S
Snowman
Guest
http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ockham/stories/s64308.htm
Broadcast Sunday 7 November 1999
with Robyn Williams
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Summary:
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Every year domestic cats as well as feral cats kill thousands of native animals in Australia.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Transcript:
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Robyn Williams: Cats joined people about 9,000 years ago, probably in Egypt. They were attracted by the abundant pests around the grain stores; agriculture, you see, had recently been invented and rodents rushed to join the feast. Wild cats, spotting a convenient, concentrated supply of grub, moved in. They've been with us ever since.
In Australia, as Sue Taylor recounts, wild cats have been around for hundreds of years, long before Captain Cook arrived. So to remove them we must understand their history and their appetites.
Sue Taylor is a writer who lives in Melbourne.
Sue Taylor: Recently I was in Rutherglen, principally to stock my cellar, but as always, wanting to do as much bird watching along the way as possible. A farmer noticed the binoculars around my neck and told me where I could see a pair of Bush Stone-Curlews.
Of course I immediately forgot my wine tasting and followed his directions. I had a good look, but unfortunately I didn't find the curlews.
I was back at the farmer's place again later in the day and told him I hadn't been able to locate the birds. He said that he'd seen them in the vicinity for years, although he didn't think they'd ever successfully reared young.
Bush Stone-Curlew are extremely well camouflaged; if they stand perfectly still, you can look directly at them and not see them. This man was a farmer, and I respected his knowledge of the land, but I was not convinced about his ornithological credentials. I wanted to believe that the Stone-Curlews had bred but he hadn't been aware of it. I commented that they were very difficult to see if they stood still, and perhaps there had been young and he hadn't seen. In a tone which said he expected such ignorance from a city slicker, he explained that Stone-Curlews are ground birds so it is most unlikely that they could have reared young, with so many foxes and cats around.
As he spoke, I saw a cat behind him, basking in the sun!
'There's one now,' I said, pointing at the cat.
'Oh, he wouldn't do any harm', the farmer said, 'he's very well fed.'
I felt quite exasperated. I knew he would not be persuaded by anything a mere city slicker could say. He is a man of the land who cares sufficiently to regret the fact that the Bush Stone-Curlew can't raise young successfully, and who knows that cats are a part of the problem, but who can't accept that his precious well fed moggy could be to blame.
Well intentioned people will persist in believing that their dear little Fluffy couldn't harm native species. How can we educate them? People who might otherwise be responsible pet owners still allow their cats to roam at large, not knowing or caring where they go or what they do, but kidding themselves that their cat is well fed, so it wouldn't harm anything. People get very emotional about their cats and refuse to let facts stand in their way. If they grudgingly admit that some cats might be a problem, it is always other people's cats, never theirs.
Cats are a problem. Cats share with mankind the dubious distinction of killing for fun. Cats hunt by instinct. In Australia, cats are known to feed on more than 347 native species: that's 186 species of birds, 64 mammals, 86 reptiles, at least 10 amphibians and numerous invertebrates. We know that feral cats are a problem but there is little point in targeting feral cats and leaving domestic cats uncontrolled. A domestic cat will hunt and kill no matter how well fed it is. One study estimated that on average each pet cat kills 32 vertebrates each year. It is estimated that there are 3-million pet cats in Australia. This adds up to a total of 96-million birds, mammals and reptiles killed each year by domestic cats alone.
I know people, people who would call themselves 'animal lovers' who put a bell around their cat's neck and think that they've done all they can for the birds. These bells rarely work. It seems to me that in fact they have a negative impact because they allow the cats' owners to think that they are doing something positive, that they have addressed the issue and it's no longer a problem.
There are too many cats in Australia and numbers are increasing. In Victoria, each year 45,000 cats end up in animal shelters. Fewer than 1% are claimed by owners. One in three Australian households keeps domestic cats. Domestic cats kill millions of birds annually and thousands of native animals, such as Ring-tailed Possums. Domestic cats provide a high density reservoir of breeding animals for feral populations.
But just how big a problem are feral cats? Based on a very conservative estimate of one cat per 150 hectares, Australia supports over 5-million feral cats.
If a female cat lives for three years and produces two litters per annum, averaging 4.4 kittens, in her life she and her female progeny will produce over 100 cats. If she lives another year, the total will be nearly 350. These are very conservative figures because cats can produce four litters per annum, and can have up to nine kittens per litter.
