as the enclosure contained their natural habitat. The only difference was that they were protected from predation by feral cats. It is a nine-hector enclosure.

It was important to the researchers to make sure that the wallabies understand that they can still be preyed upon by natural predators other than feral cats such as eagles and pythons. They feel that the small enclosure helps them to learn the dangers of predation.

The process of 'headstarting' is only useful for animals that provide conservationists with a window in their early life when they are vulnerable to predation and which allows the researchers to remove them from the environment in which they are vulnerable.

The process is cheaper as well. Ross estimates that it is up to 90% cheaper than traditional fencing methods because of the smaller size of the enclosure required. Bridled nailtail wallabies were thought to be extinct until 1973 when they were rediscovered by a fencing contractor who stumbled across a colony in Queensland.

My thanks to Brisbane Times of the story. The research is published in Current Biology.

Man charged with cruelly beating a cat belonging to woman he knew

ULTIMO, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - NEWS AND COMMENT: A 25-year-old man, known to a woman who lived with a three-year-old cat, Summer, has been arrested and charged with animal cruelty offences against Summer, who was seriously beaten sustaining broken teeth, missing fur and bruising.

Man known to a woman who has a cat companion is charged with cruelly beating the cat. Stock photo (Pixabay).

The cat's guardian found her cat in a unit in Ultimo, Sydney at around 4pm on Saturday. Summer was taken to a veterinarian for treatment.

Police then arrested a 25-year-old man at a home on O'Briens Road, Hurstville after midnight on Sunday. He has been charged with committing an act of cruelty on an animal by reckless beating causing serious injuries. He attended court today Sunday May 9th. His application for bail was refused.

We don't have more details. 

Comment: Without more it appears to be a classic case of a matrimonial dispute with the aggrieved man taking it out on the woman's cat. This happens a lot. The cat is very vulnerable in matrimonial disputes and are almost invariably owned by the woman. If the man is aggressive the cat can be the brunt of his anger. Conversely, women use the children to emotionally hurt the man by withdrawing contact between them and her former partner. The vulnerable are innocent bystanders in matrimonial wars.

Cat microchipping is largely mandatory in Australia

There are six states and two territories in the Commonwealth of Australia. I will call these non-federal legislatures. Of these eight legislatures, six have mandatory micro-chipping of domestic cats. The two that don't are the Northern Territory and Tasmania.

Photo: Pixabay.

Tasmania has mandatory micro-chipping of dogs but not yet for cats. Although cat owners are encouraged to have their cat microchip and sterilised if they are over six months of age. There are plans to phase in obligatory micro-chipping by amending the Cat Management Act 2009. The introduction of the law is planned to be at the end of 2021.

As for the Northern Territory, although micro-chipping is not compulsory, it is compulsory if a citizen lives within the city of Darwin as part of the council's animal management by-laws.

As I understand it, in each case where micro-chipping of cats is mandatory in Australia the law is triggered when a cat or dog is sold or transferred before the age of 12 weeks. 

You can read more if you wish on this topic by clicking on this link which opens a new window and take you to the main website.

Comment: governments, both federal and local of various types throught the developed workd are gradually coming around to the idea that compulsory micro-chipping should be obligatory within their jurisdiction. This applies to the UK where there are advanced plans to make micro-chipping obligatory for domestic cats. It is already obligatory for dogs. The reason? To better control cat ownership, to enforce better responsibility in cat caretaking, and to reunite owners with their loss cats and finally to reunite owners with deceased cats who have been killed on the roads. There are other indirect benefits for compulsory micro-chipping which don't come to mind immediately but will no doubt surface once the law is in force.

Australians: 'We need more responsible cat ownership'. True?

This neat little audio presentation gives us a snapshot insight into cat ownership in Australia. But it depends on the state of Autralia where you live. Nontheless the domestic cat is less popular than dogs in Australia and the feral cat takes a bashing almost daily as it kills precious Australia native species. Of course there'd be no feral cats if there was better cat ownership. 

