Tag Archives: feral cats

Magpies, kookaburras and willie wagtails among common Australian birds ‘starting to disappear’,

Magpies, laughing kookaburras and willie wagtails are on the decline in some regions, a report tracking the health of Australia’s bird populations has found.  Birdlife Australia, analysed data collected in more than 400,000 surveys across the country, the majority done by bird-loving volunteers.  The State of Australia’s Birds Report states that while predators including cats, habitat loss and even changes in climate might be to blame, more research was needed before certain species became endangered.  Habitat loss and changes are polite euphemisms for human destruction, such as land clearing and degradation for mining, logging, industries and urbanization!
kookaburra

(image: “Poser (543749091)” by aussiegall from Sydney, Australia – PoserUploaded by russavia. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

Sightings of kookaburras have decreased at a rate of 40 per cent across south-eastern Australia. Magpies have declined significantly on the east coast, a new report shows. The Eastern curlew, a migratory shorebird that has recently been declared critically endangered.

Editor of Australian Birdlife Sean Dooley said the decline of common birds in parts of Australia was a surprise to researchers.

Numbats, malas, bandicoots and bettongs are among the mammals the Federal Government’s identified in its new Threatened Species Strategy. The birds include the mallee emu-wren and Norfolk Island boobook owl.

The Environment Minister Greg Hunt says feral cats are a serious threat to native species and that he wants the feral animals eradicated from five islands and 10 mainland enclosures within five years. Hunt has also set a target of 10 new cat-free enclosures on mainland Australia by 2020.

Dr Euan Ritchie is with Deakin University. He wants native predators like dingoes and Tasmanian devils reintroduced, as a natural way of culling foxes and cats. This is an enlightened approach to the status of Dingoes that have been vilified and trapped over decades as a threat to livestock! He also wants Tasmanian devils back to the mainland.

Ms Jane Nathan says in The Age 16 July 2015 that Melbourne is headed for eight million by 2050, and goes on to describe what it will be like in the most wildly optimistic tones imaginable. She says “our social harmony, kaleidoscopic culture, clean food, innovative education systems and greatly reduced crime rates are the envy of the world. Our neighbourhoods are artistic, green and pristine”.

According to MP Kelvin Thomson, in the Federal seat of Wills, it “Sounds like paradise. The problem is, there is no evidence to support it…And as for green and pristine, just this week it was reported that even common Australian birds, like the Willy Wagtail and the Kookaburra, were being sighted much less frequently. The reason for this is that the streets of mature gardens that used to give our birds food and shelter have been replaced by multi-unit developments and high rise. The vegetation has been destroyed, and the birds have died out”.

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Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary – expansive, ambitious and visionary

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Work is underway at Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary north-west of Alice Springs to create a feral animal-free zone by building a 44-kilometre fence. It has been described as the largest feral cat eradication project in the world, and will eventually span 100,000 hectares. It’s ambitious, audacious and visionary.

Australian Wildlife Conservancy want to get rid of feral cats. At the moment the best method is building a fence, eradicating feral animals from within it, and reintroducing native animals. Also, weeds, mismanaged fire, and other feral animals were the biggest threats to Australia’s native animal population. So, by keeping feral animals out, it is hoped the sanctuary will see the return of 10 native species, including the central rock rat, mala, numbats, bilbies and phascogales.

The Shark Bay Mouse is one of 10 creatures to benefit from a $10million cat-proof fence being built in the central desert region to help combat an extinction crisis. Australian Wildlife Conservancy chief executive Atticus Fleming said 30 native mammal species had disappeared since European settlement — the worst extinction rate on the planet.

(image: Shark Bay Mouse - https://www.sharkbay.org/nature/animals/)

Fleming’s being very cautious- easy to blame the “feral animals” out there, and they are the local threat, but he’s silent about urbanisation, livestock industries, land clearing and agricultural expansion?  He claims there are up to 11million feral cats across the country, “threatening at least 60 native mammals that are currently in danger of extinction. They include bilbies, numbats, bettongs and rock wallabies.”

Cats are domestic animals, pets owned by people. People fail to care for them, allow them to over-breed, and then escape, and they end up feral- eking out a living by killing!
They are a human-caused problem and cat ownership must be more regulated, with mandatory desexing and microchipping.

Allard maintains that, once the feral animals have been culled, the native population will be reintroduced and at least 10 native species should begin to thrive once more.

Once the fence is complete and feral animals are cleared from inside, at least 10 endangered mammals will be reintroduced, including some species that have been gone from the region for ­decades. Among them is the mala, or rufous hare-wallaby, which was once common in central Australia but has existed only in captivity since 1991. Local Warlpiri men and women have been employed by the AWC to construct the enclosure, first by operating the machinery needed to establish the fence.

19th-century explorers such as Ernest Giles, who encountered an abundance of native mammals, wrote in his journal that the hills in central Australia “swarmed” with rock-wallabies. (now they would be described as a “plague” and “over-abundant”)  That species is now seriously endangered. Australians colonial expansion has been devastating on our wildlife, and now we are the biggest mammal exterminators of the modern world!

The Newhaven eradication fence will reportedly be nearly two metres high, with a curved top and netting at the base to deter animals seeking to get in or out of the premises. “There will be two electric wires as well that run on the outside,” Newhaven manager Joe Schofield confirms.

-The feral-proof fence will be constructed by early 2018.
-The removal of feral cats and foxes will occur during 2017/18.
-The reintroduction of endangered mammals will start in early 2019.
-Stage one will cost around $5 million over the next four years.

Donations to AWC are tax deductible.

