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.

    • YeahToast@aussie.zone
      3·
      2 months ago

      Eh, in my opinion that’s not a great paper, it’s basically just an essay with some references, not a RCT or a literature review. They also make the point “…so what if cats kill 10-15% of the annual population that’s a usual predator -prey ratio”… except… its an introduced prey???

    • Dimand@aussie.zone
      31·
      2 months ago

      Swiss institution author that only mentioned a single Australian study. And their main argument is that the animals that cats kill could be breeding faster than the cats are killing them. Hence it’s not a problem.

      It’s a fair point if we are talking about rats or noisy minors. It’s not a valid argument if we consider any form of endangered species, of which Aus has many.