Cats have been in Australia a long time, but they are not indigenous, they do not belong. It is commonly accepted now that cats were present on this continent before Captain Phillip brought them with him on the First Fleet in 1788. They could have arrived via Dutch shipwrecks on the west coast in the 17th century. They could also have been introduced by Indonesian fishermen. In any case, the Aborigines in Central Australia were familiar with cats before the white explorers arrived there. Cats are adapted to get sufficient moisture from their prey and they do not require drinking water, so they can survive well in Australia's arid outback.
Henty brought some to Portland in 1834. Eric Rolls tells us that in 1888 cats were being advertised in the newspaper as a means of keeping rabbits under control. Thousands of cats were released in an effort to solve the rabbit problem. Studies have shown that rabbits are the main food item of feral cats in Victoria. It is fair to assume that this is also the case in some other parts of Australia.
Man introduced one problem, the rabbit, so he then introduces another, possibly greater problem, the cat, in an unscientific, unproven attempt to eradicate the first problem. Then with a little help from mankind, calici virus is spread to control rabbit numbers. But what is the effect on introduced predators like the fox and the cat, and native raptors that have adopted to prey primarily on the rabbit? We do not yet know the effect of reduced rabbit populations on the Wedge-tailed Eagle, for example. And the cats whose diet is predominantly rabbit, what will they feed on? Presumably they will turn to native wildlife.
A cat eats 300 grams of meat each day. A male blue wren weighs 8.9 grams. A male brown antechinus weighs 35 grams. So, a feral cat surviving on blue wrens and brown antechinus would need to kill the equivalent of seven antechinus and six blue wrens each day. These are average figures. A larger cat would require more food.
The average rabbit weighs two kilograms. That's equivalent to 225 male blue wrens. The figures speak for themselves.
I am not suggesting that we shouldn't do what we can to eradicate rabbits. I am suggesting that we should first consider the effect of our action on other species. It may be that there should be concurrent programs aimed at eradicating foxes and feral cats.
In fact the Draft Threat Abatement Plan for Competition and Land Degradation by Feral Rabbits issued by Environment Australia in April 1998 stated that, 'In some areas it might be deemed prudent to control programs targeting introduced predators during any rabbit control program so that encounters between threatened fauna and predators are minimised.'
The bad news is that as far as I have been able to ascertain, with the premature release of the calici virus, no control programs targeting feral cats have been undertaken. I understand that in South Western Western Australia there was a control program targeting foxes.
The good news is that, and again I quote the Draft Threat Abatement Plant for Rabbits, 'In the long term a permanent reduction in rabbit numbers may be sufficient to reduce densities of introduced predators such as the fox and the feral cat.'
But how long is the long term? And how many native animals will be killed in the meantime? How many will succumb to extinction?
In the last 200 years, dozens of animals have become extinct in Australia; 23 birds are extinct and a further 127 are rare and endangered. I do not know what part cats have played in these extinctions. According to the Victorian Department of Natural resources and Environment in that State today there are 27 species of wildlife threatened by the cat. There are 14 birds, 11 mammals and 2 reptiles. And remember, domestic cats in Australia are killing 96-million vertebrates each year.
What more can be done? There is legislation in most States regulating domestic cats. Brochures from local government encourage responsible pet ownership. Kits are available for use in schools. Burke's Backyard produced an excellent segment on domestic cats which is available on video from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment in Melbourne. But still people do not understand. They register their cat, put a bell around its neck and think it is OK. If they do concede that it does kill birds, they will justify it by saying that they're not native birds. They don't stop to think that cats in suburbia can't kill what is no longer there. Or even why it is no longer there.
Pet owners pay the cat registration fee to their municipal council and think they are then absolved of responsibility. Where I live in suburban Melbourne there is a $150 on-the-spot fine if you allow your dog to wander at night. There is no fine for allowing your cat to wander at night. This anomaly should be rectified.
Still people dump their unwanted kittens in the bush, thinking it is kinder than putting them down. Kinder to whom? Not to the native wildlife the kittens will have to kill if they are to survive.
I do not know if it will ever be possible to eradicate feral cats from Australia. But I do know that the very least we can do is to stop making the situation worse. To stop pretending that the domestic cat is not part of the problem. To educate cat owners that cats are bred to kill, no matter how well fed they are. To ensure domestic cats are not allowed to run loose where they are not welcome. To make people understand that dumping unwanted kittens in the bush is not a kindness, it is cruel and irresponsible.
We should be doing our best to eradicate feral cats and to control domestic cats.
The night-time inquiry 'Have you put the cat out, dear?' should become 'Have you put the cat in dear?' Cats and wildlife are incompatible.