Aussie feral cat with ear tipping. Image in public domain. All feral cats originate in
domestic cats.

There is an ongoing debate about how to reduce predation by outside domestic cats and feral cats on native species. This particular discussion is about controlling domestic cats. The authorities have already decided to kill as many feral cats as possible. Cruel? Yes. TNR would be more humane but impractical as the problem has gone on for too long.

There is a real possibility that an Australian state will introduce a leash law for cats. The authrorities are struggling with the best way to manage indoor/outdoor domestic cats.

   

The ideas mooted are such schemes as nighttime curfews which keep domestic cats indoors between the evening and the next morning. This would prevent a lot of domestic cat predation and drive them mad as they like to hunt at dawn and dusk. 

Introducing this sort of restriction after a cat has had years of going out at will would be problematic for the cat and therefore also for the owner. It would be chaos actually if the cat was a keen hunter.

Leashes are another possibility but it is hell trying to get domestic cats to walk on a leash. They tend to flop over onto their side! This is a reflex response. If you get them to walk they'll stop all the time.

Obligatory enclosures is another idea but it forces home owners to fork out high costs and a lot of cat owners rent and they won't have the permission under the lease or agreement to build an enclosure.

It is a tricky subject: stopping domestic cats killing wild animals. Historically domestic cats have enjoyed complete freedom outside and legally they can't be done for tresspass. This feline right to freedom might change in Australia as the pressure builds to protect small native mammals and birds.

Teenage woman allegedly tried to poison housemates because they mistreated her kittens she claimed

COMMENT AND NEWS: This is a story from Brisbane Australia. Te Raukura Anahera Alexander, 19, clearly loves cats. She adopted two kittens. She lived in what appears to be a house which he shared with housemates. There appears also to have been some sort of dispute between her and the housemates which was simmering in the background and which came to a head when her kittens or a kitten wandered into one of the housemaid's rooms and scratched the person in the room.

Te Raukura Anahera Alexander, 19, outside the magistrates court. She refused to
talk to the media. Photo: Daily Mail.

It is claimed that a kitten or kittens were thrown across the room as a consequence. This is an allegation of animal abuse. Alexander became enraged and allegedly tried to take the law into their own hands by poisoning her housemates. She reportedly admitted to placing a teaspoonful of mosquito repellent into milk and yoghurt. The repellent is called Mortein Peaceful Nights.

My research indicates that if ingested this insecticide can cause serious harm in people. It may be fatal in a large enough dosage. Skin can become sensitised to it and it is very dangerous to aquatic animals. It should be handled with caution and with rubber gloves.

Nobody ate the yoghurt or drank the milk and therefore nobody was poisoned. The police came to the property when allegedly Alexander slashed all four tyres of a vehicle outside the house. It appears that she admitted the alleged crime at that time to the police. She's appeared before the magistrates court and is on bail pending the next hearing and ordered to live with her father and not to return to the home where she lived or approach the housemates. She will reappear before court on March 29.

She was provoked. She did something very stupid. She will no doubt be imprisoned if convicted. If that happens she will be without her kittens. She made a terrible mistake. Any number of alternative solutions would have been better including removing herself from the house with her kittens.

She could have reported the alleged abuse of the kitten(s) by her housemates or housemate to the police because on the face of it this might constitute animal abuse under Australian animal welfare law. That would have given her the high moral ground.

The story highlights the dangers of living in a home of multiple occupation if you own a cat, cats or a kitten. The animals are thrust into a home where their safety cannot be ensured. The cat owner does not know whether her housemates will treat her cat with care. She doesn't know whether they like or dislike cats. She doesn't know whether they are scrupulous about animal welfare.

But if a dispute arises, as appears to be the case in the story, one person may take out their anger on the cats. Cats are always vulnerable to animal abuse because of their immediate presence. They are an outlet for angry people.

I hope that the judge is lenient if she is convicted and that her sentence is light. Although she is on a charge which sound serious namely attempting to injure by noxious substances, assault and wilful damage (reference to the slashing of the car tyres).

