Straya!

[Svartalf]

I repeat: The effect of cats, both domestic and feral, is insignificant compared to the damage we do to the native fauna. Stop hating on them already.

Hermit, you know I'm a cat lover, but I think that you are underestimating the damage done to small native mammal populations by feral cats. Domestic cats in other people's gardens is a minor issue, I agree, but ferals really make a mess of populations of bandicoots etc. And I agree that our land clearing is also an atrocious attack on our remaining wild communities and threatened species.

native mammal population? what wonderland are you talking about? there's no such thing in Oz, only mzrsupials, reptiles, and invertebrates.

[Hermit]

Hermit, you know I'm a cat lover, but I think that you are underestimating the damage done to small native mammal populations by feral cats. Domestic cats in other people's gardens is a minor issue, I agree, but ferals really make a mess of populations of bandicoots etc. And I agree that our land clearing is also an atrocious attack on our remaining wild communities and threatened species.

native mammal population? what wonderland are you talking about? there's no such thing in Oz, only mzrsupials, reptiles, and invertebrates.

Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. They include kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, opossums, wombats and Tasmanian devils. 357 native species of mammals have been recorded in Australia and surrounding continental waters.

[Svartalf]

Not Possible, Cook would have reported that fact and been made an FRS instead of being sent out again to be slain and devoured by the sandwich island cannibals.

[JimC]

I repeat: The effect of cats, both domestic and feral, is insignificant compared to the damage we do to the native fauna. Stop hating on them already.

...I think that you are underestimating the damage done to small native mammal populations by feral cats...

What in my posts made you think so? I suspect it may be the word "insignificant". Try to keep the rest of the sentence in mind, thank you.

This article says Australia’s cats kill two billion animals annually. It's a calculated guess, of course, but to me the figure seems to be in the ball park. Perhaps it is you who has difficulties grasping the size of damage humans have inflicted.

The Tasmanian Tigers send their condolences to the messed up bandicoot population, as does the rest of the list of species that have become extinct outright in Australia or in parts of it since 1788.

Sorry, but I think that feral cats are a significant part of the "damage we do to the native fauna.", amongst other factors such as land clearance. The word "insignificant" is justification for my use of the word underestimating...

[pErvinalia]

Yep, agree. Hermit's love for the killer is clouding his vision.

[Scot Dutchy]

There is a large problem with feral cats in Europoort, Rotterdam, amongst the refineries and chemical plants. It is a very large industrial area with plenty of open safety spaces.

[Brian Peacock]

That cat population are no doubt surviving on rodents - cats being obligate carnivores and all. If Europoort gets on top of its vermin population problem the cat population will follow. Then again, that vermin population is no doubt thriving on organic waste and insects, so Europoort really has a waste management problem not a cat problem.

[Hermit]

I repeat: The effect of cats, both domestic and feral, is insignificant compared to the damage we do to the native fauna. Stop hating on them already.

...I think that you are underestimating the damage done to small native mammal populations by feral cats...

What in my posts made you think so? I suspect it may be the word "insignificant". Try to keep the rest of the sentence in mind, thank you.

This article says Australia’s cats kill two billion animals annually. It's a calculated guess, of course, but to me the figure seems to be in the ball park. Perhaps it is you who has difficulties grasping the size of damage humans have inflicted.

The Tasmanian Tigers send their condolences to the messed up bandicoot population, as does the rest of the list of species that have become extinct outright in Australia or in parts of it since 1788.

Sorry, but I think that feral cats are a significant part of the "damage we do to the native fauna.", amongst other factors such as land clearance. The word "insignificant" is justification for my use of the word underestimating...

Let me just point out that nowhere did I claim the damage done by cats, both domestic and feral, is insignificant. Not ever. The word, 'insignificant', is always followed by "compared to the damage we do to the native fauna", or words to that effect, both in this discussion on this topic and previous ones.

It is you who has difficulties grasping the sheer scale of what we humans do to clobber biodiversity. In its report the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services humans have driven at least 680 vertebrate species to extinction since the 16th century. It notes that the extinction rate has risen sharply in the most recent century.

Worse outcomes lie in the future.

Habitat loss and deterioration, largely caused by human actions, have reduced global terrestrial habitat integrity by 30 per cent relative to an unimpacted baseline; combining that with the longstanding relationship between habitat area and species numbers suggests that around 9 per cent of the world’s estimated 5.9 million terrestrial species – more than 500,000 species – have insufficient habitat for long-term survival, and are committed to extinction, many within decades, unless their habitats are restored.

Unfortunately, the damage we do keeps happening at an increasing rate still, despite efforts to slow it down.

While I am fully aware of the huge numbers of animals cats - domestic and even more so feral - kill, I put it to you once again that their contribution to the decline in biodiversity pales in comparison to the deleterious effects we humans have on it. Perhaps you can provide figures showing me that I got the admittedly unquantified ratio essentially wrong. I am always happy to be convinced that I am wrong.

[pErvinalia]

Yes, we know humans cause the most devastation. That's not news. The topic was cats and their devastation.

[Scot Dutchy]

You are barking up the wrong tree Hermit. The discussion is as pErv said. We all know man is destroying the planet.

[Hermit]

Yes, we know humans cause the most devastation. That's not news. The topic was cats and their devastation.

More to the point was the ratio of damage done by each.

Please recall that I joined the discussion about cats and the environmental damage they do after Scotty mentioned that he does not "like Magpies or cats for the same reason; they disseminate (sic) the song bird population" by mentioning that "Homo sapiens sapiens has destroyed so much more natural fauna by replacing original environments with pastures for its cattle, fields to grow its cereals and cities to live in and so forth, that the damage done by felines pales into utter insignificance". The comparison between the amount of damage done by felines and homo sapiens set the cat among the pigeons, so to speak. After a bit of to and fro JimC reckoned that I am "underestimating the damage done to small native mammal populations by feral cats", which I clearly don't, and you opined that my love for the killer is clouding my vision.

[pErvinalia]

[Svartalf]

Time for seabass to add his avatar as the body of the message.

[Hermit]

[Scot Dutchy]

Still comparing chalk and cheese Hermit. Nevermind. We are not discussing the comparison of damage caused by man to that of cats but you see so intent to troll. I will leave it with you.