 

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Pass legislation requiring all cat owners to confine cats to their property 24 hours a day, as well as sterilise, register and microchip all domesticated cats in Victoria

Petition:
Across Victoria and Australia we are losing millions of native animals each day as a direct result of feral and domesticated cats. Currently there is no suitable way to control the impacts of feral cats, but the impacts of domesticated cats can easily be halted by simply confining you cats to your property 24 hours a day, sterilising, registering and micro-chipping all domesticated cats. Cats are also able to kill multiple animals a night; the current consensus is that feral cats alone kill upwards of 75 million native animals a night.

There is no arguing that feral cats have massive impacts on the native environment, and this holds true for domesticated cats as they are not just night time hunters; they are opportunistic hunters and will hunt day or night for food or for pleasure. A priority of the Victorian Government should be to conserve what little of the natural environment that we have left, as cats have already devastated the local bird, mammal, reptile and insect populations. Further changes of the natural environment may have large flow on impacts, including a reduction in pollination, opening up areas to other exotic species and the loss of productivity.

Aside from the direct impacts on native flora and fauna, the next biggest problem associated with cats is their ability to spread Toxoplasmosis. Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease that can occur in most warm blooded animals including humans, and its primary host is cats. It is spread through cat faeces and can be transmitted by touching a cat or coming in contact with minute amounts of its faeces. The disease is known to cause a mild flu-like illness for a short period of time. However, those with weakened immune systems, such as the elderly or pregnant women, may become seriously ill leading to miscarriage or stillbirth. The parasite causes inflammation of the brain and a range of neurological diseases; it can also affect the heart, liver, inner ears, and eyes.

Many of Victoria’s mammals are highly susceptible to Toxoplasmosis and will die within weeks of contracting the parasite. For those who survive the initial infection residual effects have been found to alter the infected host’s behaviour, making it more susceptible to predation. Additionally, Toxoplasmosis also impacts the sheep industry causing ewes to abort lambs in the middle of their pregnancy.

By introducing a 24 hour state wide ban, sterilising, registering and micro-chipping all domesticated cats pressure will be taken off animal shelters who have to take in and euthanize many unwanted cats each day. Cat owners will not have to worry about their cat being injured on the road or by fighting which saves their vet fees. It stops the number of domesticated cats becoming feral cats, and mostly it shows that cats and cat owners are doing their bit to protect the unique flora and fauna that we are blessed with.

The argument that cats need to roam is invalid as a cat required less exercise than a dog, and yet they are locked up for obvious reasons. There are numerous items that can be purchased such as cat runs to let them exercise in their yards as well as owners taking them for walks. I must stress that this is not an attack on cat owners, but a cat ban benefits everyone in the community. It is know that cats that live inside the confines of their property live longer, are healthier and are just as active and stimulated as those which roam free.

Join with Grant Linley Melbourne, and AWPC and call for the Victorian state government to place a priority on banning cats from roaming our streets, sterilising, registering and micro-chipping all domesticated cats.

Petition: Pass legislation requiring all cat owners to confine cats to their property 24 hours a day, as well as sterilise, register and microchip all domesticated cats in Victoria

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Reintroduction of Western Quolls in Flinders Ranges- Reclaiming the land

The Idnya (or Western Quoll) is a small reddish‐grey coloured carnivorous marsupial with white spots on its body and legs. The male has an average weight of 1300 grams and the female weighs around 900 grams.

The marsupial carnivore once covered 70 per cent of Australia, but declining land condition and feral cat and fox attacks have seen the western quoll confined to Western Australia – until now.

SMH:Endangered western quolls return to Flinders Ranges, South Australia

FAME is working with the South Australian Department of Environment to reintroduce the endangered Western Quoll and Brush-tailed Possum to arid and semi-arid Australia, starting in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges. The return of the Western Quoll, a predator at the top of the food chain, will help restore the balance of species in these regions.

Both the Western Quoll (Idnya) and Brush-tailed Possum (Virlda) are totems of the local Adnyamathanha people, and part of their dreaming. Recent international studies show that restoring a dominant predator to its original range results in more healthy, balanced natural systems.

The vulnerable western quoll, also known as the chuditch, is one of Australia’s native predators, about the size of a small domestic cat. It once occurred in every state and territory but is now restricted to south-west Western Australia.

The $55,000 funding will be used to control feral cats and foxes before the western quolls are released, and monitor the success of the reintroduced quolls afterwards. It builds on the successful trial release of 38 western quolls in the Flinders Ranges in 2014.

The news of the 60 baby Idnya (Western Quolls) to the Flinders Ranges– the first in the Flinders Ranges for more than 150 years – is a terrific milestone in this ambitious trial reintroduction, which saw 41 Idnya released in their former homeland in April‐May. FAME and DEWNR are hopeful that the population will grow faster than the number which are lost through predation and accidents.

While the Brush-tailed Possum is common in urban areas, it has been declining in regional areas and has not been seen in Northern and Central Flinders Ranges since the 1930s. Restoring the Brush-tailed Possum to its natural place in the local environment will improve the quality of native vegetation and restore the chain of regeneration.

The experience in Yellowstone of the reintroduction of wolves has begun not only improvements in their own habitat, but in other habitats across the world, including the Flinders Ranges. The principle of the importance of reintroduction of a top order predator to degraded ecosystems underpins the quoll project in the Flinders Ranges: for ‘wolves’ read ‘quolls’; for ‘deer’ read ‘rabbits’.

While we do not anticipate such a dramatic impact in arid Australia we already know that our quolls are killing rabbits, and there will no doubt be observable benefits for native vegetation in the next few years.

YouTube: How wolves changed rivers

Want to be a part of bringing back the western quoll? Ongoing funding is still urgently needed to support our Idnya! Please consider donating. http://fame.org.au/donate/quoll

(featured image: A western quoll (chuditch) in enclosure at Caversham Wildlife Park, Western Australia. Date 25 April 2010)

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