ext_8166 ([identity profile] gemfyre.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] urbpan 2007-09-03 10:47 pm (UTC)

We regard kangaroos as "cute", but the Aussies consider them an annoyance, and it's pretty much open season on kangas.

Not the case. Kangaroo populations have blown out of proportion due to agriculture here. Clearing of land to create pasture and sticking water troughs everywhere suits the roos to a tea. And it's not open season - roos are very carefully managed. All shooters must have a permit and only a certain number are to be taken to maintain a sustainable population.

And I haven't yet met one person from America yet who truly understands the feral cat problem in Australia. I adore cats too, but in Australia we're talking animals that were possibly here BEFORE white settlement (some research has shown, and they have no idea how they got here). These are animals that live in the middle of the desert and have done so for at least a century now - miles away from any humans. They're like small tigers, they cannot be redomesticated, they're huge and they're nasty.

In W.A. foxes have been brought under control using 1080 baits, but cats are a bit more of a challenge because they don't take baits as easily. There's also a phenomonen called 'mesopredator release'. Pretty much, once you get rid of foxes, cat numbers explode, so a solution to this issue also needs to be sorted out.

Sure, all of these problems were initially caused by humans. But if you take away just the humans, the problems will still remain because foxes and cats get along quite happily without us. As long as there are small, native animals to eat.

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