@kingpins and how much bush and wildlife is killed by our ever-expanding suburbs, caused by our obsession with 'single-house-living'? replacing 'bush' with a sea of corrugated roof tops as far as the eye can see? what an improvemen on naturet!
Seriously though:
this is a lot to do with the 'laissez faire' attitude of the average Australian - who: what and whoever that is - lets things 'happen' - allows pets (often including dogs) do their natural thing - that is 'breed' and then let them loose in the wild or in the neighbourhood (my daughter just had a cat and her 4 kittens dumped in her backyard - she kept a little black one and took the rest to a rescue center) . Cats make amazing pets - I have always had cats (and dogs, too) but they need to be looked after - desexed, kept indoors, if possible, but definitely well-fed; and de-sex them!!!
if they are well-tended and attached, they tend to stay around you like dogs - this is from personal experience - and when there is no food source, have trouble going back to their wild instincts. I have my cat follow me wherever I go - even watching TV with me at night, or just sitting on the couch next to my computer, sometimes on the floor next to me. Incidentally she was left in the neighbourhood by her former owners, and she 'courted' me for half a year, until I invited a very skinny and ordinary tabby cat to join me, just by blinking at her - she had moved ever closer over a period of days . . .
The damage done to our wildlife is by wild cats, which their owners allowed to roam and then they breed, of course. There should be an eradication campaign - but then there are the wild brumbies of the Victorian highlands, who destroy entire plant species, hence habitats for other native species!
Watch out for cat burglars!
Tau
