Australia airdropping lethal sausages to control cat population

[Dacien]

I suppose desperate times call for desperate measures, but this sounds like one of those ideas that's destined to backfire. Do you think it's a good idea? Is there a better way?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/m...t-killing.html

[mizeri]

it might also solve any homeless problem and dumb people problem, if its lethal to people anyway.

[Jonnusthegreat]

How is it desperate? It just sounds like a plan to kill an animal that is destroying an ecosystem. Of course it can backfire. I'm not an ecologist so I don't think my opinion matters on whether or not it's a good idea.

[Dacien]

... because as we all know, only cats eat meat...

That's what I thought. I don't think the article addressed this. It seems to be moving forward. The article does mention that feline defense organizations like the Alley Cat Allies don't wield enough influence to stop it.

[ro9ue]

Sounds dumb. Any animal could eat this. Including family pets.

[psiko74]

Human overpopulation is a problem. How bout lethal pizza?

[Independent voter]

How would you select for cats? I guess you could put the bait in a box with a cat sized opening and then put the box in tree, maybe. . .

[PACOX]

How would you select for cats? I guess you could put the bait in a box with a cat sized opening and then put the box in tree, maybe. . .

The poison they are using is designed to kill animals not native to the area.

You know how people say, "don't drink the water' when you visit somewhere else. It doesn't particularly mean that the water is unsafe, it's that your body isn't used to the local microbes in the water so you're likely to shit your pants if you drink it.

The poison they are using, according to the article, has a compound that native species can tolerate but the cats can't.

Also if something is an invasive species it's already out eating the natives. Probability says it's probably going to take the bait faster than anything else too.

[schwank05]

it might also solve any homeless problem and dumb people problem, if its lethal to people anyway.

LOL, dual purpose.

[Yunru]

It would be more effective to put a bounty on feral cats.
They could give the people a tags of how many they can kill in each area (and they get paid for that).
A good source of income for some people. Tho i am not sure abauth selling those animals fur and so on. Rest of the world would probaly get pissed.
Even better idea would be to sell them to chinese (to avoid waste - as hunting for sport is a big nono for some people):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_meat

Much better idea than raining meat of sky that can kill other animals or makes them sick. (poision is suggested to work on cats and foxes -- but i bet it wasnt tested on australian species)
Not to mention if some other animal consumes a dead cat meat, it can get poisioned.

I wonder however if its possible to re-train those feral cats back to normal pets or they are to far gone.
Here is some video i watched recently that turns feral kittens into normal ones:

[schwank05]

The poison they are using is designed to kill animals not native to the area.

You know how people say, "don't drink the water' when you visit somewhere else. It doesn't particularly mean that the water is unsafe, it's that your body isn't used to the local microbes in the water so you're likely to shit your pants if you drink it.

The poison they are using, according to the article, has a compound that native species can tolerate but the cats can't.

Also if something is an invasive species it's already out eating the natives. Probability says it's probably going to take the bait faster than anything else too.

Let people hunt them and have free range to take them out. That would be quicker, you could charge $40.00 for a license, to go back in to conservation like hunting licenses are in the US.

[Nitros14]

Including family pets.

Not like cat owners have ever cared about their family pets murdering the local bird population.

[Techno-Druid]

I've read that tasmanian devils have kept the feral cat and fox population in Tasmania low. There have been talks to reintroduce tazzie devils back to mainland Australia, where they were present a few thousand years ago. So that may be a good start.

Gene drives could also be viable in the future, where you could gene edit the genome of an invasive species to only produce a single sex of offspring and then release those animals en masse. It's a strategy they're attempting to use to wipe out disease-resistance mosquito populations.

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Let people hunt them and have free range to take them out. That would be quicker, you could charge $40.00 for a license, to go back in to conservation like hunting licenses are in the US.

The problem with culling is that it can lead to a greater population boom as you're essentially just removing competition for the animals that aren't killed.

[Yunru]

Not like cat owners have ever cared about their family pets murdering the local bird population.

There would have to be a lot of cats to do this. Birds arent that stupid tho.

[Raelyn]

That's what I thought. I don't think the article addressed this. It seems to be moving forward. The article does mention that feline defense organizations like the Alley Cat Allies don't wield enough influence to stop it.

"Alley Cat Allies" my new Alliance guild name right there. Be right back while I spam trade chat for signatures on an alt.

[Yunru]

I've read that tasmanian devils have kept the feral cat and fox population in Tasmania low. There have been talks to reintroduce tazzie devils back to mainland Australia, where they were present a few thousand years ago.

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The problem with culling is that it can lead to a greater population boom as you're essentially just removing competition for the animals that aren't killed.

They would end up killing other species that arent adapted to them tho.
http://tassiedevil9999.tripod.com/life_cycle.html

[derpkitteh]

i'm in the process of trying to tame a feral kitten right now. i have to let her come to me, then i can pet her and pick her up a little, but she snaps back into feral nature very easily.

as much as i love cats, i support whatever effort works to stop the ferals. thinking about trapping the feral toms here and having animal control pick them up. they'll probably die, but at least they aren't spreading disease and making hundreds more.

[Techno-Druid]

There would have to be a lot of cats to do this. Birds arent that stupid tho.

So far, cats have singlehandedly caused the extinction of at least 33 species on islands. So I doubt it really takes that many.

[Techno-Druid]

They would end up killing other species that arent adapted to them tho.
http://tassiedevil9999.tripod.com/life_cycle.html

Tazzie devils mostly scavenge, they're food aggressive though, so they'll chase cats and foxes away from kills and defend. In terms of competition, most of the large carnivorous marsupials were wiped out +13,000 years ago by humans.

[PACOX]

Let people hunt them and have free range to take them out. That would be quicker, you could charge $40.00 for a license, to go back in to conservation like hunting licenses are in the US.

That would be better. I don't know what why Australia doesn't do that (article could have said it but NYT articles are ridiculously long and go off topic).

If this was going on in the US it would be easy to figure out why they just didn't use bounties. Either some company managed to finesse a contract out of the government, the bounty viewed as not worth the effort (habit and animal are a PITA), or the government sucks at giving out permits (pythons in FL).