Macquarie Island botch job...Or, can you say "D'oh"
- Thread starter Ar-Pharazon
- Start date
I mentioned this in a post on feral cats several months ago when I said that it would be wrong to try to eradicate feral cats anywhere in Australia because rabbits and introduced birds usually make up the bulk of a feral cat's diet.
On Macquarie Island the removal of the cats mean that rabbits have eaten so much of the vegetation that landslides are now occring and burying seabird colonies.
I have heard many Tasmanians saying we should try and eradicate feral cats in Tasmania because they are a hazard to native species. This is despite the fact that only one mammal, the thylacine, and two subspecies of bird (the Tasmanian emu and the King Island emu) have become extinct since the introduction of cats. The extinctions of these animals have nothing to do with cats.
Most extinction on the mainland of Australia are more to do with the introduction of dingoes, foxes and rabbits than the introduction of cats.
On Macquarie Island the removal of the cats mean that rabbits have eaten so much of the vegetation that landslides are now occring and burying seabird colonies.
I have heard many Tasmanians saying we should try and eradicate feral cats in Tasmania because they are a hazard to native species. This is despite the fact that only one mammal, the thylacine, and two subspecies of bird (the Tasmanian emu and the King Island emu) have become extinct since the introduction of cats. The extinctions of these animals have nothing to do with cats.
Most extinction on the mainland of Australia are more to do with the introduction of dingoes, foxes and rabbits than the introduction of cats.
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Oh, sure, it's the lack of cats that's the problem. No one ever wants to blame those goddamn magicians that they released into the wild.
Are the feral cats large? If not, I wouldn't mind seeing one try to take down an emu.
Solution: More cats.
No, they are small. Though a common urban legend around Australia is that there are large panther like cats living in the bush that either escaped from a zoo or were released into the wild. In fact there was a story on just that subject on one of your main current affairs programs tonight (there is a story every couple of months). It had a guy with a cast of what he claimed to be the paw print of a large cat.
Swallowed the horse to catch the dog, swallowed the dog to catch the cat, swallowed the cat to allow rabbits to breed like... rabbits, swallowed...
They say the cats, among others, were probably not indigenous to the island, they arrived most likely by human means.
It's probably beyond an urban legend here in NE Illinois, but large cat sightings (puma/mountain lion size) have been reported by a LOT of people. And this is an extremely developed region. Gives the coyotes something to think about.
It's probably beyond an urban legend here in NE Illinois, but large cat sightings (puma/mountain lion size) have been reported by a LOT of people. And this is an extremely developed region. Gives the coyotes something to think about.
Where in North-east Illinois are you? Because I've never heard these stories.
I'm near Gurnee in Lake county, about 30 miles north of Chicago, but there have been reports, for the past few years, from all over Lake county. Obviously it's possible, I thought I heard they caught one sometime last year closer to Chicago, but can't find the story now. Typing "cougar Lake county Illinois" into Google does come up with a lot of results.