Sunday, October 20, 2013
Saturday, October 19, 2013
‘Puss’hing for change: city to host cat carnival
To beat prevalent reluctance to adopt cats
despite exploding stray population, activists are organising a
first-of-its-kind event in the country here
Priyam Bagga
Posted On Friday, October 18, 2013
It’s doggone unfair for cats when it comes to adoption — animal activists in the city claim a large section of pet lovers remain reluctant to adopt felines, especially compared to dogs. Adding to the problem is the fact that cat adoptions are not at par with dog adoptions, despite the exploding population of street cats in the city. Manoj Oswal, animal welfare officer at the Animal Welfare Board of India, said, “Private charges for cat sterilisation are as high as Rs 6,000 and there is no programme for this under the corporation or government. The number of kittens born on the streets is huge. The issue needs to be addressed.” In light of the prevailing attitude, Cats and Brats — an organisation that deals with animal sensitisation — is organising a first-of-its-kind in the country ‘Cat Carnival’ at the Serra International Preschool in Magarpatta on October 26. Sunil Dolwani, founder of Cats and Brats said, “This carnival is going to be a myth busting session. We are celebrating people who have taken the step to adopt and take care of cats.” Adding to the novelty of the event is an activity called the ‘cat walk’, where owners will compete with their cats walking on a ramp. Neha Vazirani, a member of Cats and Brats, said, “Cats and their parents will be judged on four criteria — the cutest kitten/cat, the best dressed one, an owner-cat lookalike contest, and the best catwalk.” Misconceptions about cats discourage people from adopting them, say activists. “When you say pets, many think of dogs. They think cats are too wild. Dogs are seen as loyal, but they believe cats will harm children, because they are associated with the big cat family. Cats might nibble but they don’t bite like dogs do,” added Dolwani. Aishwarya Vishwanath, an animal activist who started the blog www.adoptastraypune.blogspot.in, said, “People believe dogs can be cuddled and taken for walks, but not cats. Even though cats are extremely clean creatures, they are relegated as an unhygienic species.” Oswal added, “Dogs are adopted because they can be trained to guard. People think cats are not as interactive or playful, even though they are easier to manage. Cats also need much less attention. If you do the same to dogs, they could even develop behavioural issues. Any awareness programme that helps reduce the animals on the street is important. The novelty of the event may even lead to results,” he added. Activists said it is also important to raise awareness about Indian cats, and abolish silly superstitions. “Pedigree cats need air-conditioning and are not suited to Indian weather conditions, just like some dogs. Indian cats are resilient. It’s common for black cats to be ostracised — such perceptions need to change,” added Vishwanath. “A lot of counselling is required for people who adopt kittens, as compared to knowledge about dogs, know-how about cats is far less. For example, most cats like their own space,” said Ramona Collins, member of the Blue Cross Society. source |
Outdoor cats kill between 1.4 billion and 3.7 billion birds a year, study says
Peter Macdiarmid/GETTY IMAGES -
Researchers estimate one pet cat kills between one and 34
birds a year, while a feral cat kills between 23 and 46 birds a year. As
a result, the new study provides a wide range of the total bird death
count.
The mammalian toll is even higher, concluded researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, ranging from 6.9 billion to 20.7 billion annually.
The analysis, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, suggests that feral and owned cats pose a far greater threat than previously thought. One study in 2011 estimated that cats in the United States kill roughly half a billion birds annually.
Peter P. Marra, the paper’s senior author and a research scientist at the Smithsonian institute, said he and his colleagues “pulled together all the best estimates” from 90 studies to reach their estimate, taking into account the difference in behavior between owned and unowned cats.
“I don’t think there’s ever been an attempt like this,” Marra said in a telephone interview, adding that the new estimate is “conservative.”
Researchers estimate that one pet cat kills one to 34 birds a year, while a feral cat kills 23 to 46 birds annually. As a result, the new study provides a wide range of the total bird death count. “It’s not a single number,” Marra said.
George H. Fenwick, president of American Bird Conservancy, said in a statement that the findings should serve as “a wake-up call for cat owners and communities to get serious about this problem before even more ecological damage occurs.”
“The very high credibility of this study should finally put to rest the misguided notions that outdoor cats represent some harmless new component to the natural environment,” Fenwick said. “The carnage that outdoor cats inflict is staggering and can no longer be ignored or dismissed.”
Cats pose the greatest danger to birds and mammals living on islands because there are fewer opportunities for these animals to escape. Cats are responsible for helping drive 33 species of birds, mammals and reptiles to extinction on islands, including the Stephens Island wren in New Zealand in the late 1800s, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Scientists have a hard time measuring the effect of cats on small mammals in the United States because they lack precise population counts for these species, Marra said.
“We don’t know how many Eastern cottontail rabbits are out there, and we don’t know how many chipmunks are out there,” he said.
By contrast, researchers estimate that the United States is home at least 15 billion adult land birds. Cats kill about 10 percent of them each year, according to the analysis.
Marra and two other scientists, the Smithsonian institute’s Scott R. Loss and Tom Will from Fish and Wildlife, conducted their analysis as part of a broader study of humans’ impact on bird mortality. Roughly 150,000 to 400,000 birds in the United States die annually in wind turbines, according to recent estimates, while 10 million to 1 billon birds die after colliding with glass.
The fact that humans can take action to prevent some of these deaths — such as adopting policies to reduce feral cat populations and altering how wind turbines are designed — should provide hope, Marra said.
“These are things that are reversible once we understand them,” he said. “That’s the important thing here.”