Brutal Australians playing God after they screwed up over feral cats

Going back to the beginnings of the settlement of the continent of Australia we can see the origins of today's so-called feral cat problem on that continent. Those early settlers were careless with their cats. They let them roam and they left them behind when they moved. These are the foundation cats of what the 'experts' believe are millions of feral cats today in Australia. 

And it bugs the hell out of Australians. Not all Australians, but the conservationists, cat haters and those want to protect their cute native species which they prefer the look of. It's a heavy dose of speciesism and it is playing God. It is preferring one animal over the other and it is a rearguard attempt to correct the disastrous errors of the past.

A western pygmy possum trapped in the area of proposed killing of feral cats. Credit: see image.

But in doing this they quote information about feral cat predation on native species in Australia as if it is written in tablets of stone but it isn't. It is guesswork. They don't know how many feral cats there are in Australia and therefore they can't work out how many native species are killed by the animals. So give us a break please Australian conservationists.

And in playing God I don't mean creating something beautiful or even ugly. I mean the painful destruction on a grand scale of feral cats. That is what playing God means in this instance. And we are told today that one of the nation's biggest conservation groups has decided to work with the Western Australian government to put down poison bait to kill foxes, feral cats and rabbits as well. They want to restore the native animals to their traditional domain in the words of the journalist on The Age website.

They are targeting a conservation area of 5,000 acres owned and managed by Bush Heritage Australia. We have heard it before; feral cats have a big negative impact on the sustainability i.e. survivability, of particularly small marsupials, reptiles and snakes.

The Western Australian government has been baiting the areas that it manages for a long time but the proposed programme increases the baiting area by a factor of five and it's going to target rabbits, foxes and cats simultaneously.

They use a familiar poison called 1080 which is designed specifically the cats apparently. The project will last five years and cover 40,000 hectors. Then intend to protect pets and working dogs "as well as possible". That is a point of contention. It is accepted that some pets will be killed. They say that the poison degrades quickly after rain and it is not toxic to native animals. I'm not sure how that works to be honest. It is made from plant species found in south-west Western Australia.

And then the journalist quotes the usual figures saying that feral cats kill 272 million birds, 466 million reptiles and 815 million mammals annually. They quote the source as the WA Biodiversity Science Institute. Well, I'd like to know where that institute gets their numbers from. Yes, we know feral cats kill native species but you can deal with the matter in a less brutal and more humane way by, for example, using TNR programs which will take much longer and I would propose genetic engineering about which I have written recently in which you can read about by clicking here.

Greater bilbies are to learn how to be frightened of feral cats

In a NSW conservation programme the Australian authorities are going to put greater bilbies into an enclosure where there are a limited number of feral cats. Those which learn to survive will then procreate and teach their offspring to survive in a landscape where there are feral cats. The objective is to create a large enough group of greater bilbies with an inherent fear of feral cats and the means to avoid them so that they can be released into the wild in Australia and survive.

Great bilby atTaronga Zoo. Photo Rhett WymanCREDIT:
RHETT WYMANAdd caption

The experts are calling it "accelerated evolution". It's a reference to the fact that this small native marsupial species did not have time, they think, to evolve avoidance skills of predators such as feral cats. They are giving them the chance to evolve quickly and develop that skill so that they can prosper in an environment where there are too many feral cats according to the authorities.

It's another take on how to protect native species. The authorities believe you either kill the predators or you train the prey animals or both at which point the prey animal has a greater chance of survival in the wild.

It had been thought that greater bilbies were extinct in the wild in New South Wales. They are rabbit-sized marsupials. The plan kicks off by placing 10 bilbies, five of each sex, into a 2,000 ha enclosure, within the Sturt National Park, which is free of feral cats and other predators (I presume). This small group of ten were bred in a zoo and selected to be as wild as possible. Once they have bred in their 2000 ha enclosure they will be placed with feral cats into a much larger Wildlife Training Zone within the National Park. The government is backing the program to the tune of AU$8 million.it is expected that it will take two years before the animals are released into the wild as I understand it. They are fast breeders!

