Bardot Slams Aus Cat Cull

[icyfroth]

French actress Brigitte Bardot has condemned an Australian plan to cull two million feral cats, blamed for wreaking havoc on native animals, to stop them further harming vanishing populations.

Feral cats have been identified as the main culprit behind Australia's high rate of mammal extinction, with more than 10 percent of species wiped out since Europeans settled here two centuries ago. 

Environment Minister Greg Hunt has said the advice he has received is that the cats number 20 million across the country and devour countless native animals every night."They are tsunamis of violence and death for Australia's native species," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation last week.

Hunt said a target of eradicating two million feral cats had been set for 2020, in addition to creating feral-free enclosures to aid the recovery of birds and mammals among other measures.

The government has stressed the eradication of cats will be carried out humanely, but Bardot urged the government to reconsider the plan which she said was "appalling" to the international community.

"This animal genocide is inhumane and ridiculous. In addition to being cruel, killing these cats is absolutely useless since the rest of them will keep breeding," she said in the English translation of the open letter to Hunt. 

Entire Article Here

Animal Genocide? Of Cats? What planet is this lady living on?

Everybody knows I love cats, but I'm realistic enough to understand the damage feral cats are doing to our native animals. There needs to be a cull.

How does she suggest we bring the numbers down otherwise?

Make Akubra hats out of them? 

[*pepe]

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@artfulcreations4all wrote:
Methinks that there's someone trying to bait me by stating I said things that I didn't say.

*Yawn*

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oops i mistook you for somebody capable of discussion.

my bad.

[kilroy_is_here]

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@artfulcreations4all wrote:

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@*pepe wrote:

the problem with neutering and releasing and waiting for the population to die out is not just a huge financial issue but in the meantime endangered species of native wildlife are still being decimated and it is simply just not feasible.

yes the problem with feral cats, foxes, rabbits, camels, cane toads, wild pigs etc is man made but it has to be dealt with and humane controlled mass culling is really the ony way. 

And by the way it is not only tolerated in your country, there are even tv shows made about it - does alligator hunting ring a bell?

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Do you really think TWO MILLION alligators are hunted and killed in the United States every year? Or two million deer? Or any other species of animal? Killing two million feral cats is a mass slaughter on an epic scale. And I'm sure it's only a start. Because you, yourself, said that just killing two million wouldn't be enough, since, supposedly, there's an estimwhere the extinctions are greatest are totally undevelopedated twenty million feral cats in Australia

Without more humane measures being taken like neutering, the feral cat population will continue to grow necessitating more mass killing,. And that argument about the financial aspects of neutering being too costly is the same one that's tried over here by people who just want feral cats gone. And it doesn't hold water, because the costs involved with sending people out to kill cats, or bring them into shelters to be killed is a lot greater.

What it comes down to is that there are two ways to handle the problem. The inhumane way of exterminating feral cats like they were vermin or "culling" them by neutering and clamping down on the people who will continue to cause the problem no matter how many mass kills there are. What I meant when I said what Australia plans to do wouldn't be tolerated in the US, is that there are enough animal welfare groups here that constantly advocate for the more humane way of dealing with ferals.. 

And now I really am done with this subject because I'm repeating myself and that always gives me a headache.

unfortunatly neither you now Bridget have enough understanding of either the problem or the logistics of dealing with the problem here in Australia and to interfere in what has been under study for years to stop what is an urgently needed programme is just plain wrong and dangerous , every day we are delayed in this cull the more chance we risk of loosing species found no where else in the world. Neutering and returning will not fix the problem,  as the cost to alone of neutering 20 million cats in hundreds of million square kilometres would be beyond the economic ability  of the country , that is with out even the logistics of finding and catching them all , you have to understand that some of the pastoral properties in this country are bigger than some European countries and can take days to drive from one side to the other, feral cats dogs and foxes are very much the course of extinctions here in Australia in many cases the areas where they are at there greatest are very much undeveloped

[lionrose.7]

Cant wait to got to America and see the Buffalo, they must be so beautiful, is there any left???

[*pepe]

there's a few in yellowstone - along with the introduced wolf packs that replaced the ones hunted into extinction years ago.

[the_great_she_elephant]

Neutering of all domestic cats - which is already  mandatory in most parts of Australia - may prevent any more unwanted strays from going feral, but it won't do anything to decrease the overall population because there is a big enough gene pool of  feral cats oiut there already to ensure their survival. And trapping and neutering them is pointless - even trapping and killing would make no real impact.

As for  foxes, it's not a question of 'turning to them' once we've finished with the cats; there have been fox  eradication progrmmes in force for a lomg time. They are beatiful animals and it is not teir faullt they were introduced here and proved so successful, but they are vermin and have to be destroyed.

[artfulcreations4all]

That photo up there of the bleeding cat is really offensive, so congratulations, iapetus, since offending was obviously your goal.

Kilroy, I understand the topography of Australia makes the situation more difficult to deal with. There are oral contraceptives that can be put in food like the poison that's planned. It doesn't have the same permanent effect that desexing does but it's an alternative when an operation isn't feasible. But, clearly, the Australian government has no intention of allocating any funds for anything except killing so it's a mute point.

I also understand the urgency of the matter but the failure of the Australian government to do something about a problem that's existed in ever-increasing numbers for over two hundred years can't be solved, IMO, by a sudden mass kill. If eradiction programs actually worked they wouldn't have to be done over and over again. Controling the ability to procreate is the only method that's been proven to work over the long term.

It's also been proven that when one species of predator has been removed another one of a different kind  takes its place..There's never going to be a perfect Eden again where only native species thrive and you can blame the introduction of the worst kind of invasive species--mankind--.for that. Feral cats have been a part of the environment for so long that who is to say what the effect would be on the balance of nature if they were ever removed--in part or in whole. It may not be the beneficial effect people expect.

I just hope when the killing starts people have enough sense to keep their pets indoors. Because that poison-laced meat can and will be picked up and ingested by all kinds of animals--not just the targeted ferals. Although I'm sure there are some people on this board who would just consider unintended victims to be "collateral damage".

I probably said this already but I'm truly disgusted by this whole thing. But my heart does goes out to the wildlife that's struggling to survive too. No one wants to see a species die out. They're all precious and they all matter.

[artfulcreations4all]

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@lionrose.7 wrote:

Cant wait to got to America and see the Buffalo, they must be so beautiful, is there any left???

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Yes, the hunting of the buffalo to near extinction was a sad chapter in the history of America. One that took place over a hundred years ago. I like to think that most people in the civilized world have evolved since then. There's some evdence that they have but, sadly, also some evidence  that they haven't.

I have not only seen a buffalo in person, but petted one. In a zoo that has a breeding program. He was cute in a big oaf sort of way and very friendly for a buffalo. Unfortunately, he smelled funny.

[lionrose.7]

That picture of the dead cat makes me sick as well, there was no need for it sickening.

[iapetus_rocks]

I share that man's obvious joy and pride (and I've heard that since that pic was taken, poodle mortality in that region has plummeted).

[iapetus_rocks]

Actually, my goal was to show that these feral cats are not cute little kittys, but are large and dangerous predators.

What I find really sickening is the huge toll on native wildlife that these feral cats cause.