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#51
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"Yowie" wrote in message . au...
"dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers" wrote in message ... I hope they'll be protected as well as studied. Joy Joy, big cats aren't native to the UK. If there are any in the wild (and I think there most probably are a few), I have grave misgivings about them remaining here. The theory is that they are cats that have escaped or have been deliberately released from private collections when legislation was brought in controlling who could have them and how/where they were kept. Reasons for my misgivings - example, we now have wild mink in the UK. They are escapees (unintentional & deliberate escape - "liberation") and descendents of escapees from mink farms. The mink in question is the American Mink - it's not native to the UK and it has no natural predators over here. It also breeds extremely well over here. It is destroying our native and now very rare, extremely endangered water voles. There's nothing better a mink likes than a tasty water vole for lunch. The mink is killing off our own wild life rather efficiently. For example - the stream at the end of my garden is a tributary of the River Wensum. It had been mink free until quite recently. I used to see a lot of water voles about. I haven't seen *any* this year. There's no sign of them. Some time ago a downstream neighbour told me she'd seen a mink on the banks of the stream where it goes by her place. Mink have been reported elsewhere on the river system too. Also, the number of fish in the stream has noticeably declined when the water is *good* and it's not fished to any extent. The other problem is that in relative terms, the UK is a small landmass, highly urbanised in many areas so there simply isn't the space for big cats to be about in any quantity without possible serious consequences for people. In this case, it isn't the people encroaching on to land previously the natural habitat of the big cats, it's more the other way around. I have very grave doubts about big cats remaining wild in the UK. This problem of "imported" species out-doing the native species is a major problem here in Australia, particularly when it comes to feral cats, dogs and pigs, although there are many other introduced species that are wreaking havoc in their own environmental niches (can toads, european carp, indian mynah bird etc etc). Because Australia was so isolated for so long (in terms of evolution) our native fauna simply doesn't have the natural methods of dealing with the effecient hunters that come from other parts of the world. I saw a program on TV a while back dealing at least in part with the feral cat problem in Australia. It featured this somewhat repulsive man who hunted cats for a bounty-his car had a sticker that said AFAIR something like "The only good cat is a dead cat." He seemed to really enjoy shooting the cats. Apparently also some aboriginial people in Australia hunt and eat feral cats. There was a clip on the program showing some aborigineal women chasing after a feral cat which they caught and later cooked. Ironically, one of our natives, the possum, is a large problem in New Zealand, where it a pest and not part of the natural ecosystem. Yowie |
#52
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"Yowie" wrote in message . au...
"dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers" wrote in message ... I hope they'll be protected as well as studied. Joy Joy, big cats aren't native to the UK. If there are any in the wild (and I think there most probably are a few), I have grave misgivings about them remaining here. The theory is that they are cats that have escaped or have been deliberately released from private collections when legislation was brought in controlling who could have them and how/where they were kept. Reasons for my misgivings - example, we now have wild mink in the UK. They are escapees (unintentional & deliberate escape - "liberation") and descendents of escapees from mink farms. The mink in question is the American Mink - it's not native to the UK and it has no natural predators over here. It also breeds extremely well over here. It is destroying our native and now very rare, extremely endangered water voles. There's nothing better a mink likes than a tasty water vole for lunch. The mink is killing off our own wild life rather efficiently. For example - the stream at the end of my garden is a tributary of the River Wensum. It had been mink free until quite recently. I used to see a lot of water voles about. I haven't seen *any* this year. There's no sign of them. Some time ago a downstream neighbour told me she'd seen a mink on the banks of the stream where it goes by her place. Mink have been reported elsewhere on the river system too. Also, the number of fish in the stream has noticeably declined when the water is *good* and it's not fished to any extent. The other problem is that in relative terms, the UK is a small landmass, highly urbanised in many areas so there simply isn't the space for big cats to be about in any quantity without possible serious consequences for people. In this case, it isn't the people encroaching on to land previously the natural habitat of the big cats, it's more the other way around. I have very grave doubts about big cats remaining wild in the UK. This problem of "imported" species out-doing the native species is a major problem here in Australia, particularly when it comes to feral cats, dogs and pigs, although there are many other introduced species that are wreaking havoc in their own environmental niches (can toads, european carp, indian mynah bird etc etc). Because Australia was so isolated for so long (in terms of evolution) our native fauna simply doesn't have the natural methods of dealing with the effecient hunters that come from other parts of the world. I saw a program on TV a while back dealing at least in part with the feral cat problem in Australia. It featured this somewhat repulsive man who hunted cats for a bounty-his car had a sticker that said AFAIR something like "The only good cat is a dead cat." He seemed to really enjoy shooting the cats. Apparently also some aboriginial people in Australia hunt and eat feral cats. There was a clip on the program showing some aborigineal women chasing after a feral cat which they caught and later cooked. Ironically, one of our natives, the possum, is a large problem in New Zealand, where it a pest and not part of the natural ecosystem. Yowie |
