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| Thread ID: 56427 | 2005-04-04 10:47:00 | Go Kiwis ! | Strommer (42) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 341506 | 2005-04-05 21:49:00 | We currently have three cats, we like cats as pets . Feral cats are a nuisance in the bush and while they may keep the bigger nuisance rats and mutilads lower than they might be (by killing one of the mustilads siurves of food, rats), they should be exterminated from that environment . On the subject of Kiwi killers, dogs do more damage to adolescent and adult Kiwi populations than any other animal . Most of the dogs that do the damage are not wild, they kill Kiwis for fun rather than food as dogs do when they maul sheep on a farm . The outcome should be the same for all non-indiginous animals in the bush, death . |
Murray P (44) | ||
| 341507 | 2005-04-05 22:05:00 | dogs do more damage to adolescent and adult Kiwi populations than any other animal. Interesting. I would have thought rats and stoats, being much more widespread than dogs, to be the worst animals for Kiwis. Are you sure? Maybe your info only refers to one area, one study. BTW, yes, it is FERAL cats that are the problem, not house pets. |
Strommer (42) | ||
| 341508 | 2005-04-05 22:55:00 | dogs do more damage to adolescent and adult Kiwi populations than any other animal . Interesting . I would have thought rats and stoats, being much more widespread than dogs, to be the worst animals for Kiwis . Are you sure? Maybe your info only refers to one area, one study . BTW, yes, it is FERAL cats that are the problem, not house pets . Yes, I'm sure . Kiwi chicks are more likely to be predated by rats, mustilids and cats, but domestic (someones pet, as per niusence dogs on farms) and hunting dogs get the majority of older birds, which are more important for keeping the population alive as, presumably, they are viable breeders . Bullets, poison and traps are all good measures to protect native species . Any dog or cat caught up in the disposal method of choice in any particular "bush" area gets no sympathy from me . As for the furor over the attempts by the person in the article to get rid of a few feral cats . The nay sayers are wowsers, loons and losers . They're the usual bunch of of no hopers that foist themselves on individuals societies and political forums to give themselves a sense of self worth and importance that they would not otherwise earn in real world activities . They belong to the same genus as, over the fence tittle tattlers, sefl righteous busy bodies and religious fanatics . How about that then! I managed to get sex, politics and religion into the subject :rolleyes: |
Murray P (44) | ||
| 341509 | 2005-04-05 23:36:00 | Nice going, Murray... John Tamahere your friend? :D Kiwi chicks are more likely to be predated by rats, mustilids and cats OK, this makes sense. It just seems that there would be something like 0.01 dog per hectare of native kiwi inhabited bush compared to probably 100 varmits per hectare. |
Strommer (42) | ||
| 341510 | 2005-04-06 02:34:00 | Yes Steve, the yield curve for mustelids and rodents per hectare is much greater than that of dogs . But dogs represent critical mass which is everywhere at once . Thus we need more cats to keep them in line . :badpc: Seriously though, I don't approve of feral cats and agree they need to be removed from the environment . Along with all the other imported pests . |
Winston001 (3612) | ||
| 341511 | 2005-04-06 03:21:00 | Seriously though, I don't approve of feral cats and agree they need to be removed from the environment . Along with all the other imported pests . Not forgetting the humans :rolleyes: Some so-called deer hunters can also be a menace . Not only do they delight in being helicoptered in with crates of beer which they then leave behind (empties of course) together with other mess, but they don't actually want the deer to be removed as this would deprive them of the pleasure of killing . Indeed in the Upper Hutt region, Sika deer were released some years ago by these types to provide sport . Before the Regional Council took over from the Wellington Regional Water Board in the early 1980s, parts of the water catchment area were quite eaten out by deer, with little understorey . After conservation management and vigorous culling by the Regional Council, and dropping of 1080, the bush over the last 20 years has improved almost beyond recognition, as well as there being a noticeable increase in bird life . Then DOC of course cannot please everyone . There are the pressures by governments for them to earn money, to cater for vast increases in tourists by way of ever more facilities of easy walking tracks, accomodation, granting of commercial concessions, on the one hand; then on the other, the demands of conservation and saving wildlife, the outcries of those against 1080, and complaints by those that say DOC is neglecting the indigenous New Zealand tramper by letting the backcountry tracks and huts fall into disrepair . They are in a no win situation a lot of the time, but really at the end of the day conservation should be paramount, we should not be losing bush and bird life just because foreign tourists want to see National Parks . Probably a main source of feral cats are those humans who dump unwanted kittens on the bush edges . |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
| 341512 | 2005-04-06 07:59:00 | Some idiot at work has been letting out feral cats caught in traps recently. I work on a dairy/food factory site so we're legally obliged to catch and exterminate vermin. I presume the offending person is a cat lover who objects to trapping the cats, even if they are feral. |
manicminer (4219) | ||
| 341513 | 2005-04-06 08:53:00 | Nice going, Murray... John Tamahere your friend? :D Kiwi chicks are more likely to be predated by rats, mustilids and cats OK, this makes sense. It just seems that there would be something like 0.01 dog per hectare of native kiwi inhabited bush compared to probably 100 varmits per hectare. Dogs will go through a large area of bush in a relatively short period of time, killing every Kiwi they can find and leaving the carcasses as a graphic indicator of their passage. My analogy to dogs mauling sheep is fairly accurate, they get as many as possible in as short a time period as they can. Apparently park staff have found evidence of two, three or more dogs acting together (as they do) with devastating results like the total destruction of the adult Kiwi population over several hectacres in a single session. Again, much like the poor old farmer who discovers a paddock or two of umpteen dead, dying or injured sheep, it happens quckly, the dogs aren't hungry so don't stop to eat once a kill is made. In either case the dogs should be (will be) shot and the owners, if they can be found, made to clean up the mess. |
Murray P (44) | ||
| 341514 | 2005-04-06 09:16:00 | One bloke not fond of cats gives his thoughts: www.mykp.co.uk The above bloke's forum: www.mykp.co.uk And it's not me, by the way! :) |
manicminer (4219) | ||
| 341515 | 2005-04-06 10:49:00 | Even those who do not like cats will find this funny: www.wind-drifter.com (It is on many sites, and can be downloaded) |
Terry Porritt (14) | ||
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