backyard furry friends

[Gecko75]

We are lucky enough to have a few red necked wallabies living on our property, even luckier since we have joes aswell (we used to live in bush area, but its slowly getting built up. we slowly loose them each year, mostly loose the parents and joeys to cars, and also loose the joeys to the dogs and foxes, we are the only person who doesn't have a dog, all the neighbouring blocks do. at the moment we have 2 males, 3-4? females and 1-2? joeys

here is a mob of them, I counted 7 and outlined them as they were hard to see, this was taken from the door at the side of our house

and here are a few shots of them at the back of the house next to the verandah, mum loves to feed them, we hope that they will stay around so they do not get killed by cars like usual or killed by dogs or foxes

this joey is rather big but still drinks milk from its mothers pouch

hope you enjoyed them, we also used to get sugar gliders, squirrel gliders, ring tailed possums, brush tailed possums, but havn't seen them in a while, cats seem to take most of the gliders, I often find the tails of them, you see why I hate cats? We do not get eastern grey kangaroos were I am, most have been killed off by cars, we occasionally see swamp wallabies.

Thanks.

 

[Jacquie]

Wow you are so lucky. Are you sure it's the cats getting the smaller mammals? We had a colony of ring-tailed possums and a powerful owl moved in and cleaned out the lot only leaving the tails behind.

 

[Gecko75]

Thanks, yes we have seen a powerful owl once or twice, but we think its cats cause we see them at night out there in the garden, most have collars aswell and they are usually up were we see the gliders, also the bits of glider are usually out in the open on the lawn were we see them and we have found a full possum once that was just mauled. It might not be the cats doing it all, but they are going to be getting the blame, I can't see an endangered owl wiping out all the gliders from our land, but I can see it possible for the cats that are out there each night to do so. I may be wrong though, but we have only seen a powerfull owl once or twice. Thanks.

PS does anyone know where we can buy a cat trap, they are to hard to shoot with bow. (cats that is)

oh might add, also seen a cat about to take some sleeping birds in a tree aswell, but we scared it away, they are so silent, we usually only see them when they run off as there bell makes a little bit of sound.

We also occasionally see snakes, we have had a few diamonds, the neighbour cleaned up a big adult one with beautiful colouration, and we used to get tree snakes often, we have only seen a few in the last year, we saw 2 killed on our street and the neighbour found one caught in a bit of netting and left it to die, also we have had small eyeds once, they seem to be dead on the roads sometimes, the neighbour also cleaned one of them up to, and once we had a marsh snake and a bandy bandy, and years ago we had a red belly, but dad killed it with a shovel. plus we get garden skinks and red tailed calyptotis, we used to get lots of blue tongues till the neighbour got a new dog, I think it has killed about 5 now, plus we used to get jacky dragons, I have no idea where they went though. we see a few frogs, dusky toadlet, green tree frog, fallax, perons etc, not much vairety.

The only thing we seem to get in full force is birds

oh and how could I forget the most common animal in the yard, rabbits, we see lots and lots and lots of rabbits, I have killed 25 and have not dented there population. we also see a few hares, neighbours dogs and neighbours cats roaming about the yard.

 

[corky]

We have red necks at ours to...used to have heaps but living on a blind corner and speeding motorists didn't help their population at all! Had to put 'slow down for wildlife' signs around the place. Only 2 or 3 left now. Get a slug gun for the cat!

 

[Gecko75]

hey parents won't allow the gun, well my Dad wont, my mum would be happy if I got one probably as she loves having native fauna around. thats a shame you only have a few left, I know what you mean about speeding motorists, mum does a 10km run each morning and often sees people going over 100 along the local road, she often finds dead wallabies aswell, some with joeys, she has also heard and seen a few times in the distance people hitting the wallabies, they never stop though. I actually found a wallaby a few weeks ago and it had been hit at such a high speed that its arm was completely ripped off, and there was a huge amount of blood, the arm was a few metres away, the poor female had a very young joey aswell but we were not able to save it. I can't see why people have to go so fast along the roads, its a real shame how much wildlife we loose, no wonder Australia has such a high extinction rate, not to mention the rather large endangered/threatened/vunerable species list

 

[corky]

I don't think the public is educated enough about wildlife these days. Nobody seems to care. There is no real effort to convey the need to protect our wildlife through the media and so on. Everybody loves this country but it's only the minority that seem to want to protect what it actually is...

