Feral Thoughts

Environment aside, breeding Savannah cats is a cruel practice

 The recent airing of the BBC Documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed in Australia was an insight into the blinkered thinking of those breeding dogs for shows. Never mind the functionality of an animal, but focus entirely on the look, a look based on a mythological view of the breed. German Shepherds barely able to walk because of the need to match the animal's genetics to a breed standard stipulating a sloping back. King Charles Cavalier's with brains too big for their skulls (the opposite problem to their breeders). Hopefully the documentary and the public reaction to it has cracked a tiny ray of light into Kennel Clubs. 

In the past few days, the English Press has looked again at some of the issues with the Savannah cat (here and here), a breed sensibly banned from import into Australia last year. Its ban from Australia was on environmental grounds. However, there is an animal welfare issue with the breed that reminds me of the tunnel vision of many show-animal breeders: first-cross Savannah cats are pretty well all born prematurely.

Bringing in the bounty hunters - can it work?

Bounties are one of the most talked about but least understood issues associated with pest animal management. They are simple in concept: pay people for dispatch of a particular animal and thus put an economic incentive on reducing numbers. So why are bounties such a polarizing issue?

Don Thomas of Queensland, a sheep grower under attack from wild dogs, raised the issue again in the previous post on Feral Thoughts. Don blames those responsible for canceling the old dingo scalp bounty for the current spate of dog attacks.

Don's reaction is a common one, and it doesn't have to be just in relation to dogs. Calls for bounties are common for foxes, particularly in Tasmania at the moment where people see a financial incentive to get hunters out there and after a small number of foxes as an efficient way to manage the current incursion. A couple of years ago, it was reported that Australia's largest private hotel owner, Tom Hedley, was offering a beer-for-a-bag-of-toads bounty to reduce cane toad numbers (I don't think this went beyond a flurry of publicity).

A story from the front: the war on wild dogs

Don and Meg Thomas earn their living from the land in the Wallangarra area of Southern Queensland. Unfortunately for Don and Meg they are one of the many landholders that are under siege from wild dog attacks on their livestock. Don recently wrote to the Chairman of our National Wild Dog Advisory Group, Brent Findlay, and he tells the story much better than I can:

We have poisoned a few dogs over the last 2 or 3 years after they have been in killing sheep. They usually get in because of a fault in the electric fence or the power is down for some reason. Our usual procedure is to pull the sheep back behind a hinge-joint fence & then after about a week when the dogs are getting hungry, we put out baits & have had instant success. I have found a few of the dogs after they have been poisoned but that is unusual. 

Animal Liberation: Better to die of dehydration than a bullet

Director of Animal Liberation Australia, Mark Pearson, has told Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio program The Current that a camel is better off to die from dehydration than a bullet. To be exact, Mr Pearson said “there is veterinary science to say that at a certain point of dehydration, suffering is not as… does cease and really just a process of death.”

In arguing that camels should not be culled in Australia's Outback, Mr Pearson used a variety of arguments including that it won't work, past mismanagement and that fencing or fertility control were better alternatives. He advocated that the bulk of the Government's investment in camel management should be directed to fertility control research. As a fertility control research organisation, our Cooperative Research Centre would obviously be delighted with an injection of funds but the reality is that the state of technology worldwide is not there yet and the urgency of the camel situation means they cannot continue to be ignored.

Ferals in the Capital - fox and hare control

The "Bush" Capital of Australia, Canberra, is developing a range of environmental projects that will be icons in the future.  Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve is slowly recovering from the devastation of the 2003 bushfires and two new projects are underway: Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary and the Canberra International Arboretum.

I've written a little about the Mulligans Flat project before. It has an obvious focus on feral animals with the recent completion of an 11 km feral-proof fence.  The rangers have begun the task of ridding the sanctuary of cats, foxes, rabbits and excess kangaroos (the last are herded out of the sanctuary). The job is almost done, with rangers Peter Mills and Grant Woodbridge trying to determine if they have dispatched the last fox. They estimate there were 8 or 9 foxes within the fenced area at the closing of the sanctuary and most likely all have been successfully baited.  Baits have stopped disappearing now but that isn't absolute proof of eradication - the guys are using remote cameras near likely fox habitat and the "super bait" of young rabbit to try and determine if the last fox has been eradicated.