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Dogs we understand. Cats are mysterious, even though they are the most popular pet
The cat’s meow: Cats remain a mystery even to their owners. Unlike
dogs, the world’s most popular pet demands that we accept them on their
own terms. Science now explains the nature of purring, cat calls,
meowing and other behavior.
In a word, they are convenient.
I’ve studied cats for years and shared my home with quite a few, but I don’t feel that this has taught me very much about what they are really like. But science has begun to provide some answers, especially about their relationship to humans. Why are cats so choosy about their objects of affection?
And what does it mean when they hold their tail straight up? Read on.
The cat-human connection
Cats and humans go back a long way. DNA evidence identifies the pet cat’s ancestor as the Arabian wildcat Felis silvestris lybica and places its origins between 10,000 and 15,000 years ago in the Middle East.
It is likely that the first people to tame wildcats were the Natufians, who inhabited the Levant from about 13,000 to 10,000 years ago and are widely regarded as the inventors of agriculture. As such, they were also the first people to be bedeviled by a new pest: the grain-loving house mouse. Wildcats probably moved in to exploit this new resource. Realizing how useful this was — cats, after all, had no interest in eating grain — people probably encouraged them to hang around.
These were not pet cats as we know them. They would have been more like today’s urban foxes, able to adapt to a human environment while retaining their essential wildness.
Of course, the cat’s other qualities probably did not go unnoticed. Their appealing features, soft fur and ability to learn to become affectionate toward us led to their adoption as pets. Yet cats still have three paws firmly planted in the wild.
In contrast to almost every other domestic animal, cats retain remarkable control over their own lives. Most go where they please and when they please and, crucially, choose their own mates. Unlike dogs, only a small minority of cats has ever been intentionally bred by people. No one has bred cats to guard houses, herd livestock or assist hunters.
Cats can be very affectionate, but they are choosy. This stems from their evolutionary past: Wildcats are largely solitary and regard most other cats as rivals. Domestic cats’ default position on other cats remains one of suspicion, even fear.
However, the demands of domestication — the need to live with other cats, and then the forming of bonds with people — extended cats’ social repertoire.
Social behavior probably started to evolve as soon as cats began to congregate around granaries. Any cat that maintained its antagonism toward other cats would have put itself at a disadvantage when exploiting this resource.
Even today, wherever there is a regular source of food, a colony of feral cats will spring up, assuming local people allow it. Colonies can build up until several hundred cats are living close to one another.
In these colonies, society tends to be based on cooperation between genetically related females. Mothers often drive away their male offspring after a few months to avoid inbreeding, leaving them to lead solitary lives.
The switch to social living required a quantum leap in communication as cats became domesticated. For an animal as well-armored as a cat, a tiff might escalate into a dangerous fight unless a system of signaling evolved that allows cats to assess others’ moods and intentions. And this is precisely what happened.
The straight-up tail
For domestic cats, my research has shown that the key signal is the straight-up tail. In colonies, when two cats are working out whether to approach each other, one usually raises its tail; if the other is happy to approach, it raises its tail, too. The tail-up signal almost certainly evolved during domestication, arising from a posture wildcat kittens use when greeting their mothers. Adult wildcats do not raise their tails to each other.
Once an exchange of tail-ups has been established, one of two things occurs. Either the cats rub heads, flanks and sometimes still-raised tails before separating, or they engage in mutual grooming, which has profound social significance in many animals. Both rubbing and grooming are probably a way of cementing an amicable relationship.
The most important social skill a cat must learn in order to become a pet is, of course, how to interact with people. Even at the earliest stage of domestication, cats needed humans to protect and feed them when mice were in short supply. The cats that thrived were those that were able to reward people with their company. Yet cats are not born attached to people. They are born with an inclination to trust people only during a brief period when they are tiny.
Studies of dogs in the 1950s established the notion of a “primary socialization period,” when puppies are especially sensitive to learning how to interact with people. For dogs, this is between 7 and 14 weeks of age. The concept also applies to cats, but it starts earlier. A kitten that is handled regularly between 4 and 8 weeks generally develops a powerful attraction to people. One that does not meet a human until 10 weeks or later is likely to fear people for the rest of its life.
Do cats exposed early enough to humans have an emotional attachment to their people, as dogs do? We know that they have the capacity to feel affection for other cats, and so it is probable that their attachment to their people is an emotional one.
Most owners would say that their cat displays contentment by purring. Purring clearly does occur when a cat is contented, but a purring cat also may just be hungry, or mildly anxious. Some continue to purr even when their body language indicates they are angry. Occasionally, cats have also been heard purring when they were in distress or even during the moments before death.
Purring, then, does not necessarily reveal a cat’s emotional state. Instead, it seems to be what behavioral ecologists refer to as a manipulative signal, conveying a general request: “Please settle down next to me.”
Cat owners also engage in a tactile ritual with their pets when they stroke them. Most owners stroke their cats simply because it gives them pleasure and because the cat also seems to enjoy it. But stroking may also have symbolic meaning for the cat. Most prefer to be stroked on their heads, the area toward which cats direct their grooming.
Many cats do not simply accept stroking passively; they invite people to stroke them by jumping on their laps or rolling over. They also indicate where they wish to be stroked by offering that part of their body or shifting position. By accepting stroking, cats are engaging in a social ritual that is reinforcing the bond with their owner.
While touch is very important, the upright tail is probably the clearest way cats show their affection for us. A cat approaching its owner with a raised tail will often rub on its owner’s legs. The form that the rub takes seems to vary from cat to cat: Some rub just with the side of their head, others rub down their flank, some make contact with their tail. Many walk past without making any contact or perform their rubs on an object nearby.