 

[Gecko75]

I agree with you there, I try to educate people, most of the time it does not work. I am an environmental extremist in a way, if I had my way, all non native animals would be banned from the country, along with non native plants, and any uncleared land would become national park, though this would never happen. they should at least bring in a law that if you have a cat, it should be locked up inside or in an enclosed area that it cant escape, same with dogs. I always seem to look at the bad side to things though, so I think that is why I have so much to complain about, I go to a beautiful national park, but seems to always end up paying most attention to the damage done by people. Even some of our fellow aps members or so called reptile lovers let there cats roam free so it is gonna be hard to get a message accross.

 

[babba007]

We have 2 cat traps that we regularly use. We take the cats to the pound where they keep them for a few days, then euthanase them if they can't find the owner. Very tempting to "take care" of them ourselves though. Hubby wants to give them a lead pill, but I take them to the pound. I think we got the traps from "The Possum Man" (I think).

 

[Gecko75]

Thanks, yer I don't think I would bother taking them to the pound, chances are they will pay to get it back again then they will let it out, I don't want to take any risks. I will have to look around a bit, my dad is keen on a trap aswell. he was also trying to get a hold of some elite traps to capture all the mice and rats that hang around the chicken coop, bird and rabbit cage and shed, I don't like him baiting, elite traps make it easier the doing it yourself I remember years ago I had a friend over and we went down there and set traps plus took a big bit of wood and wacked the ones we saw running around, the traps were going off heaps aswell.

 

[JasonL]

I know a few people who knock off every cat they can, usually they trap and drown them, not all cats that go missing are hit by cars.
I did some work recently for a wirey old lady who kept her cat in a massive 3 x 4 meter cat run that was joined to the house so the cat could get in and out freely as it wanted, she also used to catch her neighbors cat and lock in her garage each night if she could manage it. Now that's a good cat owner!

 

[Gecko75]

you know a few good people then, good on the lady, she sounds like a very responsible owner, even taking care of someones elses, which is not her job.

 

[GeckoJosh]

When u see the cats try to lure them with food, then once u have them, take them to the pound, no need to hurt them as they are just animals doing what they do in nature.
It is illegal not to microchip your cat so if its owned by anyone deserving to own it they will be contacted by the pound and charged $100+ to get there cat back, maybe then they will learn to keep them indoors.
If your going to kill them, do it humanely, slugs guns will only injure them.
Im a cat owner so any cat people need not flame me for these comments

 

[Gecko75]

tried that geckoman, they are always skitty and run, I tried talking to them lol aswell like owners do to there little kitty cats and still it ran, I don't think these people will learn to keep them in doors, as for killing stuff, I am against animal cruelty no matter what type of animal. Once I get a few traps I will see what happens, we might take them to the pound and see what happens, otherwise they will probably just disapear without a trace.

seems we have had more talking about cats then actually wallabies :lol: I am all for ideas and stuff.

As for my neighbour killing wildlife, one good thing she does is lock the cat up at all times day and night, I dont see why she bothers though if she kills the herps anyway or lets her dog do it, she also snail baits which doesn't help (she did anyway)

does anyone have any other types of macropods in the yard? would be keen to see pics of other species. I only have photos of red necks, eastern greys and swamp wallabies, I have only photographed the red necks in the yard though, the rest where on herping trips etc.

 

[GeckoJosh]

Just take them to the pound, the owners get fined and you dont have the guilt of killing some cat that a 6 year old girl got for Xmas that accidentally escaped.
If they let it out again then repeat the process and they will soon learn, if the cat doesn't get claimed then hopefully it will get re homed to responsible owners or if not it at least it will be humanly put down.
I dont understand why people let their cats out, iv had family cats and dogs my whole life and wed never let the cats out because the average life span of an outdoor cat is like 3 years, so if any of these people love their pet they would not let it outside

 

[jinin]

Ive heard of people killing them in these ways: Which i dont agree with though(they are just what iv'e heard people doing)
-Drowning in a Bin
-Dart with poison(lol?)
-Bow and Arrow

and i heard a story from a friend that his dad knew someone who once burried some cats up to their neck and ran them over with a lawn mower(How horrible is that)

a kid at school said he put one in a washing machine. Thats even worse

I think every living creature has a right to live, i hate cats...but its not their fault they were out here, if anything the early settlers should be recieving the punishment.

 

[Gecko75]

agree with you there, the methods you said above sound very cruel, even drowing isnt quick, bow and arrow is fine if your a good shot.