Australian Govt to kill 2 million feral cats

[Catherine]

Why do we never realise that we are responsible for a problem and have an obligation to fix it.

Killing the cats is not a fix. Taking care of them and meeting their needs is a fix. People have let their cats have many kittens and have dumped them. This should never have happened in the first place. Cats are not native to Australia so no cat should ever have been released.

The people who make decisions like this are stupid and cruel. They can't see better solutions and they can't see how this solution can have disastrous consequences.

I shudder to think of how this will all turn out.

[platy]

Hmm a highly controversial topic, irrespective of the field I work in.

With the chance of being berated, I don't think I'll be signing the petition. Look I am skeptical (it's my middle name), culling 2 million cats is not enough.
Trap neuter release programs have not been shown to work here, and even then they're released back into the wild where they don't belong to wreak havoc on wildlife.
I am all for the removal of feral animals from sensitive areas and islands.
Anyway, many things have been said by leading ecologists who study the affects of feral cats on wildlife.

How old is that petition because Abbott isn't even our PM anymore?

[Catherine]

I don't know how old the petition is.

You are right that the cats need to be removed from the islands where they are causing so much damage. Removal does not have to involve killing. The TNR program has proved successful in urban settings. I don't know if it would work in the same form in a sensitive ecosystem. Still trapping the cats does not need to lead to killing them. There is a certain responsibility for having released them in the first place.

[platy]

If they're not euthanased what is going to happen then? You want all these ferals to go to shelters to try and find people to pay money to adopt them?
Say they then go to all these different homes, with well-meaning people, who then let them outside. They're outside, they go hunting and they're killing wildlife. It hasn't solved anything.
It's all well and good to tell people to keep their cats indoors, and have cat curfews, but it's virtually impossible to enforce and patrol. I definitely think there needs to be other methods than just killing willy-nilly. Tougher penalties, stricter laws, actual enforcement. But it generally comes down to what is more feasible and cost effective.

I can understand people saying it's not the cats fault and why should they pay. But I don't see people caring when invasive rats, mice, reptiles, even some birds etc are killed. They associate these cats with their pets, which they're not.

[Catherine]

I don't like to see invasive reptiles, birds and rats killed.  We create a problem and we solve it by killing the problem we created.
Also when they do big culls, other animals get killed  in the process. That seems to defeat the purpose of killing cats to save other wildlife.


Feral cats seldom work out as pets so it is unlikely they can be adopted. I am not sure what they can do, but wholesale killing is a cruel solution. The cats can't be left to reproduce. I get that. They are destroying the local wildlife. They don't belong and they are destroying so much that does belong.

The problem of people letting their cats out is a slightly different issue. There needs to be a public education program to teach people why they can't let their cats out to kill local birds. It could be taught in the schools. Children are often more willing to learn.

Preventing litters of unwanted kittens is another issue. There needs to be a push to get people to neuter their cats. Maybe their needs to be a subsidy or something to bring the price of neutering down. How about a tax break. If you neuter your cat you can claim the expanse on your income tax. It might work.

[platy]

A post from the Threatened Species Commissioner on why TNR is not viable in Australia;

Why can't we trap, neuter and release (‪#‎TNR‬) ‪#‎FeralCats‬ instead of euthanising them? This is a question I get asked on Facebook and Twitter by lots of passionate people. And I recognise and acknowledge that passion. I care deeply about animals and animal welfare and have been a cat owner for most of my life. So it's a question I've asked myself as well.

Why isn't #TNR an ethically acceptable way of reducing #FeralCats in Australia? Why do we euthanise cats as part of the fight against ‪#‎extinction‬? The answer is that #TNR is not justifiable, effective or humane across Australia's vast expanses. It also doesn't solve the problem of ongoing predation in the places where our animals are being driven to #extinction by #FeralCats. Further, the stress and discomfort of #TNR is not always humane for #FeralCats, particularly in regional and remote areas where long journeys would be needed to transport feral cats, in cages, back to neutering facilities.

I recently reviewed a 2014 report from the Parliament of NSW which weighed up arguments for and against #TNR. The report assessed international evidence of #TNR's viability and effectiveness. Key to it's findings were that for #TNR to work, it needed to be: (i) with small populations of cats; (ii) in closed systems and confined locations; (iii) in places removed from native wildlife; and (iv) in places where native animals had evolved to live with predators like cats. None of these necessary conditions for effective #TNR are the case across this vast continent, where Australia's bilbies, bandicoots, night parrots and rock-wallabies need saving (as well as another 120 Australian animals at risk from #FeralCats).

Millions of #FeralCats are roaming across Australia's millions and millions of square kilometres. And Australia and Antarctica are the only continents on Earth where cats did not evolve with native wildlife, so our native animals have no natural responses or adaptions.

The report also found that to succeed, #TNR needed to achieve very high sterilisation and adoption rates. #FeralCats have spread across 99.6% of Australia's vast expanse. Catching and sterilising millions of ‪#‎Fer‬alCats across Australia, enough to see feral cat populations reduce, would be impossible. So #TNR is not an option if we really want to save our wildlife from harm and #extinction.

What did the report find to be humane and effective in addressing #FeralCats? On the basis of the scientific evidence and humaneness measures, and considering the places where our ‪#‎ThreatenedSpecies‬ are at risk, the RSPCA Australia was quoted in the conclusion as finding that "targeted and ongoing lethal control in priority areas, where adverse environmental impacts are highest" was the most cost effective and humane approach. This is also our approach, to euthanise feral cats in high-value conservation areas in a humane, effective and justifiable manner. The RSPCA found that #TNR would only be justifiable, effective and humane in "well-defined" areas where the cats have "limited impact on wildlife". And even then, it added that such a strategy would be "difficult to recommend" as a long-term option given the opportunity costs. In other words, the only places where #TNR would be worth considering was places where our wildlife is not at risk from #FeralCats. And even then, the money would be better spent on education about responsible pet-ownership.

This is why the #ThreatenedSpecies Strategy's feral cat targets to 2020 include: five new feral-cat free islands, ten new large feral-cat free fenced areas, 12 million hectares of best practice feral cat management in open landscapes, and at least two million #FeralCats culled nation-wide. And as always, within these targets we are focused on high-value conservation areas and committed to action that is humane, effective and justifiable.

A link to the report is below if you'd like to read it.

http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/…/Feral...0do%20trap…
PestSmart - Invasive Animals CRC, Invasive Species Council

[Catherine]

I am glad you posted that. It is good to know what is going on an why.

I know the TNR works in urban areas. It eventually reduces the number of cats because most of a population can be caught and sterilized. Maintaining them in the area prevents other cats from moving in.

Australia is facing a problem of millions of cats over thousands of miles. You have whole islands that are over run with cats.
The mind can't take in the vastness of the problem. I can see why TNR is not possible, at least not the way it is usually done. It wouldn't be possible to sterilize enough cats to reduce the numbers.

Leaving the cats to reproduce and increase in numbers will end in an eco-disaster for native Australian wildlife.

Thinking of killing 2 million cats is a shocking proposal.

I don't know what the solution is. Australia is faced with a problem that was started generations ago when people let cats run wild. These cats are probably really feral because they are not people dependent like urban feral cats.

I don't know what can be done to save these cats. No shelter can take two million mostly unadoptable cats. The numbers are staggering.