#53
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On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 03:58:23 -0700, Cheryl Perkins wrote
(in article ): Marina wrote: This I don't understand. Why would they not want them to end up in another zoo where they would have been looked after properly? Or maybe I could understand if they couldn't be sure whether they would be euthanised or sent to another zoo. But still. You'd think public awareness of the dangers of letting out non-native animals into the wrong environment would be at a level where no-one would dream of doing it. They're probably operating on exactly the same level of thinking as the people who take unwanted domestic dogs and cats and simply abandon them out in the country or in a distant part of town. They've convinced themselves that they're doing the animal a favour by 'giving it a chance'; won't admit to themselves that the animal will almost certainly die slowly from cold, hunger, and injuries from other animal attacks, or cars; and can't face up to their responsibility. I agree with you about the cats and dogs. But it appears in the case of the big cats they were right in at least some cases. |
#54
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On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 03:58:23 -0700, Cheryl Perkins wrote
(in article ): Marina wrote: This I don't understand. Why would they not want them to end up in another zoo where they would have been looked after properly? Or maybe I could understand if they couldn't be sure whether they would be euthanised or sent to another zoo. But still. You'd think public awareness of the dangers of letting out non-native animals into the wrong environment would be at a level where no-one would dream of doing it. They're probably operating on exactly the same level of thinking as the people who take unwanted domestic dogs and cats and simply abandon them out in the country or in a distant part of town. They've convinced themselves that they're doing the animal a favour by 'giving it a chance'; won't admit to themselves that the animal will almost certainly die slowly from cold, hunger, and injuries from other animal attacks, or cars; and can't face up to their responsibility. I agree with you about the cats and dogs. But it appears in the case of the big cats they were right in at least some cases. |
#55
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On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 08:54:21 -0500, "MaryL"
-OUT-THE-LITTER wrote: "JP Hobbs" jphobbsREMOVE THIS @dodo.com.au wrote in message ... I LOVE big cats specially the tigers leopards and lions they are so beautiful!!!!! Jean.P. So do I, but I wouldn't be pleased to encounter one in my back yard... MaryL My thought exactly! |
#56
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On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 08:54:21 -0500, "MaryL"
-OUT-THE-LITTER wrote: "JP Hobbs" jphobbsREMOVE THIS @dodo.com.au wrote in message ... I LOVE big cats specially the tigers leopards and lions they are so beautiful!!!!! Jean.P. So do I, but I wouldn't be pleased to encounter one in my back yard... MaryL My thought exactly! |
#57
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Napoleon wrote:
I saw a program on TV a while back dealing at least in part with the feral cat problem in Australia. It featured this somewhat repulsive man who hunted cats for a bounty-his car had a sticker that said AFAIR something like "The only good cat is a dead cat." He seemed to really enjoy shooting the cats. Apparently also some aboriginial people in Australia hunt and eat feral cats. There was a clip on the program showing some aborigineal women chasing after a feral cat which they caught and later cooked. Tell you the truth, I'm less offended by the people who actually eat the cats than I am by the creep who just gets off on killing them. Not to say I wouldn't be horrified to learn that somebody's pet cat had been eaten!! But at least the impulse of killing to eat isn't an evil one, whereas the guy who just enjoys shooting them is a sicko, IMO. Joyce |
#58
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Napoleon wrote:
I saw a program on TV a while back dealing at least in part with the feral cat problem in Australia. It featured this somewhat repulsive man who hunted cats for a bounty-his car had a sticker that said AFAIR something like "The only good cat is a dead cat." He seemed to really enjoy shooting the cats. Apparently also some aboriginial people in Australia hunt and eat feral cats. There was a clip on the program showing some aborigineal women chasing after a feral cat which they caught and later cooked. Tell you the truth, I'm less offended by the people who actually eat the cats than I am by the creep who just gets off on killing them. Not to say I wouldn't be horrified to learn that somebody's pet cat had been eaten!! But at least the impulse of killing to eat isn't an evil one, whereas the guy who just enjoys shooting them is a sicko, IMO. Joyce |
#59
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Neither would I! Jean.P.
MaryL -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote in message ... "JP Hobbs" jphobbsREMOVE THIS @dodo.com.au wrote in message ... I LOVE big cats specially the tigers leopards and lions they are so beautiful!!!!! Jean.P. So do I, but I wouldn't be pleased to encounter one in my back yard... MaryL |
#60
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Neither would I! Jean.P.
MaryL -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote in message ... "JP Hobbs" jphobbsREMOVE THIS @dodo.com.au wrote in message ... I LOVE big cats specially the tigers leopards and lions they are so beautiful!!!!! Jean.P. So do I, but I wouldn't be pleased to encounter one in my back yard... MaryL |
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