New Zealand is considering eliminating cats: "They kill endangered bird species and shouldn't be let

Kay King

11 years ago

Wow - that's one woman I would NOT get along with at all.

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MoneyMagnetMagnate

11 years ago

But....what's supposed to keep the Hobbits from breeding out of control?

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Robert Michael 11 years ago

You know what animal makes a good pet? No animal.

Dogs will bite you to death and then eat your corpse.

Yeah..... I stopped reading after that part. Fckin lunatic. New Zealand needs to ban HER.
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- Kay King 11 years ago
  
  Kurt - I agree the birds need protecting but I think the proposal to eradicate cat by killing them is immensely wrong.
  
  By all means, reduce and try to eliminate the number of feral cats and require domestic cats to be contained indoors or in outdoor enclosures.
  
  But do it in a humane way. The feral cats are following their prey nature and looking for food. The article linked is obviously written by someone who has a real dislike for domesticated pets in general. Not the kind of person likely to look for a non-destructive solution like spay/neuter.
  
  My area has had a strong spay-neuter-release program now for about five or six years and it has drastically reduced the number of feral cats. The few you see now are older and you never see kittens or young cats running wild. It's a program that works without cruelly killing the animals.
  
  Dogs will bite you to death and then eat your corpse.
  
  I temporarily cared for a dog that had been confined on a houseboat with his dead owner for almost a week. The dog was in bad shape - the owner (heart attack) was untouched.
  
  I'd say a pack of vicious dogs would be a good antidote for that woman:rolleyes:
  
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Jeff Williams

11 years ago

Originally Posted by monkeyofstick

New Zealand, eliminate cats: They kill endangered bird species and shouldn’t be let loose. - Slate Magazine

So, let me get this straight. A human, whose species is responsible for over population, polluting their own food and water supply, and inventing weapons that can destroy the earth 8 times over is claiming that cats "are a scourge to the landscape"?

Ok. :p

Does it strike anybody else as odd that whenever we have a problem to solve, our first knee-jerk reaction is to throw our hands up and say, "Aw crap, let's just kill 'em all ..."?

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DGFletcher

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Jeff Williams

So, let me get this straight. A human, whose species is responsible for over population, polluting their own food and water supply, and inventing weapons that can destroy the earth 8 times over is claiming that cats "are a scourge to the landscape"?

Ok. :p

Does it strike anybody else as odd that whenever we have a problem to solve, our first knee-jerk reaction is to throw our hands up and say, "Aw crap, let's just kill 'em all ..."?

That was my exact response as well. She had me furious at "What animal makes a good pet? No animal".

I am not a cat person. I am not a dog person. Horses look like aliens to me. (don't ask... long story)

I'm a Bearded Dragon person. Best pet ever!

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Oliver Williams

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Jeff Williams

So, let me get this straight. A human, whose species is responsible for over population, polluting their own food and water supply, and inventing weapons that can destroy the earth 8 times over is claiming that cats "are a scourge to the landscape"?

Ok. :p

Does it strike anybody else as odd that whenever we have a problem to solve, our first knee-jerk reaction is to throw our hands up and say, "Aw crap, let's just kill 'em all ..."?

I absolutely agree.

Cats are not the problem it is irresponsible pet owners that are the problem. Why not introduce stricter policies on pet owners instead of "eliminate" the pets?

Oh yeah that's right it's because the animals don't have a voice, or a vote.

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Lloyd Buchinski

11 years ago

There is something to be said for the article. People routinely protest wind farms because they kill a few birds a year. The numbers there are miniscule compared the the number that cats kill.

People seem to be sentimental one way about the wind farms doing it, and the other way about the cats doing it.

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Frank Donovan

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Lloyd Buchinski

There is something to be said for the article. People routinely protest wind farms because they kill a few birds a year. The numbers there are miniscule compared the the number that cats kill.

It's true that domestic cats kill millions of songbirds every year, but that's hardly surprising. They're natural predators.

The solution isn't elimination, as the animal hater in the article proposes - she'd probably advocate a cull on the excess bird numbers that would result. :rolleyes:

All an owner has to do is attach a bell to the cat's collar if let outside to roam - at least in urban areas where pet cats aren't kept primarily for pest control. That would solve most of the problem immediately.

Frank

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Kurt

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Frank Donovan

It's true that domestic cats kill millions of songbirds every year, but that's hardly surprising. They're natural predators.

The solution isn't elimination, as the animal hater in the article proposes - she'd probably advocate a cull on the excess bird numbers that would result. :rolleyes:

All an owner has to do is attach a bell to the cat's collar if let outside to roam - at least in urban areas where pet cats aren't kept primarily for pest control. That would solve most of the problem immediately.

Frank

Some of the articles I've read say the bell doesn't actually work.

The solution is to get rid of the feral cats and to keep pet cats inside. Either that, or New Zealand won't have many birds in a few decades. Just like Guam no longer has any birds due to the brown snake being introduced accidently. And there is something very sad about a place with no birds that once had them.

Morgan points out that 40 percent of New Zealand’s land birds are extinct, and 37 percent of the survivors are endangered.

What about these animals that have evolved with no defenses against cats?

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Frank Donovan

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Kurt

Some of the articles I've read say the bell doesn't actually work.

Guess that would depend on the size of the bell.