Because many cats rub most intensely when they are about to be fed, they have been accused of showing nothing more than cupboard love. However, few cats confine their rubbing to mealtimes, and when two cats rub, they exchange no additional reward. So an exchange of rubs is a declaration of affection.
The sound of mewsic
Another way cats attract our attention, of course, is by meowing. The meow is part of the cat’s natural repertoire, but they rarely use it to communicate with each other. Feral cats are generally rather silent. While all cats are apparently born knowing how to meow, each has to learn how to use this most effectively.
Once cats have learned that their owners respond to meows, many develop a range of sounds that, by trial and error, they find are effective in specific circumstances. In this way, many cats and their owners gradually develop an individual “language” that they both understand but that is not shared by other cats or owners.
So cats demonstrate great flexibility in how they communicate with us, which rather contradicts their reputation for aloofness. We could consider some of this behavior manipulative, but only to the extent that two friends negotiate the details of their relationship. The underlying emotion on both sides is undoubtedly affection.
Bradshaw is the director of the Anthrozoology Institute at the University of Bristol School of Clinical Veterinary Science in Britain. He has studied cat behavior for more than 30 years. This article, published in New Scientist, is based on Bradshaw’s new book, “Cat Sense” (Allen Lane/Basic Books).
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Images of the Day
The Margay (Leopardus wiedii)
The leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)
The leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis bengalensis)Celebrating Halloween at Big Cat Rescue
Celebrating Halloween at Big Cat Rescue: On Thursday morning the tigers T.J. and Bengali at Big Cat Rescue in Tampa got holiday-themed enrichment treats like carved pumpkins filled with meat or papier-mache ghosts hanging from trees to provide their big cats with mental stimulation. Like domestic cats, exotic cats are always curious about anything new and different in their environments.[Skip O'Rourke | tampabay.com] (Oct. 17, 2013)
Like domestic cats, exotic cats are curious about anything new and different in their environments. So, Big Cat Rescue decided to offer a little holiday-themed enrichment to their charges. The center is home to more than 100 big cats, including lions, tigers, leopards, bobcats and more.
On Thursday morning the tigers, T.J. and Bengali, got to pounce upon and attack unsuspecting pumpkins filled with meat.
Reno the golden leopard got to catch a fluttering ghost pinata as it hung from a tree within his enclosure. Treats, like carved pumpkins filled with meat or papier-mache ghosts hanging from trees, provide the big cats with mental stimulation.
"Enrichment is something we try to (offer) on a regular basis," said Gale Ingham, Big Cat Rescue's operations manager. "(Outside) captivity, these animals would have hundred of miles to scent, look at, dig up and trees to climb. In captivity, they don't have that opportunity."
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Like domestic cats, exotic cats are curious about anything new and different in their environments. So, Big Cat Rescue decided to offer a little holiday-themed enrichment to their charges. The center is home to more than 100 big cats, including lions, tigers, leopards, bobcats and more.
On Thursday morning the tigers, T.J. and Bengali, got to pounce upon and attack unsuspecting pumpkins filled with meat.
Reno the golden leopard got to catch a fluttering ghost pinata as it hung from a tree within his enclosure. Treats, like carved pumpkins filled with meat or papier-mache ghosts hanging from trees, provide the big cats with mental stimulation.
"Enrichment is something we try to (offer) on a regular basis," said Gale Ingham, Big Cat Rescue's operations manager. "(Outside) captivity, these animals would have hundred of miles to scent, look at, dig up and trees to climb. In captivity, they don't have that opportunity."
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On the trail of big cats in Dorset
Wednesday 16th October 2013
By Emma Walker
OUT THERE: Echo reporter Emma Walker and expert Jonathan McGowan. Left, scratching on a tree
PAWS FOR THOUGHT: Big footprints
Dorset Echo reporter Emma Walker joined the experienced naturalist in a search for evidence.
The hunt took place in fields off the A35 near Dorchester, where many sightings of a ‘big black cat’ have been reported to the Echo.
“We have had reports of black leopards, lynx, and pumas, which are light brown,” said Mr McGowan who says he saw his first puma while badger-watching in 1984.
The Dorset man has amassed a lot of ‘evidence’ in the last 30 years, including images of half-eaten deer, astonishing faeces, mystery fur and paw prints.
He said he was now working to collect even more to finally prove that the creatures exist in Britain.
This includes setting up expensive cameras across the county to capture footage and odd noises at night.
“Big cats have made their home in Dorset and across Britain – this is clear from the number of farm animals killed,” Mr McGowan said.
Large droppings have been found to contain deer and rabbit fur and animal bones.
The naturalist has uncovered dog remains up high in trees and paw-prints the size of a man’s hand that he claims are too large to belong to any other creature.
He claims to have already had positive test results which confirmed that he found leopard droppings in Dorset.
The expert told the Echo they would be the first to know about his future findings.
Big cats have roamed Britain for hundreds of years, according to Mr McGowan.
Before the Dangerous Wild Animals Act in 1976, the wealthy could take their lion, tiger or cheetah for a walk around the park without needing a licence.
But the law was changed to protect the public and animals.
While many owners gave their pets to zoos or put them down rumours started that some people released their animals into the wild where their offspring are thought to still roam to this day.
Mr McGowan claims big cats were brought to Britain by the Romans and have escaped from travelling zoos and menageries for decades.
He said: “The issue is confused now because they are hybrids – they have evolved.
“If you were to release just 10 leopards in the country they would find each other.
“They communicate using strong visual and olfactory signs.”
He stressed there was no danger to humans as big cats liked to remain undetected. The naturalist believes that the authorities try to cover up the presence of big cats in the country.