[/FONT]
Broadcast Sunday 7 November 1999
with Robyn Williams
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Summary:
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Every year domestic cats as well as feral cats kill thousands of native animals in Australia.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Transcript:
[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Robyn Williams: Cats joined people about 9,000 years ago, probably in Egypt. They were attracted by the abundant pests around the grain stores; agriculture, you see, had recently been invented and rodents rushed to join the feast. Wild cats, spotting a convenient, concentrated supply of grub, moved in. They've been with us ever since.
In Australia, as Sue Taylor recounts, wild cats have been around for hundreds of years, long before Captain Cook arrived. So to remove them we must understand their history and their appetites.
Sue Taylor is a writer who lives in Melbourne.
Sue Taylor: Recently I was in Rutherglen, principally to stock my cellar, but as always, wanting to do as much bird watching along the way as possible. A farmer noticed the binoculars around my neck and told me where I could see a pair of Bush Stone-Curlews.
Of course I immediately forgot my wine tasting and followed his directions. I had a good look, but unfortunately I didn't find the curlews.
I was back at the farmer's place again later in the day and told him I hadn't been able to locate the birds. He said that he'd seen them in the vicinity for years, although he didn't think they'd ever successfully reared young.
Bush Stone-Curlew are extremely well camouflaged; if they stand perfectly still, you can look directly at them and not see them. This man was a farmer, and I respected his knowledge of the land, but I was not convinced about his ornithological credentials. I wanted to believe that the Stone-Curlews had bred but he hadn't been aware of it. I commented that they were very difficult to see if they stood still, and perhaps there had been young and he hadn't seen. In a tone which said he expected such ignorance from a city slicker, he explained that Stone-Curlews are ground birds so it is most unlikely that they could have reared young, with so many foxes and cats around.
As he spoke, I saw a cat behind him, basking in the sun!
'There's one now,' I said, pointing at the cat.
'Oh, he wouldn't do any harm', the farmer said, 'he's very well fed.'
I felt quite exasperated. I knew he would not be persuaded by anything a mere city slicker could say. He is a man of the land who cares sufficiently to regret the fact that the Bush Stone-Curlew can't raise young successfully, and who knows that cats are a part of the problem, but who can't accept that his precious well fed moggy could be to blame.
Well intentioned people will persist in believing that their dear little Fluffy couldn't harm native species. How can we educate them? People who might otherwise be responsible pet owners still allow their cats to roam at large, not knowing or caring where they go or what they do, but kidding themselves that their cat is well fed, so it wouldn't harm anything. People get very emotional about their cats and refuse to let facts stand in their way. If they grudgingly admit that some cats might be a problem, it is always other people's cats, never theirs.
Cats are a problem. Cats share with mankind the dubious distinction of killing for fun. Cats hunt by instinct. In Australia, cats are known to feed on more than 347 native species: that's 186 species of birds, 64 mammals, 86 reptiles, at least 10 amphibians and numerous invertebrates. We know that feral cats are a problem but there is little point in targeting feral cats and leaving domestic cats uncontrolled. A domestic cat will hunt and kill no matter how well fed it is. One study estimated that on average each pet cat kills 32 vertebrates each year. It is estimated that there are 3-million pet cats in Australia. This adds up to a total of 96-million birds, mammals and reptiles killed each year by domestic cats alone.
I know people, people who would call themselves 'animal lovers' who put a bell around their cat's neck and think that they've done all they can for the birds. These bells rarely work. It seems to me that in fact they have a negative impact because they allow the cats' owners to think that they are doing something positive, that they have addressed the issue and it's no longer a problem.
There are too many cats in Australia and numbers are increasing. In Victoria, each year 45,000 cats end up in animal shelters. Fewer than 1% are claimed by owners. One in three Australian households keeps domestic cats. Domestic cats kill millions of birds annually and thousands of native animals, such as Ring-tailed Possums. Domestic cats provide a high density reservoir of breeding animals for feral populations.
But just how big a problem are feral cats? Based on a very conservative estimate of one cat per 150 hectares, Australia supports over 5-million feral cats.
If a female cat lives for three years and produces two litters per annum, averaging 4.4 kittens, in her life she and her female progeny will produce over 100 cats. If she lives another year, the total will be nearly 350. These are very conservative figures because cats can produce four litters per annum, and can have up to nine kittens per litter.
