Australian feral cats

[windwalker_au]

these cats are a real problem here in Australia these ones are from Arnhem land in the northern territory i have shot bigger ones than these.
Bernie thumbs




MASSIVE feral cats - some as large as goats - are spreading in Arnhem Land and threatening native wildlife, rangers say.

Inside the guts of captured cats they have found sugar gliders, geckos, birds and insects - and that's just one day's meals.

Now a special "catting" dog will be brought in to help sort the super pussies out.

Warden ranger group has sought Federal Government funding based on pictures of the large cats.

Group chairman Dean Yearbook said the cats grew to about 20kg.

This is about the same weight as a  boy.

He said the cats were getting bigger, with "several thousand" in the Warddeken area of central Arnhem Land.

"All we know is our birds and animals are declining," he told the ABC.

"We hope this project will help us to try and find a way to get rid of the cats.

"There is an abundance but we cannot tell how many there are of them."

Mr Yirbarbuk said the Australian Wildlife Conservancy would provide a dog specially trained to catch cats, so GPS collars could be attached.

"They specialise in cats. This dog is coming from Western Australia," he told the NT News.

"They chase the cats, they catch them in the tree so we can tranquillise them or catch them somehow, so we put a radio collar on them and track them with a beacon.

"We will be able to see where they are and where they are feeding.

That will give us a clear understanding of them."

Research manager Georgia Vallance said the funding would complement the ranger groups' culling and they would use motion-sensor cameras to keep track of the cats.

"We've been noticing more feral cats here over the last few years, and when these cats are culled by the rangers they perform a gut analysis, and the amount of animals inside these cats is staggering," she said.

"One that was culled had the remains of two sugar gliders, a velvet gecko, a bird and some insects - so that's just one cat, over one day.

"So the project the rangers are now doing is to try and establish the population of cats, what their range is, and what their behaviour is."

[JonnyReb]

  Holy Smokes thats a BIG kitty!!

  Honest i'd have thought those were photoshopped,, but i believe you. Wonder what in the world they're mixed with that allows such size?  They're big enough to have to be careful of, good thing they don't run in packs eh?

[Dogshirt]

I have one orange Tom that's about as big as that one pictured.

[JonnyReb]

 I got a border collie bout like that 

[Dogshirt]

And Tom is about to be an X cat! I'm tired of him beating up th "Tommies"! About the best I will say for him is he doesn't kill the kittens like some Toms do.

[redhand]

That Orange Tabby looks like mine but, he'd of been holding the hunter!

[Squeeze]

Ive been hearing for years how bad the feral cat problem is there.  totally changing the natural ecosystem.  Those are HUGE! Id have no problem hunting them..   sounds fun, like prarie dogs here   

[Watauga]

Hi Bernie So how big is an Australian feral Mouse?
Or is it the Kangaroos that the Australian feral Cats Eat?

[halfstock]

I think they should be hunted and tan the hides for use just as you would a bob cat, lynx, or puma. Damn things get much bigger and you'll have to export them to Africa and use to take the place of the king of beasts. That really is a very unusual thing and they really are huge for feral cats.

[Bulldog lady]

Adds a whole new meaning to "Hello Kitty"  =  like looking down barrel of 50 cal!   !!   I know what just our barn cats have done to the lizard population here, snakes I don't miss but that not the issue when screwing with Mother Nature on that scale.  We getting the monster feral hogs moving up here in OK      Sounds like nice soft lining for gloves, mocassins, etc  Thanks for article and photos.







For you guys that don't have any young ones around that is the new craze for little girls - white kitty with pink hairbows!!!