“The main problem is that it is a massive cover up because the authorities don’t want the public to panic.
“The other is trying to persuade the sceptics that the animals are actually there.”
Evidence for the mystery beasts
BIG Cat fur, mysterious droppings, territorial markings, paw prints and potential kills all surfaced on our search for a big cat, writes EMMA WALKER.
When I told people I would be trekking around rural Dorset looking for evidence of the mysterious creature they said I was mad.
But after doing my fair share of stories on the topic at the Echo, I was already pretty convinced that large cats exist in Britain.
And after my guide, wildlife expert Jonathan McGowan, told me everything I needed to know – the search began.
The most striking discoveries included some unusual animal fur on a barbed wire fence and several potential paw prints.
As the search continued, Jonathan said: “There may well be a big cat around here that is aware of our presence.
“They are extremely successful in avoiding detection.
“There are no other animals around here that could have left these traces and people need to know that big cats are a reality.”
According to the expert, the big cats sleep in hedgerows and furrow fares and eat anything from birds and berries to deer and cattle.
At the end of our search, Jonathan said it had been one of his most successful in recent weeks.
The wildlife expert has scoured the county for evidence of big cats and has amassed so much evidence that a hardened sceptic would find hard to ignore.
MEMBERS of the public play an important role in the big cat mystery, says naturalist Jonathan McGowan.
The dedicated wildlife expert has shared his tips on what signs to look for and is urging residents to contact him if they spot a mysterious creature.
He claims the best time to see a ‘big cat’ is at dusk or dawn in areas with a lot of deer or prey.
Tell-tale signs include:
Unusual fur caught on fences or barbed wire.
Mysterious droppings, known as ‘scats’, containing deer and rabbit fur, feathers and animal bones.
Clean animal kills including cattle and part-eaten deer on the ground or up in trees.
Territorial markings including scratch marks in trees and on the ground.
Anyone wishing to report a big cat sighting can email Mr McGowan at jrmczoo@tiscali.co.uk nARE big cats really on the prowl in Britain’s countryside?
Sightings of the creatures have been dubbed Britain’s most common encounter with the unknown, with more than 2,000 sightings now logged every year with the Big Cats in Britain Group.
According to figures obtained by the Echo last September, a total of 53 people have made emergency calls to report their wild cat encounters since 2006.
In those five years 22 calls were made by those who had dialled 999 to report having seen a ‘big cat’.
A total of 20 believers picked up the phone after claiming to see a ‘large cat’.
Eleven told officers they had seen a ‘black panther’ in the county.
Dorset-based big cat expert Merrily Harpur says she has received reports of more than 600 sightings in the last ten years.
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'The matter is closed': new report into Blue Mountains big cat
A 'big cat' in the Blue Mountains. Photo: Alison Mills
Rumours have circulated for decades about a colony of "Big cats" roaming Sydney's western fringes and beyond. But today, a report commissioned by the State Government has concluded that the many hundreds who have seen the panther are wrong.
In a review of "large free-ranging felines in New South Wales," a New Zealand-based invasive species expert, John Parkes, said the accounts were "at best prima facie evidence."
"The sightings are mostly of black animals but the occasional reports of brown or tan cats suggest either more than one species is present or people are mistaking other animals for cats. Large dogs, large feral cats or swamp wallabies have been suggested as candidates by some."
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He added: "There is no conclusive evidence that large cats exist in the wild in NSW."The NSW Minister for Primary Industries, Katrina Hodgkinson, said: "The NSW Government will not commit further expenditure to this issue and, as far as I am concerned, the matter is closed.”
Mr Parkes' findings are set to infuriate an army of eye witnesses across the Blue Mountains community - not least because two previous NSW Government reports concluded that panthers were most likely present.
Questions have also been raised about the timing of the review's release. Fairfax Media has obtained a leaked email which shows the Government received the final report from Mr Parkes in "early September". However, it chose to release the findings on a day when many within the local community were either sitting in evacuation centres or trying to save their homes because of raging bushfires.
State member for Hawkesbury, Ray Williams, who himself saw the creature at Cono Heights in 2009, said: "Certainly, these latest findings will anger many locally. When you have 620 people all describing the same creature, with the same poignant similarities, you have to accept something's there."
Fairfax Media can reveal that on March 19, Blue Mountains resident Chris Coffey made the rare journey into Sydney for a special summit in Parliament with Ms Hodgkinson. The meeting was called to address the sudden spike in panther sightings and fears, among locals, that someone, particularly a child, could be attacked. Ms Coffey has seen the creature on several occasions, the first in 1998.
Since then, she has launched The Grose Vale Group and compiled a database of sightings. Almost 15 years on, the file contains 497 credible first-hand reports that span from Lithgow to Mudgee and from the Hawkesbury to Hunter Valley. But as Ms Coffey pointed out in Parliament that day, this was hardly a revelation. In May 2001, a freedom-of-information request revealed that the NSW Government had grown so alarmed about the reports of a "large panther size cat", it commissioned a big-cat expert Johannes Bauer to provide a professional opinion. In his report, he concluded: "Difficult as it seems to accept, the most likely explanation of the evidence ... is the presence of a large feline predator."
He went on to describe the region as "optimal leopard habitat", adding: "In this area, [it is] most likely a leopard, less likely a jaguar."
After Dr Bauer's shock-horror findings in 2001, the Government ordered the Department of Agriculture to send "a suitably skilled person to enable this animal to be tracked, located and identified."
However, due to a lack of funding, they instead dispatched an officer from the department and a German shepherd dog. The "hunt" ended in failure, 72 hours later.