Source: Sydney Morning Herald.

Are cats allowed to roam free in NSW?

NSW is an acronym for New South Wales, Australia. At 23rd September 2020, under the provisions of the Companion Animal Act 1998 domestic cats within NSW are allowed to roam free (laws change). And they can't be picked up by rangers because they might be someone's pet. They can't assume that the cats are stray and unowned just because they are outside. However, rangers can seize cats in areas where they are prohibited. These are areas such as wildlife protection areas, commercial kitchens, restaurants or cafés.

Feral cat in Australia. Image in public domain

Also, cats can be seized by rangers if they have injured a person or another domestic animal. Against that information, there is a general trend in Australia to restrict the movement of domestic cats and to regulate cat ownership in the interests of native species because there is concern that many native species are endangered and heading towards extinction in the wild. Small mammals are the domestic cat's menu. One player in that scenario is the outside domestic cat and the continent's 2 million estimated feral cats. The authorities want to slaughter all of them.

It is sensible to ensure that inside/outside domestic cats are spayed and neutered, microchipped, wear a safety collar with ID and in Australia kept inside at night to protect wildlife. A brightly coloured collar can protect wildlife from domestic cat predation.

New Zealand shooter kills a "monstrous" feral cat

ANALYSIS: A man in New Zealand, Jesse Feary, likes to shoot possums and was out hunting when a very large black cat crossed his path. He tracked it down and shot it from about 50 metres away. He believes that it was some sort of "baby big cat" (are you joking Feary?) which is absolutely ridiculous because it is clearly a very large black feral cat. It is known that feral cats grow to a very large size on the Australian continent and in New Zealand as well (perhaps more rarely) because they have available prey and therefore over many years they have evolved into bigger animals.

Photo: Jesse Feary

You can see in the photograph that he took above that this feral cat is about the length of his rifle when you factor in the legs. I don't think this is monstrous but it is certainly large for a feral cat. It isn't the first time that very large feral cats have been shot by New Zealanders or Australians. Both these countries contain citizens who like to kill animals. They both appear to have a hatred of feral cats although I am generalising because there will be lots of people who are more sensitive towards stray and feral cats.

For an outsider like me it is disgusting to be perfectly frank. I hate to see it and it is highly insensitive, crude and basic in nature. You know, the guy was going out possuming which mean shooting possums for the fun of it. The guy just likes to shot whatever he can legally; whatever he can take pot shots out. It's all ridiculous in my book. But there it is; this is the photograph and you decide for yourselves whether this is a small big cat or just a big feral cat! It's a no-brainer it has to be a feral cat. The cat was shot in in the North Canterbury area, as I understand it.

Domestic Cat First Brought to Australia in 19th-Century

It appears to have been confirmed that the domestic and feral cat in Australia was first introduced onto that continent in the 19th century by Europeans. This probably coincided with the 162,000 convicts which were transported to various Australian penal colonies by the British government between 1788 and 1868. I, for one, had always thought that that was the case. We know that there are no wild cats in Australia and there never has been because of the water barrier between the Asian mainland and Australia.

A study examined the genetic structure of Australia's feral cat populations and found the link, it appears, to 19th-century European immigrants. I say European because that's what my source says but it seems to me that most of the Europeans would have been British.

Before the study there are various suggestions as to where this "invasive species" had come from. Perhaps, it was suggested, they come from ship's cats or European explorers in the late 18th century. Others had postulated that Malaysian fishermen, in the 17th century, had brought cats with them to Australia.

Other cats were deliberately introduced into certain parts of Australia in order to control other species of animal such as rats and in one case this applied to an island. There are misconceptions and misleading articles about how cats devastated bird populations on certain islands in Australia. You will find that on occasions these articles misdescribe what has happened. Sometimes domestic and feral cats are scapegoats in Australia. In one case rats not cats killed the birds after the cats were killed by humans. Typical human stupidity.

