A Cats don’t belong in Australia rant…
If you think that cats make good pets for Aussie families it is probably best you skip to the next thread now.
I want to tell this story as it may give others ideas on how to deal with problem cats in their neighbourhood.
We have had a succession of neighbours in the rental property next door. They have ranged from the feral (… and I am talking about the people and not their pets) to some that are sort of ok. The current lot have cats and a large old dog.
The problem is that, presumably because of the dog, the cats spend most of their time in our yard.
We have tried to make our yard as wild life friendly as possible. We have replaced all the exotic trees with natives with an emphasis on species that provide habitat, food etc. for native wild life. As time has gone on we have started to see more and more native birds visit our garden which has brought a smile to our faces. Not just lorikeets and wattle birds either. Recently we have started to see honey eaters, fly catchers and smaller birds – species I have rarely seen in suburbia. On the mammal front the brush tailed and ring tailed possums are regular visitors. The ring tails in the off season make good use of the nesting boxes we have provided for the birds.
In this context you can imagine our frustration at seeing regular piles of feathers after the neighbour’s cats have had their fun. Often they are of feral doves but often they are not. When I say regular I am talking at least once per fortnight!
We have tried the cat trap but these cats will not go into it. We have tried baiting it with different meats, covering it up, on lots of locations but with no luck. We have even tried hurling bricks at them which have hit their mark a couple of times but not slowed the cats down enough for us to catch them. We have considered other options but do not wish to break the law.
The owner of the cats in question when approached has indicated that she would not be unhappy if we caught the worst offender. Apparently it went “feral” (her words) after it had its first lot of kittens. The other main offender is one of the kittens.
A while ago, after we complained they got a visit from the ranger to inform her that the cats are not to go off the property. This has made little difference. The cat gets called when the owner knows we are about but of course being “feral” has bugger all effect.
Yesterday when Judy was returning home she saw this particular cat mauling a little ring tail possum. By the time she got out of the car and chased the cat off but by this time the possum was in the middle of the road with a broken back. Judy picked it up, brought it inside and kept it warm… and then rang the ranger, then the local carers’ hot line.
(This is the second time in a couple of years we have encountered a ring tail with a broken back in our street. Presumably this was also the dirty work of a cat.)
The call was answered by Simon who after a short while said “Is that you Judy?” – It was Simon Watharow (former VHS president) who mans the hot line one day per week. Simon called around shortly after and collected the poor possum and took it to a local vet. We have not heard yet but suspect it will be put down which makes us very sad because ring tails are such cute and inoffensive animals. (Damned CAT!)
I got a call from the ranger this morning on his way to visit the neighbours. He indicated that the reason these cats do not go in the trap is that they have probably been trapped before. He also said that cats commonly break the backs of ring tailed possums and then maul and play with them until they are dead. He said he was going to tell the neighbours to stop feeding the cat to improve our chances of catching in the trap so he could dispose of it. I could not see the neighbours taking to this strategy well but time will tell.
Stay tuned to this thread as there will be more to this story to come.