One of the main problems faced by Ms Coffey and fellow witnesses is that for all the alleged sightings, nobody has ever landed the prized photo or video to warrant David Attenborough packing his bags and boarding the first flight to Sydney.
In 2005, the local community's hopes were raised once more when a Discovery Channel documentary team arrived on its doorstep, wanting to finally put "the myth to bed". Armed with the best high-tech gadgetry money can buy, the crew strategically scattered eight infra-red motion sensor camera traps throughout the Blue Mountains National Park where the beast had been commonly spotted.
But as Ms Coffey recalled with a sigh: "They camped here for over a week and then they produced a sensationalised program that caused us locals to be ridiculed even further."
While that episode tested the community's resolve, it was nothing compared to what would follow in 2008 after the NSW Government commissioned a second study. Fuelling cover-up claims, an FOI request later unearthed two separate versions of the report, the latter heavily edited for public consumption - and stripped of its conclusion which stated: "It seems more likely than not on available evidence that such animals do exist in NSW."
Fast forward to the present day and in his report, Mr Parkes questions the reliability of eyewitnesses. "People rarely describe with precision an event, simply because they do not see all the details, but more importantly they also subconsciously process their observations to fill in 'gaps'..." he commented."
Ms Coffey said of the report: "We continue to be treated like fringe-dwelling idiots. This is an insult to everyone who has seen the creature."
Careful not to upset his own party meanwhile, Mr Williams, had this to say: "It's interesting that the previous studies went through quite an exhaustive process and came to a different conclusion. This won't change the views of the many hundreds who have seen it. And it certainly won't change mine."
'I just told Mitchell to run'
When Taylor Pearce came face to face with a giant predator on her family's property at Bilpin, the terrified teenager turned to the internet to help identify the creature. The picture she showed her mother was of a black jaguar.On May 14, Taylor, 14, and her younger brother Mitchell, 9, were playing on a ride-on mower when an enormous feline suddenly sprung a fence and bounded into their back paddock. "I was on the mower and Mitchell was on the back. As I turned around, I saw it leap over. It walked over to a tree. Then it stopped behind us about 20 metres away. It was a big, jet black cat with a very long tail," she recalled. "We were petrified. I did not want to yell so ... I just told Mitchell to run."
The pair bolted through two gates and up a path, approximately 100 metres to their house. "I was so scared, I couldn't even speak when I got back," she said.
The family's property backs directly onto a dam and the seemingly never-ending Devil's Wilderness which is where the cats live, according to Taylor's mum, Amanda.
"It's such a vast area of national park, reaching over to Springwood. Nobody ever gets down into that part of it."
She said it was "insulting" that after so many sightings, locals were still ridiculed for believing the creature to be a genuine big cat'. "It might be a myth to others but if you live out here, you accept they are here."
"People need to be warned because I fear one day soon, one of these confrontations is going to end in tragedy."
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Missoula mountain lion sightings renew concerns over deer control
Posted: Oct 16, 2013 by Dennis Bragg - MTN News
MISSOULA - Recent mountain lion sightings on Missoula's south side
are renewing discussion about the city having its own program to control
urban deer, which are probably on the lions' menu.Reports of mountain lions, and perhaps as many as three of the big cats, are causing concerns about safety, especially for kids and pets, in the South Hills. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks agents have been combing the woods to try and track the cats but so far without success.
That's rebooted interest in having some kind of a program to control deer populations, which are likely one of the reasons the cats are coming out of the hills.
The Missoula City Council discussed that idea last year but it failed to gain traction among a majority of the council. However Councilman Jon Wilkens pressed for more work on the idea. And he says recent developments may put in back on the front burner, "You know if we don't address it today we're going to address it sometime down in the future because unfortunately the deer that live in our neighborhood keep multiplying."
Wednesday night, the deer problems were on the agenda for the University District Neighborhood Council. Many in this audience have a front row seat to the destruction and disruption.
Wilkens admits the cost of a deer control program might be the biggest obstacle, so he suggested the city might look into a different approaching than killing them, saying some communities have had good success darting urban deer with a contraceptive. That's cheaper, and could steep breeding for 2-years. Even then, he told the audience it will be up to the public to call on the city to take action, "Where is the priority in people's mind? Is it on deer or is it that sidewalk, doing numerous things, filling potholes and all that. So that's where the decisions have really got to come down to. Is it a big enough problem to work on or not?"
The city council doesn't have any additional meetings scheduled to discuss the urban deer problem so it remains to be seen whether the latest developments will re-start those discussions.
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Felines at Big Cat Rescue in Citrus Park received surprises in their enclosures
Posted: 10/17/2013
TAMPA,
FL. - Tigers T.J. and Bengali received pumpkins filled with chicken.
Reno the golden leopard pulled a paper mache ghost out of a tree and
ripped it apart with its mouth. The holiday themed treats are meant to give the cats mental stimulation. Workers at the rescue say like domestic cats, exotic cats are always curious about anything new and different in their environments.
Big Cat Rescue in Tampa is the largest accredited sanctuary in the world dedicated entirely to rescuing and providing a permanent home for abused and abandoned exotic cats.
The sanctuary is home to more than 100 big cats, including lions, tigers, leopards, bobcats and more. Find out more at the rescue's website .
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Texas cats seeking California homes
Every once in a while, having a big heart can get us into bigger trouble.
We
don't think something through, or more likely, we refuse to weigh the
consequences because if we did, we probably wouldn't act at all, and we
couldn't live with ourselves if we didn't try.Such is the case with Judy Michel and Michelle Wilson, both of Walnut Creek, who find themselves with 20 loving, playful and healthy cats, rescued from an uncertain future in Texas.