Yes, the feral cat is an invasive species in Australia but that is the fault of humans. As it is the fault of humans it is beholden upon humans to do the right thing (e.g humane processes) in order to control feral cat populations on that continent. This, regrettably, is not happening as there have been several proposals to eradicate feral cats all of which have been very cruel, impractical, unhelpful, and doomed to failure but they do indicate a distaste for the feral cat on that continent by the authorities.

Australians Now Want to kill 80% of Feral Cats with Poisoned Bait

Recently we read about the Australian government planning to use biological warfare against the Australian feral cat. Perhaps they shelved that idea as unworkable so they (the government and the government agencies) have come up with a "fatal bait" which the curious feral cat will eat and it is called "curiosity" - how quaint. The bait is intended to kill 80% of the feral cats. The bait works by stopping the flow of oxygen in the blood.

This toxin has been trailed for years! The trails showed that this toxic bait, resembling a sausage, showed "promise"! Not perfect then....no, it kills other species as well. Surprised? No. 

The bait has not been demonstrated to be completely harmless to other species but it is the best feral cat killer they have come up with. What about TNR? Australians seem to have totally rejected TNR as too slow and too expensive. Forget humane methods. That is irrelevant.

I am guessing that the bait contains some sort of attractive smell such as catnip to attract cats only but it seems to be impossible to kill feral cats this way en masse. They'll end up killing more "other species" than the feral cat does.

The Australians have a deep hatred for the feral cat. They "estimate" it kills 75 million native mammals every night! Yes, every night. That is what the International Business Times article states.

I hate to say it but I'd bet my last dollar that that is a gross overestimate and if is it correct we know humans kill even more.

Come on Aussies, bite the bullet and organise a nationwide trap-neuter-return programme. It will work and if carried out properly it will lead the way in the world and promote Australia in the eyes of the world.

I though Greg Hunt, the environment minister was sensitive to animals. Wrong.

Feral Cats Are Part of the Ecosystem

Yes, we need to remind ourselves that feral cats are part of the ecosystem. They are integrated into the wildlife. They prey on certain wildlife and certain wildlife preys on them and if that is disturbed there may be unforeseen consequences down the food chain. The feral cat primarily feeds on rodents such as mice and rats. It is a myth that feral cats prey on birds in large numbers. Some people want to get rid of the feral cat completely. I don't think they have thought through the consequences of that objective. What would happen to the rat population?

Some people like to shoot feral cats and these people would like to see all feral cats eradicated. But we know that as feral cats are part of the ecosystem and they prey on rats they cannot be eradicated without massive unforeseen and possibly disastrous consequences. In which case they should not shoot feral cats at all because they shoot them with intention of the long-term objective of eradicating them which, as I just stated, is impossible and unwise.

An example of the unwise nature of trying to eradicate an animal that is considered a pest or a nuisance is the long-term attempt to eradicate the dingo in Australia. If Australians do not wish to eradicate the dingo then they at least they wish to hunt it in large numbers to reduce the population size.

The 70 year hunt of the dingo in Australia going forward will damage native wildlife species and in some cases endangered species. This is the conclusion of a study by the New South Wales University published in The Proceedings of the Royal Society.

The dingo preys on animals such as kangaroos, foxes and possums and these animals prey on other animals such as native rodents. If you kill the dingo there are more animals that can prey on rodents therefore the rodent population falls. However there are other animals such as bandicoots that are preyed upon by these animals. As can be seen in trying to exterminate the dingo there is a knock-on effect which can lead unforeseen and detrimental consequences.

The feral cat preys on rodents as mentioned. If you exterminate the feral cat in Australia, logically that should lead to a sharp increase in the population numbers of bush and swamp rats. Rats can kill native wild life.

Another interesting aspect of the attempt to exterminate animals that are perceived as pests is that you end up with conflicting consequences. Exterminating the dingo results of a fall in the rat population, it seems, while exterminating the feral cat results in a rise in the population numbers of rats. If the authorities wish to exterminate both feral cats and dingos in Australia the consequences will conflict and surely that indicates that there has been a lack of foresight as to the consequences.

