It's pretty damn easy to tell a fully feral cat from a lost pet in Oz. I have no problem with other people eating the meat from those ferals. I couldn't do it myself because I feel an affinity with cats (for the same reason, if we ever catch a cat while out trapping mammals, I plan to tell the people with me to deal with it while I go elsewhere).
Sterilise and release is handy in some circumstances, because it breaks the breeding cycle, instead of just taking individuals out of the population to be replaced by others. Some research into effective control techniques actually requires cats to be re-released so their behaviour can be studied (same sometimes with foxes - although foxes are obliging - they'll take those 1080 baits).
In New Zealand possum meat and fur is popular because they've become a pest there. You can't be all sentimental when you're talking about thousands of feral creatures out there destroying native species.
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Sterilise and release is handy in some circumstances, because it breaks the breeding cycle, instead of just taking individuals out of the population to be replaced by others. Some research into effective control techniques actually requires cats to be re-released so their behaviour can be studied (same sometimes with foxes - although foxes are obliging - they'll take those 1080 baits).
In New Zealand possum meat and fur is popular because they've become a pest there. You can't be all sentimental when you're talking about thousands of feral creatures out there destroying native species.