Judy and Michelle were going about their busy lives when Judy learned a childhood friend was in trouble. The two had known each other since forever, or at least their forever, and had spent summers playing and daydreaming of their futures. Judy's life, while not all roses all of the time, has been good. Her friend, not so lucky.
Some of the Texas cats waiting adoption. (Courtes of Judy Michel and Michelle Wilson)
Judy's friend, perhaps searching for love and fulfillment that wasn't coming, began rescuing cats in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike in 2008.
For a long time she did well, caring for the cats, loving them, finding new homes for them. But over the years, her situation worsened. She suffered various health problems and ended up losing her job.
Things began to spiral out of control. She had managed to get some of the cats neutered, but as the money situation worsened, she couldn't afford to have them all fixed. Eventually, she didn't even have a car to get them to a free clinic.
The cat population grew until the house was overflowing with cats.
Eventually, the woman and her cats received an eviction notice. The animals were slated to be taken to the local animal shelter, something the woman just couldn't bear. Judy, however, had an answer.
Judy paid for her friend to get a car and drive the cats to California. Hours away from being taken to an animal shelter, the woman loaded the cats into the compact Dodge Colt and headed toward California.
There was no room for cages or carriers, so the cats jockeyed for position and slept their way across the country.
The woman drove straight through, unable to stop at a motel because there would be no place there for the cats.
Once she arrived, Judy and Michelle took over, finding foster homes for the cats all across the Bay Area. They also paid to have all of cats neutered and brought up-to-date on their shots.
They did it out of kindness and love not just for the cats, but for a woman in need. It's a big task they've undertaken, as any animal rescue group can testify to, but they are determined to find the cats permanent homes.
Judy and Michelle are not asking for adoption fees, but they do want to make sure the cats, who've been through a lot, go to good homes.
To help, contact Judy at 925-788-8675 or princessbunny@comcast.net; and Michelle at 925-324-7519 or mdw442@sbcglobal.net.
Contact Joan Morris at jmorris@bayareanewsgroup.com or 1700 Cavallo Road, Antioch, CA 94509. Follow her at Twitter.com/AskJoanMorris.
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Nevada Big Cat Ownership vs the Public Poll
Open
a newspaper or flip on the television, and you often will be reminded
that Nevada is teeming with animal lovers who aren’t shy about having
their voices heard.
In the south, the diminutive Las Vegas Zoo recently closed its doors after 33 years. Although several factors were involved in the zoo’s demise, animal rights activists shouted loud and long against the facility. With assistance from U.S. Department of Agriculture officials, zookeeper Pat Dingle’s animals and birds have been relocated to licensed zoos and sanctuaries, mostly in other states.
Travel farther north, and the state’s free-roaming wild horse population is a popular topic for animal lovers. They fight ranchers, the Bureau of Land Management, processing plants, and state and federal lawmakers in the name of their love of Nevada’s mustangs and burros.
But when it comes to the dangerous proliferation of big cats such as lions and tigers in the homes of private owners throughout the state, the roar of protest from Nevada’s devoted animal rights activists is reduced to a gentle meow.
The near silence feels especially egregious in the wake of the positively purring press coverage of the recent 10th anniversary of the mauling of big-cat illusionist Roy Horn, the animal expert half of the Strip’s legendary Siegfried &Roy magic act.
On Oct. 3, 2003, Horn was nearly killed on stage in front of a stunned audience of 1,500 when he was bitten in the neck and dragged off the stage at The Mirage by the white tiger Montecore. Although animal behavior experts have said the incident had the signs of an attack, Horn has persisted in countering the tiger was only trying to protect his friend and trainer.
What the attack and the extended anniversary remembrance haven’t generated has been a large outcry of protest from Nevada’s animal rights activists.
That’s nothing new. With the exception of a controversy surrounding an orangutan act two decades ago, the use of animals for casino showroom entertainment has rarely generated much criticism.
Maybe our state’s animal lovers ought to take a closer look at the obvious problem of the private ownership of big cats in Nevada.
Nationwide since 1990, more than 300 big cat incidents have occurred, 18 of those in Nevada, according to admittedly incomplete records kept by the United States Humane Society. Only about 400 of the approximately 7,000 big cats in captivity in the country are actually in accredited zoos. The rest are owned privately.
In all, 16 adults and four children have been killed. Of the total incidents documented by the USHS, five have occurred in Pahrump, and 10 were in Las Vegas with its long history of using lions and tigers in casino animal acts.
Although the Horn mauling made international headlines, you don’t have to search far to find other dramatic and even deadly examples of big cat attacks in Nevada.
In September 2010, an adult lion attacked a trainer at the MGM Grand lion exhibit, according to the USHS. A similar incident occurred at the facility in December 2008.
In October 2007, a cougar at Pahrump’s Running Wild animal compound escaped its holding pen and attacked a woman during feeding time, biting her severely on the neck. Who knows, maybe it was just trying to protect her.
A Pahrump woman only lost part of a finger after being bitten by a “pet” leopard in February 2003, but a trainer lost his life in Las Vegas in March 2001 after he was mauled by a tiger owned by Safari Wildlife. Take a wild guess where the tiger bit him.
Instead of a groundswell of pickets and shouts of protest over the obvious problems and danger inherent with the ownership of big cats, our animal lovers remain as quiet as kittens.
Although experts observe that big cats prefer to go for the throat, it appears the animals have already got the activists’ tongues.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
source
In the south, the diminutive Las Vegas Zoo recently closed its doors after 33 years. Although several factors were involved in the zoo’s demise, animal rights activists shouted loud and long against the facility. With assistance from U.S. Department of Agriculture officials, zookeeper Pat Dingle’s animals and birds have been relocated to licensed zoos and sanctuaries, mostly in other states.
