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cats, anyone else love them this much...


David R

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What a load! A cat that has never been out of the house is going to take off into the wilderness my rear!. Its like making the statement a hunting dog and a lap dog are the same!. I do not hate humans but i hate them being here!. Native birds and skinks, i just watched as a whole new development in Waitakere got put up where it was native bush so dense you couldn't see the other side, i use to walk my kids through to show them the lizard's when you sat still, its now nothing more than bark chip, cement and dirt, it was full of skinks, wren etc humans killed thousands in one day! in this tiny area, all for profit!, yet cats are the major problem! lol.

What type of Wren are you refering to above? Or did you just make that name up?

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What I still don't understand about this whole thing is that, so far, I have not seen any solid research to prove that domestic cats are having a significant effect on contributing to the decimation of native species. Trapping and killing feral cats makes sense, but if domestic cats were a huge threat to native wildlife, surely someone like DOC would have cottoned on to it by now?

Also here's the results of the study the guy did on this cat over 17 years that was on Campbell Live the other day.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Killer-cats-Does ... fault.aspx

A 17-year study itemising every piece of prey is something else entirely. It’s a mammoth piece of work, but that’s exactly what Zoologist John Flux did.

He lives on a suburban property in Lower Hutt and for almost two decades has recorded every animal caught by the family cat, Peng You.

- Of the 558 items caught over Peng You's lifetime, 221 were mice.

- Then there were 63 rats, 35 rabbits, four hares and two weasels.

- Over 17 years, 223 birds were caught, but just 54 of them were natives. Of those natives, 43 were silvereyes, which are of little conservation concern.

Importantly the 63 rats caught by Peng You on the property outnumber all the native birds she caught, and each rat would have been capable of killing many more birds – meaning Peng You probably helped the local native bird population.

So, the science tells us domestic cats do catch rodents and birds and lizards – but do they catch them in quantities that harm native populations?

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What I still don't understand about this whole thing is that, so far, I have not seen any solid research to prove that domestic cats are having a significant effect on contributing to the decimation of native species. Trapping and killing feral cats makes sense, but if domestic cats were a huge threat to native wildlife, surely someone like DOC would have cottoned on to it by now?

Also here's the results of the study the guy did on this cat over 17 years that was on Campbell Live the other day.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Killer-cats-Does ... fault.aspx

quite a good study, suburban cat killed 2 natives, x how many cats in NZ?

equates to a few natives

then one would assume pet cats in rural setting may account for more natives over a lifetime

equates to a few more natives

add in the feral cats

oops there goes a few more natives

oh, forgot the possums, rats, mustelids, dogs and land developers

poor little buggers don't stand much of a chance

edit: forgot the study that said the average cat only brings home 40 - 50% of its catch

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quite a good study, suburban cat killed 2 natives, x how many cats in NZ?

equates to a few natives

then one would assume pet cats in rural setting may account for more natives over a lifetime

equates to a few more natives

add in the feral cats

oops there goes a few more natives

oh, forgot the possums, rats, mustelids, dogs and land developers

poor little buggers don't stand much of a chance

edit: forgot the study that said the average cat only brings home 40 - 50% of its catch

I doubt it that every single domestic cat would kill a number of native species of conservation concern in its lifetime :roll: Especially when most cats are found in towns or cities where there are little or no natives of concern. The native most likely to be caught by cats is silvereyes. In rural areas of course there is a higher chance that things like parson birds and bellbirds etc might be caught, if the location is surrounded by native forest. But otherwise the main culprit is native cats.

Also, it appears that you forgot to take this part into consideration;

Importantly the 63 rats caught by Peng You on the property outnumber all the native birds she caught, and each rat would have been capable of killing many more birds – meaning Peng You probably helped the local native bird population.
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Joe you are right to a certain extent. But... as long as we have cats we will have unwanted litters... Some idiots prefer to dump these unwanted litters in nearby bush rather than take them to the SPCA.. Ultimately these cats become killers of all sorts of creatures including our native species. So maybe it's about educating people... but some people just can't be educated.

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the one thing WE DO KNOW is that WE DON"T KNOW exactly how many native birds are killed by cats each year. which ever side your on you can find info or stats that boost your argument.

cats kill x amount of rodents each year which can no longer kill natives or eat their eggs.......

one cat killed x amount of native birds multiplied by how many cats we have equals a national tragedy of life lost....... it's the song that never ends.

what i do know is there are plenty of native birds here along with the introduced species. there are also plenty of cats to, all my neighbours have cats as well. I have several tuis flitting around the pohutukawa daily less than 12 feet above my sleeping cats on the deck and they have been here longer than we have. i don't see any chance of my cats catching anything other than wax eyes, in the two years we have been here the only thing they have brought inside was a rat that i shot.

to me it seems that the majority of cats are in suburbia due to lack of habitat, the majority of native birds are in rural areas so that works i think. A real issue is feral cats because they have to catch wild prey to survive, i don't think that domestic cats are of a major concern due to the thoughts above.

I have likely shot between 1,000 and 1,500 possums in my life and in all that time roaming around i have seen two feral cats which i also shot. I think this whole subject is simply a "Do you like or hate cats?" topic and if gareth morgan is serious about increasing the numbers of native birds getting rid of domestic cats is the least effective way of achieving it. Getting id of domestic cats will improve some areas of society, the SPCA won't be over run with kittens every year etc but what will happen to rat and mice populations?

maybe gareth has invested in a rodent poison company and this is a secret way to boost sales. :sml2:

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Regardless of all that can a cat lover please explain why their cat has the right to come on to my property and annoy, scare and try to kill my pets that are legally and properly contained on my property. That is of course before they defecate all over my veggy garden and contaminate my food with the diseases that they carry.We get regularly visited by 6 cats that live in the area.

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Regardless of all that can a cat lover please explain why their cat has the right to come on to my property and annoy, scare and try to kill my pets that are legally and properly contained on my property. That is of course before they defecate all over my veggy garden and contaminate my food with the diseases that they carry.We get regularly visited by 6 cats that live in the area.

Because they are a cat. They can do what they like when they want haha

we used to have a cat come here snd attack ours then we got a dog and no problem since.

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Regardless of all that can a cat lover please explain why their cat has the right to come on to my property and annoy, scare and try to kill my pets that are legally and properly contained on my property. That is of course before they defecate all over my veggy garden and contaminate my food with the diseases that they carry.We get regularly visited by 6 cats that live in the area.

Same with dogs too. We've had quite a few dogs wander into our property, chase our chooks and cats and defecate all over our lawn. At least cats are kind enough to bury their faeces and not leave it lying around for us to step on :slfg:

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Not the same as dogs at all Joe, if I put up a gate it would keep unwanted dogs out, it won't keep a cat out though.

Also if I had a stray dog in my yard and caught it I could call animal control and they would come collect it no worries, why should it be any different with a cat?

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Yeah I do agree with you there. Animal Control should treat cats in a similar manner to dogs in those situations :thup:

Too hard basket i think. Imagine how many officers the pound would need. My parents had trouble with a tom cat o they borrowed a cage trap and caught it. After twenty minutes under the hose it was released never to return

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