Cats have been in Australia a long time, but they are not indigenous, they do not belong. It is commonly accepted now that cats were present on this continent before Captain Phillip brought them with him on the First Fleet in 1788. They could have arrived via Dutch shipwrecks on the west coast in the 17th century. They could also have been introduced by Indonesian fishermen. In any case, the Aborigines in Central Australia were familiar with cats before the white explorers arrived there. Cats are adapted to get sufficient moisture from their prey and they do not require drinking water, so they can survive well in Australia's arid outback.
Henty brought some to Portland in 1834. Eric Rolls tells us that in 1888 cats were being advertised in the newspaper as a means of keeping rabbits under control. Thousands of cats were released in an effort to solve the rabbit problem. Studies have shown that rabbits are the main food item of feral cats in Victoria. It is fair to assume that this is also the case in some other parts of Australia.
Man introduced one problem, the rabbit, so he then introduces another, possibly greater problem, the cat, in an unscientific, unproven attempt to eradicate the first problem. Then with a little help from mankind, calici virus is spread to control rabbit numbers. But what is the effect on introduced predators like the fox and the cat, and native raptors that have adopted to prey primarily on the rabbit? We do not yet know the effect of reduced rabbit populations on the Wedge-tailed Eagle, for example. And the cats whose diet is predominantly rabbit, what will they feed on? Presumably they will turn to native wildlife.
A cat eats 300 grams of meat each day. A male blue wren weighs 8.9 grams. A male brown antechinus weighs 35 grams. So, a feral cat surviving on blue wrens and brown antechinus would need to kill the equivalent of seven antechinus and six blue wrens each day. These are average figures. A larger cat would require more food.
The average rabbit weighs two kilograms. That's equivalent to 225 male blue wrens. The figures speak for themselves.
I am not suggesting that we shouldn't do what we can to eradicate rabbits. I am suggesting that we should first consider the effect of our action on other species. It may be that there should be concurrent programs aimed at eradicating foxes and feral cats.
In fact the Draft Threat Abatement Plan for Competition and Land Degradation by Feral Rabbits issued by Environment Australia in April 1998 stated that, 'In some areas it might be deemed prudent to control programs targeting introduced predators during any rabbit control program so that encounters between threatened fauna and predators are minimised.'
The bad news is that as far as I have been able to ascertain, with the premature release of the calici virus, no control programs targeting feral cats have been undertaken. I understand that in South Western Western Australia there was a control program targeting foxes.
The good news is that, and again I quote the Draft Threat Abatement Plant for Rabbits, 'In the long term a permanent reduction in rabbit numbers may be sufficient to reduce densities of introduced predators such as the fox and the feral cat.'
But how long is the long term? And how many native animals will be killed in the meantime? How many will succumb to extinction?
In the last 200 years, dozens of animals have become extinct in Australia; 23 birds are extinct and a further 127 are rare and endangered. I do not know what part cats have played in these extinctions. According to the Victorian Department of Natural resources and Environment in that State today there are 27 species of wildlife threatened by the cat. There are 14 birds, 11 mammals and 2 reptiles. And remember, domestic cats in Australia are killing 96-million vertebrates each year.
What more can be done? There is legislation in most States regulating domestic cats. Brochures from local government encourage responsible pet ownership. Kits are available for use in schools. Burke's Backyard produced an excellent segment on domestic cats which is available on video from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment in Melbourne. But still people do not understand. They register their cat, put a bell around its neck and think it is OK. If they do concede that it does kill birds, they will justify it by saying that they're not native birds. They don't stop to think that cats in suburbia can't kill what is no longer there. Or even why it is no longer there.
Pet owners pay the cat registration fee to their municipal council and think they are then absolved of responsibility. Where I live in suburban Melbourne there is a $150 on-the-spot fine if you allow your dog to wander at night. There is no fine for allowing your cat to wander at night. This anomaly should be rectified.
Still people dump their unwanted kittens in the bush, thinking it is kinder than putting them down. Kinder to whom? Not to the native wildlife the kittens will have to kill if they are to survive.
I do not know if it will ever be possible to eradicate feral cats from Australia. But I do know that the very least we can do is to stop making the situation worse. To stop pretending that the domestic cat is not part of the problem. To educate cat owners that cats are bred to kill, no matter how well fed they are. To ensure domestic cats are not allowed to run loose where they are not welcome. To make people understand that dumping unwanted kittens in the bush is not a kindness, it is cruel and irresponsible.
We should be doing our best to eradicate feral cats and to control domestic cats.
The night-time inquiry 'Have you put the cat out, dear?' should become 'Have you put the cat in dear?' Cats and wildlife are incompatible.
[/FONT]
