The Cat and I
THAT feral cats are an environmental disaster in Australia’s fragile ecosystems is irrefutable. Even animal rights organisations, including PETA, recognise the destruction wrought by the introduced Felis catus roaming the bush.
Having been brought up as a fan of Australia’s natural diversity I, like many hunters, despair at the sheer magnitude of the feral cat problem. For as long as I’ve been a shooter (more than 45 years), feral cats have been high on my target species list (along with Indian Mynas, but that’s another story). I’ve hunted them with singular focus, using all of the firearms at my disposal, along with traps where shooting is not possible.
Why the passion for removing cats from the Aussie bush?
Since their incursion into Australia, cats have spread throughout the continent, inhabiting environments as diverse as semi-alpine tussocks to arid deserts, coastal islands and rainforest clad mountains. Our unique wildlife has not evolved to cope with such a capable and fecund predatory species. Much of our fauna is vulnerable to over predation from cats whose cosmopolitan diet includes birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles, even insects during tough times.
