I have things to say, but will calm before posting.
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I have things to say, but will calm before posting.
I'm not so sure about cats being worse than dogs - dogs that start killing for fun are as bad as cats full stop.
Fact of the matter is any animal that gets into killing for fun is a must delete from the environment asap job. Biggest problem we have is getting onto the bloody things when they start going feral and getting to the end of them. Feral dogs are rarer in NZ than feral cats fortunately, but most people are thick and have the image in their head of little tiddles or pooky staying as the little friendly cuddly lap whore once they've been abandoned out in the sticks somewhere. Not how it rolls, and most of the city types have never had to deal with feral cats or dogs.
I have a different opinion about registering cats and breeding programs - after all there are so many unregistered dogs that are being breed in backyard outfits that it's arguable whether that system is actually of any use. It's a bit like registering guns, only the good owners comply and those are the ones that aren't causing a problem. It's a list of 'where not to look' - which is where we have the problem as the people running 'the list' never seem to understand that and try to use it for something it's not suitable for.
If you want a VERY humaine and deadly kill trap..find some connibears. Do utube to see the set with bit of twine thing,bit of heavy cord about meter long with foot loop at one end . They work very well just in a run or fence line but could see baited they would be even deadlier. NOT ideal if have small dogs.they take no prisoners.
Strangely enough the feral cat issue came to mind last night as I was collecting milk from farm. Nice friendly kitten waiting at vat for some milk,very friendly and oh so cute.....and I saw the problem...it's not only going to be cat ladies that make pf2050 a pipe dream. On average night I will see half dozen feral cats in my 500km drive so roughly one for every 100 km driven. All sizes but the tabby is common colour as soon effective at blending in. As much as I hate 1080 because I'm a dog person who also likes Birdlife. If this works and they can somehow make it kea and hawk proof( that's going to be hard) well maybe it might help?
sorry me old china I have to correct you cats worse than dogs - absolutely cats- feral cats are length and breadth of NZ and in numbers - wild dogs well small population in Far North all north of Houhora Te Paki area - possibly be some lower Whakatane area of Te Urewera - other than that for dogs its dogs allowed to roam and lost pig dogs - feral cats are tough on birds but even more so on skinks and geckos - stomach analysis has shown they make up a large percentage of feral cats diet- birds well less so - feral cats are everywhere including Chathams and Stweart Island -Te Urewera full of them - we saw cats from river bottoms right up into mountain beech country - the only awnser is registration - bells -castration neuturing - limit on numbers - sadly not going to happen except perhaps near sanctuarys - these baiting trials while we may not like 1080 we need cats out in the backblocks controlled - but yes dog owners beware hopefully this new permit system will have warnings going out when and where - DOC are not great on notifying in fact lax as all hell - to give you an idea how bad in Taranaki they oversow the water supply of 80,000 people with water of Mount Taranaki and all they do is one small notice in local paper its disgusting
Not quite what I was meaning. Sure a dog can be devastating. But we have a system of controls and owner identification that keeps dogs in check and largely they do not cause a problem. Cats though are untraceable;e and left to roam and go wild and right now because of that, are causing magnitudes more harm than dogs.
That's my point - IF the dog registration system worked it would be good - BUT it only exists in areas where the local government outfit has enough critical mass to do something with it.
Rural or deprived areas - a registration what?
And yes, feral cats are more common as I stated but the thing with feral cats is they are 99% of the time solitary. Dogs form a pack and then start killing for sport - way way worse in terms of killing effort and effect than cats. Luckily, most places get onto packs early while they are still small and not yet into business full time. We had one start up here locally a few years back, it got sorted quietly over time and the problem 'went away', but the damage up until that point was an entire lifestyle flock of expensive breed sheep, a few lots of chickens and several other animals including a few much loved domestic cats that got torn to shreds in front of the owners. We don't know what native or wild animals they got to but as we have a local project establishing a population of Kiwi the farkers were dead dogs running. Cat's just don't do that.
you are right Whanahuia our feral cats are now generations old in our bush - I would have no doubt bloodlines of feral cats going back 50 years and a lot more - wild dogs no those Te Paki dogs well I worked up there 20 years ago and they were not there then -they are more recent than that - the dog kiwi killers in the Northland forests well sadly many went back home at night after being left to roam all day from those local communities where they again scrounged for a feed -
I think...comparing cats n dogs doesn't work as dogs MUCH easier to spot,and get rid of. They bigger so need more feed,more cover and easier target in just about any method you choose. Yes a pack worrying stock is terrible but visible so eliminatable. As said earlier the shear number of cats out there is mind boggling and unfortunately we humans are biggest obstacle to controlling it,the feral population as we keep adding to it and redistributing it.
yes that redistribution - for 10 years I lived on the boundary of Egmont National park alongside one of the access roads - house was in the Park with bush around it - I shot around 20 cats a year - would be doing my dishes and meow outside window - well moggy do ya want vintage ( Remington model 12 pump) or modern ( Brno mod 2 ) - bloody townies drive up to park boundary and let the mongrel go - small bush gully by house lots of skeletons -
Hell,we were thirty KMs from nearest shop and still had them turn up.central North island.
Seen a cat on one of my favourite clearings off Clement’s mill rd one evening,,at least 18km from nearest house,190g sub from the 308 sorted that,got a deer 20mins later as well!