In my opinion, it is foolhardy to mess with an ecosystem. If Australians wish to conserve native wildlife than they could achieve much more and in a far more humane manner if they analysed more accurately the impact that they, themselves have on native wildlife species including habitat destruction and take steps to remedy that.

The human is the greatest danger to native wild species in Australia or anywhere else. People should stop passing the buck to animals. It only delays what has to be done. The modern human has a habit of evading responsibility for his actions.

Australia Bengal Cat

The Bengal cat is legal in Australia, even if occasionally someone does shoot one! Savannah cats are illegal, however. There is little difference between the cats.

Some breeders of Bengal cats in Australia can be found on a competitor's website. But as I like her site I'll link to the page where you can see a list of Bengal cat breeders in Australia.

Here is a beautiful looking Bengal cat living in Canberra, Australia.

Bengal Cat - Photo by latch.r

He is the classic brown spotted Bengal cat. They are all tabby cats by the way. "Tabby" refers to the coat type. They are very exotic looking tabby cats, however.

See four champion Bengal cats in large format pictures by clicking on this link.

Ground Shooting of Feral Cats

"Ground Shooting of Feral Cats" is recommended in New South Wales, Australia. I was told by the "experts" that this sort of thing did not happen in Australia. Well it does.

There is a "How To" set of rules on making the process as efficient as possible. The rules have been prepared by Trudy Sharp & Glen Saunders, NSW Department of Primary Industries. The PDF file containing this information has been deleted or removed from the Internet (it seems) but the html version is still in cache.

It makes for brutal reading. Australians really do have a problem with their feral cats because they see no way of dealing with them other than outright killing any way possible. The thing is this: killing feral cats leaves a vacuum. This vacuum is filled by more feral cats. You guys have created a problem, now you're going to have to put some resources towards solving it and in a humane way, not the brutal and ultimately ineffective (and certainly financially ineffecient) slaying of innocent creatures. You Aussies can be brutal and uncivilized sometimes.

They say "shooting is one of the main methods of control currently used". It is done at night from a vehicle with a search light. They say it can be humane provided the person doing the shooting is skilled. Of course no one has a clue if these people are skilled. So, it's a fair bet that they aren't.

Frankly the ground shooting of feral cats in Australia it is not much better than the Chinese eating cat meat. The person shooting has to establish the cat is not someones domestic cat before blasting it. How the hell can you do that from a vehicle at night and from a distance? Come on Aussies. The rules also state that the shooters should not kill lactating females as the kittens will starve to death. How the hell are you blood thirsty guys with rifles going to find that out? Are you going to go up to the cat and inspect her first?

For effective ground shooting of feral cats in Australia, the preferred shots are the head shot and chest shot and instructions are given in some detail as to do this effectively. Even the type of gun is recommended, namely

"small bore, high velocity, centre fire rifles fitted with a telescopic sight are preferred eg. .22-250, .22 Hornet, .222 Remington, .223 or .243 Winchester. Hollow-point or soft-nosed ammunition should always be used".

I could go on. Is Australia the only country that officially endorses killing of what was once a domestic cat with a firearm. It happens in places like Croatia and Romania. So, this seems to put the Australians on a similar footing to those countries.

I presume by the way that the alternative to ground shooting of feral cats is shooting from the air. That will, no doubt be next, with a machine gun, I expect.

It isn't just about feral cats. Feral pigs, wild dogs, rabbits and foxes etc. are shot, poisoned, trapped and gassed in the most cruel and inhumane way in Australia.

• Ground Shooting of Feral Cats to Savannah cat banned from Australia (contains a debate on the feral cat of Australia)
• Go to Feral Cats (new window) - this is a major link and the page leads to lots more on the feral cat. An interesting and important story is the one taking place in Beverly Hills. You might like to read these:
• Help Fight Beverly Hills Municipal Code - this story is about city legislators who are at the forefront of change in regards to how to deal with the feral cat.