Just had to chase the neighbors cat away from a juvenile kookaburra that was on the ground in our yard. The cat has been on the other side of the fence waiting for its chance to finish the job.
We put the bird in a cardboard box to take to the local vet tomorrow.
Can anyone give me any good reason why cats are still allowed to roam free without consequence in this country?
Update: We were woken by cat noises again this morning. After a safe and quiet night in a box the fledgling kookaburra was released where it was found and after several attempts it managed to fly up onto a roof where it will at least be safe from ground based predators today. Multiple adults birds in the area this morning and some amazing bird calls.
I guess they’re the same as us then in that respect; our biology is primed for the outdoors, but we live longer indoors and any resulting depression or drop in happiness from this nature/nurture divide is very livable.
Fair enough. I can say that I’d probably let my cat out if I had one, but who knows, maybe I wouldn’t
Some people are responsible and take their cat on walks with a leash
Or make an enclosed area for them
Most are just entitled dipshits that don’t care if their cat kills every living creature it can find, which they do
Walk on a leash might be something I’d try, though only on the streets. I live close to and volunteer at a nearby nature reserve, and I’m sure my colleagues would be livid if they knew I was taking a cat near a place with wading ducks.
That being said, we have a metric ton of foxes here and weirdly enough, the only thing they’re afraid of seem to be cats.
So, you might find this interesting.
Theres rewilding of Tasmanian Devils on the Mainland beginning by Aussie Ark its primarily for insurance against a severe cancerous disease that decimated the Tasmanian population.
I can’t find a reference, but its also thought that Tasmanian Devils reintroduction in the mainland may reduce fox and cat numbers in the wild in Australia by putting downward pressure on those species’ population numbers. Which could be a great win for conservation, since these two species alone are responsible for so many native animal deaths.
Gosh they’re cute little devils. What a crazy (transmittable through bite??) cancer they have, and how sad that farmers would decimate them based on nothing more than conjecture.
I hope their numbers thrive, and I hope the ecosystem on the whole retains some balance for the smaller creatures to thrive a little
Why do you keep referencing indoor cats and poorer quality of life or depression as if it’s a foregone conclusion? It’s not, and indoor cats live longer, are exposed to less diseases and viruses, and keep bird populations from being pointlessly decimated. If you have sources for your prejudiced opinions, post them. Because you’re starting to sound like propaganda…
I didn’t realise it was a fierce debate, I thought we were all (quite amicably) trading anecdotes.
Alright so there’s this 2021 paper cited > 100 times that cites a few studies in the intro, claiming that many cats just don’t get the proper indoor stimulation even when the owners are trying:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7909512/
(I don’t list the studies themselves, but their number are at least somewhat indicative of prevailing evidence)