Posted on 04/26/2019 3:21:24 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
Australian officials are killing millions of feral cats by airdropping frozen sausages laced with poison across the Outback.
The felines die within 15 minutes of ingesting the toxic treats, which are produced at a factory close to Perth.
But in a bid to kill as many as possible, officials also trap and shoot the creatures.
The sausages are made with kangaroo meat, chicken fat, herbs, spices and the poison, 1080, the New York Times reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
1. Poison is extremely cruel. Depending on the type, it causes seizures, hemorrhaging, or burns.
2. Poisons are not selective. This bait will kill non-target species, as well.
3. Cat haters love to go on about the supposed environmental damage that cats cause. However, the damage caused by allowing rodents and other small animals to breed without any checks on their population is worse. Despite what cat-haters who hide behind environmental concerns claim, cats *are* an integral part of ecosystems that humans inhabit.
I wonder, now that this cruel program has been publicized, how much longer it will last?
I just wonder if it’s 11......
Statistics from The Royal Melbourne Institute revealed individual shooters killed 83 percent of feral cats who were deliberately killed across the country.
Rabbits are the second type of critters wreaking havoc, there are miles and miles and miles of what’s called rabbit fencing to keep them out of farm land.
PS: But then too, millions of rodents; rats and mice.
The first one here was a Japanese Bobtail. A really pretty cat and excellent hunter. She had a litter of five really gorgeous kittens. I mean really pretty ones.
Only one of that litter reached adulthood. Lots of predators here, eagles, hawks, owls, coyotes, foxes etc. That one, my Grandchildren named, Tiger, now has five or her own.
These aren’t as pretty as the others but still cute. At least they keep the snakes and rats away. They are technically wild. They hang around and beg for food but will not let me hold them.
There is one other, a big yellow one my Grandkids named Ginger. He is actually very tame and lets me pet him at will. He only shows up maybe once every week or so. He does not get along with the others.
When I played on a rugby team with a bunch of Aussies that was one of rugby party challenges - mostly for Americans (That ‘Men at Work’ song was popular then!). A drink of beer, vegemite on a cracker, drink of beer again vegemite on a cracker, repeat until you threw up or ran out of beer. I have no idea where they got it, I’ve never seen it for sale here (Though I haven’t really looked!) I assume they brought it in or their mommas sent it to them.
Could be....I think 1080 doesn’t break down so whatever comes to eat the cat will die as well, such as hawks or vultures. I guess there is a cost /benefit factor to consider.
If they are doing it to try to save grass keets then fewer hawks could help them, too. But then there might be more rodents as a result, and they will feast on keet eggs.
Two of my fur babies were from a litter of feral cats born in my back yard. We trapped them all, had mom spayed and put her back out in the yard, and kept the kittens. The two girls remained somewhat skittish, but the boy is the sweetest little fellow one could imagine.
stay tuned for the Australian bubonic plague epidemic.
must be something in the water down there.
Cats are vermin and feral cats should be killed whenever possible. They are listed as the second most destructive invasive species on earth and even well fed house cats kill millions of birds every year. If I let a dog run loose and it dropped off a cat that it had torn apart on your doorstep would you think it was cute? Probably not. But people think nothing about posting of the gifts their cats bring them. Cats should be kept in the home or not at all and it should be open season on the rest.
You are right-but I guess we shouldn’t assume that the Aussies are thinking about the fact that every creature will eat the poisoned meat-what are they going to do-label it for cats only so all the other animals will leave it alone? And I don’t suppose anyone thought about the fact that the runoff from poison will get into the groundwater...
One of the shows on Animal Planet a few years ago talked about the fact that Australia periodically has had mouse/rat problems of horror movie-like proportions more than once, because they are so diligent about killing off the predator species in their natural world, and now they don’t want any non-native predators, either-what will they do when the rats/mice overbreed in a cat-free environment and there aren’t even any feral cats to contain the rodents?
Two of my 3 shelter cats started life as feral cats-they may be spoiled indoor pets now, but they are still great mousers-no rodent ever gets past the storeroom-cats are valued -people here take ferals to a lowcost spay/neuter program and make them pets-they keep mice/rats out of our barns and feed sheds...
Australians sound totally clueless...
I take it you don’t live in a rural area where rats and mice are an issue for people who keep poultry and livestock-cats keep the rodents in check-there are plenty of birds-cats will not kill them all-and raptors like redtail hawks prey on feral kittens, so...
Put cats on the menu; the other white meat! and see how fast they disappear.
This type of management has been a problem in Australia for a long time. They import one animal for a supposedly good reason. It quickly get out of control, so they take drastic action without truly looking at the unintended consequences.
Please don’t tell me you feed them.
There is.
And some of us have them as indoor house pets.
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