Travel farther north, and the state’s free-roaming wild horse population is a popular topic for animal lovers. They fight ranchers, the Bureau of Land Management, processing plants, and state and federal lawmakers in the name of their love of Nevada’s mustangs and burros.
But when it comes to the dangerous proliferation of big cats such as lions and tigers in the homes of private owners throughout the state, the roar of protest from Nevada’s devoted animal rights activists is reduced to a gentle meow.
The near silence feels especially egregious in the wake of the positively purring press coverage of the recent 10th anniversary of the mauling of big-cat illusionist Roy Horn, the animal expert half of the Strip’s legendary Siegfried &Roy magic act.
On Oct. 3, 2003, Horn was nearly killed on stage in front of a stunned audience of 1,500 when he was bitten in the neck and dragged off the stage at The Mirage by the white tiger Montecore. Although animal behavior experts have said the incident had the signs of an attack, Horn has persisted in countering the tiger was only trying to protect his friend and trainer.
What the attack and the extended anniversary remembrance haven’t generated has been a large outcry of protest from Nevada’s animal rights activists.
That’s nothing new. With the exception of a controversy surrounding an orangutan act two decades ago, the use of animals for casino showroom entertainment has rarely generated much criticism.
Maybe our state’s animal lovers ought to take a closer look at the obvious problem of the private ownership of big cats in Nevada.
Nationwide since 1990, more than 300 big cat incidents have occurred, 18 of those in Nevada, according to admittedly incomplete records kept by the United States Humane Society. Only about 400 of the approximately 7,000 big cats in captivity in the country are actually in accredited zoos. The rest are owned privately.
In all, 16 adults and four children have been killed. Of the total incidents documented by the USHS, five have occurred in Pahrump, and 10 were in Las Vegas with its long history of using lions and tigers in casino animal acts.
Although the Horn mauling made international headlines, you don’t have to search far to find other dramatic and even deadly examples of big cat attacks in Nevada.
In September 2010, an adult lion attacked a trainer at the MGM Grand lion exhibit, according to the USHS. A similar incident occurred at the facility in December 2008.
In October 2007, a cougar at Pahrump’s Running Wild animal compound escaped its holding pen and attacked a woman during feeding time, biting her severely on the neck. Who knows, maybe it was just trying to protect her.
A Pahrump woman only lost part of a finger after being bitten by a “pet” leopard in February 2003, but a trainer lost his life in Las Vegas in March 2001 after he was mauled by a tiger owned by Safari Wildlife. Take a wild guess where the tiger bit him.
Instead of a groundswell of pickets and shouts of protest over the obvious problems and danger inherent with the ownership of big cats, our animal lovers remain as quiet as kittens.
Although experts observe that big cats prefer to go for the throat, it appears the animals have already got the activists’ tongues.
source
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| BIG CAT POLL: US charity appeal | ||||||
| 15/10/2013 by Alan Cole in the UK | ||||||
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Friday, October 18, 2013
Britain – no country for top carnivores
I returned from the meetings filled with amazement, and the
stirrings of a hope which has been all too rare in recent years. First,
at the launch of Rewilding Europe's Wildlife Comeback report three weeks ago, I heard about the remarkably rapid spread of large wild animals back into places which lost them long ago.
Then, at the World Wilderness Congress 11 days ago, I heard how people and nations with very few resources, under almost impossible circumstances, were protecting or reintroducing "difficult" wild animals, species which are controversial, and which require the largest habitats.
Amid the hope and wonder, what hit me hardest was this: while in Britain we applaud the courage of people in poorer nations and celebrate their successes, while we send money abroad to conserve large wild animals and, rightly, become upset if people start killing them, we seem determined not to participate. Protecting species towards the top of the food chain, with all the difficulties that can involve, is something other people should do: we would rather stand back and watch.
I have been trying to understand why we are so far behind the rest of the world, why we fetishise deforested and almost empty ecosystems, why the United Kingdom, in the words of the biologist David Hetherington, is "the largest country in Europe and almost the whole world" which no longer possesses any of its big (or even medium-sized) carnivores, and why, above all, our conservation groups seem so unconcerned about the depletion of nature in Britain and so disinclined to address it.
Rewilding Europe points out that its findings do not invalidate concerns about the global loss of biodiversity. This is happening at rates unparalleled since the previous mass extinctions, caused by meteorite strikes or gigantic volcanic eruptions, and it is being driven by human action: the trashing and clearing of habitats, pollution, acidifiation, global warming and the direct killing of vulnerable species.
Europe is not immune to these extinctions, and some species, on land and particularly at sea, are being pushed to the brink with astonishing speed.
But at the same time something remarkable and unexpected has been happening. In many parts there has been a great restoration of habitats: partly accidental, as farmers have vacated marginal lands; partly deliberate, as ambitious European conservation groups have secured the protection of large areas. There has also been a sharp reduction in the persecution of many species which people previously either hunted for sport and food or sought to exterminate as vermin. Animals which were once hated are now protected and cherished. Even the species which seemed least likely to return – those which require large territories and were reviled by people – have started to bounce back.
For example, by the first world war, the wolf's range in Europe had contracted to just 7% of what it had been at the time of the French Revolution. It was extinct almost everywhere. Well into the second half of the 20th century it was still persecuted in its last redoubts.