A survey by the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) showed that domestic cats fitted with bells killed up to 41% fewer birds. There are also collar-mounted electronic devices which may be even more effective.

The RSPB: Advice: Collar that cat

Feral cats are an issue, but I'm not aware they're the main problem in the UK. It's more the lazy pet owners who just leave their cats out for long stretches or while at work. And in our smaller, more enclosed gardens, it isn't just the young birds that are at risk.

Frank

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Kurt

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Frank Donovan

Guess that would depend on the size of the bell.

A survey by the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) showed that domestic cats fitted with bells killed up to 41% fewer birds. There are also collar-mounted electronic devices which may be even more effective.

The RSPB: Advice: Collar that cat

Feral cats are an issue, but I'm not aware they're the main problem in the UK. It's more the lazy pet owners who just leave their cats out for long stretches or while at work. And in our smaller, more enclosed gardens, it isn't just the young birds that are at risk.

Frank

In New Zealand, the problem is with birds that nest on the ground. They have no defenses and you can put a siren on a cat, the nestlings simply have no defenses against the cat and are "sitting ducks", pardon the pun.

IMO, the problem in the US is with cat owners that let their cats out with no respect for the local wild life or neighbors who may not want cats in their yard and/or garden. If you want a cat, fine. But keep it on your own property and away from wildlife. My uncle built a cat habitat so his cats can go in and out, but aren't running loose all around the neighborhood. It can be done.

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Kurt

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Lloyd Buchinski

There is something to be said for the article. People routinely protest wind farms because they kill a few birds a year. The numbers there are miniscule compared the the number that cats kill.

People seem to be sentimental one way about the wind farms doing it, and the other way about the cats doing it.

Household cats in the US kill billions of birds every year. At least the birds here have evolved with predators so they have some defenses against cats. But domestic cats have still had a major impact on native bird populations in the US.

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Kay King

11 years ago

to get rid of the feral cats

The answer can be simple and humane. Instead of spending money to find and kill feral cats - you do a spay/neuter and release. The population will quickly begin to decline and within just a few years the only wild cats will be those dumped or lost by pet owners.

Feral cats kill birds for food - it's a natural order of things. Stop the population growth and you stop the problem without a huge public outcry from animal lovers.

My own little cat herd chases birds and squirrels a lot - but seldom catch a bird and the squirrels laugh at them.

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Kurt

11 years ago

Originally Posted by Kay King

The answer can be simple and humane. Instead of spending money to find and kill feral cats - you do a spay/neuter and release. The population will quickly begin to decline and within just a few years the only wild cats will be those dumped or lost by pet owners.

Feral cats kill birds for food - it's a natural order of things. Stop the population growth and you stop the problem without a huge public outcry from animal lovers.

My own little cat herd chases birds and squirrels a lot - but seldom catch a bird and the squirrels laugh at them.

I didn't say to kill them. I said get rid of them. Spay and neuter is a method of getting rid of them, as is educating people not to release cats into the wild and to keep their cats inside, preventing feral cats in the first place. House cats live MUCH longer than cats let outdoors. Good for the pet, good for the birds.

The problem isn't mainly with adult birds and squirrels. The problem is with the babies that are totally defenseless, which is one reason bells on collars don't work.

While feral cats do kill for food, it is NOT the natural order of things in New Zealand.

Man has greatly increased the number of cats. "Naturally", these cats also had predators to keep their populations in check. Without these predators, as well as being feed and taken care of by humans, the cat population has exploded and nature is totally out of balance.

Any true animal lover would see that the birds need help and wouldn't favor cats while "flipping the bird" to the birds.

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kindsvater

11 years ago

There's some food markets in China who might be interested in helping solve this problem.

.

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lcombs

11 years ago

I think, oddly enough considering the subject, that cats and humans are the only animals that kill for fun.
We can't go around killing people, (legally), but we can gas the cats.
I have hunting friends who will shoot any cat they see while hunting.
There again rather odd; People out hunting for fun killing for fun the only other animal that kills for fun.:confused:

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lcombs

11 years ago

Originally Posted by lcombs

I think, oddly enough considering the subject, that cats and humans are the only animals that kill for fun.
We can't go around killing people, (legally), but we can gas the cats.
I have hunting friends who will shoot any cat they see while hunting.
There again rather odd; People out hunting for fun killing for fun the only other animal that kills for fun.:confused:

Wait.... What did he just say? :confused:

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Kay King 11 years ago

Cats don't kill "for fun" - they kill from the genetic instinct of a prey animal. They will toy with a catch sometimes - it's part of the prey behavior.

Only humans kill for fun. Aren't we special?
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- ExRat 11 years ago
  
  Hi,
  
  My first response to this story was to notice that someone called Gareth from NZ had made a website which was now going viral in all of the mainstream media worldwide.
  
  I wondered if it was the Gareth from NZ that posts here.
  
  I then read that it was the guy who sold trademe, so I figured that it probably wasn't our Gareth.
  
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  Roger Davis
  
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hardraysnight

11 years ago

'considering' is not an accurate word

our second favourite crackpot millionaire, wants it, to protect local birdlife

it has gathered little support

and phoenix drew for a change, instead of losing

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New Zealand is considering eliminating cats: "They kill endangered bird species and shouldn't be let

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