Large feral (?) 'Siamese' cat in Australia trapped and killed causing an outcry from some sections of the community

A large feral cat in Australia has been trapped and killed causing an outcry from some sections of the community. But was the cat feral or an inside/outside domestic cat? It appears so.

Large feral cat in Australia trapped and killed causing an outcry from some sections of the community. Image: Daily Mail Australia.

Comment on the above photograph: I find it very strange. The comments on the right-hand side appear to be have been made by the owner of this 'feral cat'. That means that the cat is not feral but an outdoor/indoor domestic cat. And the person has described the cat as "Siamese". The cat does not look like a Siamese cat judging by the camera traps image. The cat does not have pointing but appears to be an even colour throughout. So, I'm not sure what is going on. And if this is the case the authorities have killed someone's pet! Damages come to mind. The owner should sue them.

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I have followed the shenanigans and attitudes of the Australian authorities towards feral cats on the continent for years. It doesn't surprise me one jot that the authorities in charge of administrating Moreton Island off the coast of south-east Queensland decided to trap a so-called feral cat weighing 6.8 kg (15 pounds) and euthanise it (kill it). At least they didn't shoot it! That is the normal way for Australia's authorities to deal with feral cats.

Trapping and euthanising is way too humane for Australians when it comes to the 'vermin' and 'pest' that is the feral cat on that continent. They hate the animal but not everyone does because in this instance this feral cat who had earned the name 'Tangalooma puma' had a following and there was an outcry when the feline was trapped and killed.

A resident caught the cat in July having set up a humane trap. He learnt the technique in a workshop run by Brisbane City Council. The cat was then euthanised by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Services in accordance with the Biosecurity Act 2014.

In order to verify that this cat was a pest by preying on native species, they conducted an autopsy and discovered the remnants of a crow and a bandicoot in the stomach. This proved to them that the cat was decimating native while species which justified their actions in killing it.

Residents of Moreton Island are allowed to have pets but as it is given over to being a national park, they can't really let their cats go outside. I'm not sure if there is a local ordinance which forbids domestic cats going outside. The reports don't comment on that.

Of course, most of the residents are happy that the cat was killed but, as mentioned, not everyone is in agreement perhaps because it was a pet cat 😎. It makes me smile ironically. No one should agree to domestic cats being killed by the authorities for doing nothing wrong. It is wanton cat killing.

It's peculiar that they dubbed the cat a "puma". It seems that in the imagination of many they exaggerated its size to that of a mountain lion (a very large feline). This is not untypical of humans. And in doing that there was a gradual swell of hatred of the animal resulting in one resident deciding to trap it.

But 15 pounds in weight for a domestic or feral cat is not that big. It is slightly bigger than normal but not huge. And if a cat has become feral for whatever reason, they're going to have to hunt to survive. 

People need to look more carefully at why the cat became feral cat in the first place. The only reason is because of human carelessness. I always think it is very unfair if the existence of an animal due to human carelessness becomes such a nuisance that they have to kill it. The animal is an innocent victim of sloppy human behaviour. This is not a reason to kill the animal.

It is a reason to educate people to stop being sloppy on cat ownership. It's a reason to be kind to the animal because they are victims as well as the animals that they eat.

Footage of elusive Andean cat captured by conservationist: 'It's incredible'

A great camera trap video of this elusive and endangered small wild cat species, about the size of a domestic cat and looking a bit like one.

I will add some more words within the next 24 hours but it is too late for me to do so right now. The video explains the salient points anyway. Such a beautiful cat. Sadly it is persecuted for ornamental and cultural reasons. I mean it is killed for the pelt. Very sad and very odd in the 21st century. Outdated mentality behind that but education is rectifying this major conservation issue. 

This is a camera trap video as you probably know. The camera is in a fixed place along a possible Andean cat trial. It is activated by movement. The conservationist got lucky and he is delighted.

Update: They've discovered the Andean cat also lives a thousand miles south of where they are known to live. The footage was captured in the Parque Mahuida nature reserve on the edge of Santiago city.

LOTS MORE ON THE ANDEAN CAT - PLEASE CLICK HERE

The guy is, I believe, Bernardo Segura. He's surprised that the Andean cat lives so near the city. It was believed that they only live in remote and extremely rocky terrain far from human settlements.

Segura believed the Andean cat could be there because there were high numbers of it favourite prey animals: mountain vizcachas. That is why he placed camera traps in the area. He lives in Santiago city. He has filmed the cat 40 times.

"So far, we have identified at least three individual adults passing continually, suggesting this is the core of their territory and not just a chance encounter" he said.

He is thrilled because he can now study the cat species without having to travel hundreds of miles and live in the field which is always more difficult. He lives within eyesight of the habitat of the Andean cat.

What is sad about this cat species is that humankind is still learning about it while at the same time exterminating it from the planet is various ways such as destroying its habitat and persecution. It'll be extinct before we get to know it. I shake my head at that thought.

I have a full page on the species which you might like to read and many other pages. Please click on the link above for those pages.

Nepal to count their Bengal tigers using 4000 camera traps

Nepal's National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Department is going to count, as accurately as possible, the number of Bengal tigers in their country. In order to achieve this accuracy they will install nearly 4000 camera traps (motion-sensitive cameras attached to vertical objects) across more than 12,000 km² (4000 mi²) of protected areas and forests.

Bengal tiger. Photo: National Trust for Nature Conservation

They want to assess whether their strategies in conserving and protecting the tiger are working. In Asia, we know that the Bengal tiger is under great pressure and has been for a very long time because of human activity which results in deforestation, loss of habitat, poaching for tiger body parts as funded by sales of traditional Chinese medicine products in China and other reasons such as the reserves being too small sometimes and the lack of proper administration of the reserves. I'm referring in the last point to India by the way.

The 2010 Tiger Conservation Plan was backed by Leonardo DiCaprio. That plan was a pledge to boost Nepal's tiger population. In 2018 it was estimated that there were 235 Bengal tigers in Nepal. The figure was up almost double from nine years earlier.

There are around 3,500 Bengal tigers in the wild. You'll varying numbers because of difficulties in counting them. Some claim 3,800.

The results of the current widespread survey are expected in July.

"Five protected areas, namely, Parsa National Park, Chitwan National Park, Banke National Park, Bardia National Park and Suklaphanta National Park harbor tiger populations. Besides these protected areas, various national and community forests serve as tiger habitats that enable habitat interconnectivity and allow their dispersal." - National Trust for Nature Conservation.