But since 1970 its population in Europe has quadrupled: there are now about 12,000 wolves on the continent. Relict populations in eastern Europe, Italy and Spain have expanded into much of Germany, the French Alps and as far as central France, Catalonia in Spain, Denmark, Belgium and even, on two occasions, the Netherlands. While its populations are not everywhere secure, it is now as likely to be welcomed as feared, as a new generation of nature lovers delights in its reappearance, and as wolf-watching businesses have sprung up, generating income and employment in places where both were in short supply.
Photograph: David Ebener
Lynx populations have also quadrupled over roughly the same period (to about 10,000 animals), and have spread – largely through deliberate reintroduction by conservationists – from their holdouts in the Carpathians, the Balkans and Scandanavia into places from which they had previously been erased. They are once more living in France, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Italy.
<SNIP> Please click this link to read the rest of this fascinating article!
Then, at the World Wilderness Congress 11 days ago, I heard how people and nations with very few resources, under almost impossible circumstances, were protecting or reintroducing "difficult" wild animals, species which are controversial, and which require the largest habitats.
Amid the hope and wonder, what hit me hardest was this: while in Britain we applaud the courage of people in poorer nations and celebrate their successes, while we send money abroad to conserve large wild animals and, rightly, become upset if people start killing them, we seem determined not to participate. Protecting species towards the top of the food chain, with all the difficulties that can involve, is something other people should do: we would rather stand back and watch.
I have been trying to understand why we are so far behind the rest of the world, why we fetishise deforested and almost empty ecosystems, why the United Kingdom, in the words of the biologist David Hetherington, is "the largest country in Europe and almost the whole world" which no longer possesses any of its big (or even medium-sized) carnivores, and why, above all, our conservation groups seem so unconcerned about the depletion of nature in Britain and so disinclined to address it.
Rewilding Europe points out that its findings do not invalidate concerns about the global loss of biodiversity. This is happening at rates unparalleled since the previous mass extinctions, caused by meteorite strikes or gigantic volcanic eruptions, and it is being driven by human action: the trashing and clearing of habitats, pollution, acidifiation, global warming and the direct killing of vulnerable species.
Europe is not immune to these extinctions, and some species, on land and particularly at sea, are being pushed to the brink with astonishing speed.
But at the same time something remarkable and unexpected has been happening. In many parts there has been a great restoration of habitats: partly accidental, as farmers have vacated marginal lands; partly deliberate, as ambitious European conservation groups have secured the protection of large areas. There has also been a sharp reduction in the persecution of many species which people previously either hunted for sport and food or sought to exterminate as vermin. Animals which were once hated are now protected and cherished. Even the species which seemed least likely to return – those which require large territories and were reviled by people – have started to bounce back.
For example, by the first world war, the wolf's range in Europe had contracted to just 7% of what it had been at the time of the French Revolution. It was extinct almost everywhere. Well into the second half of the 20th century it was still persecuted in its last redoubts.
But since 1970 its population in Europe has quadrupled: there are now about 12,000 wolves on the continent. Relict populations in eastern Europe, Italy and Spain have expanded into much of Germany, the French Alps and as far as central France, Catalonia in Spain, Denmark, Belgium and even, on two occasions, the Netherlands. While its populations are not everywhere secure, it is now as likely to be welcomed as feared, as a new generation of nature lovers delights in its reappearance, and as wolf-watching businesses have sprung up, generating income and employment in places where both were in short supply.
Photograph: David Ebener Lynx populations have also quadrupled over roughly the same period (to about 10,000 animals), and have spread – largely through deliberate reintroduction by conservationists – from their holdouts in the Carpathians, the Balkans and Scandanavia into places from which they had previously been erased. They are once more living in France, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland and Italy.
<SNIP> Please click this link to read the rest of this fascinating article!
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Portsmouth animal shelter fires director, bans feral cats
The Virginian-Pilot
The Portsmouth Humane Society fired its executive director Thursday amid controversy over the no-kill shelter's practice of having staff members adopt feral cats, sterilizing them and releasing the animals into the woods.
Rebecca Barclay, Humane Society board president, would not comment on Jenn Austin's removal, citing confidentiality. But the move comes a day after the board sent a letter to the state, telling officials it was not aware of the staff's actions, which were a violation of state law and the organization's rules.
The shelter, which has a five-year contract to serve as the city's animal pound, will no longer accept feral cats. That decision has forced the city, which had been taking 15 to 20 cats a week to the facility on Seaboard Court, to stop picking up the animals.
The revelation about the illegal practice came from a state investigation, triggered by a former staffer's complaint. "I was shocked and appalled," Barclay said. The practice began under former executive director Christie Chipps Peters, who left the shelter in January to take over as director of Richmond's Department of Animal Care and Control.
Reached by phone Thursday, Chipps Peters acknowledged she started it. "It is 100 percent true," she said. "I take full responsibility for that." Chipps Peters said that she started the practice about three years before she left. She said she personally adopted 30 to 50 cats, and that other staffers did, too. She couldn't say how many cats were released while she ran the shelter. Had she known it was against the law, "we would have figured something else out," she said.
Once Austin took over, the feral cat colony grew. Barclay sent a memo to Austin on Sunday in which she ordered the staff to stop adopting and releasing the animals. She said adoptions by staffers or volunteers must be approved by the shelter board's president, and that the staff must keep accurate records on all animals. "Violation of any of the above policies by shelter employees will result in immediate termination," it states.
The city's contract with the Portsmouth shelter remains in question. City officials believe dealing with feral cats was part of the deal. "We're disappointed," City Attorney George Willson said.
Barclay contends the animal shelter was never equipped to handle feral cats and that its staff should never have accepted them. "Because feral cats are unadoptable," Barclay said. "They do not have the potential to become pets."
When shelter officials worked out the contract with the city, Barclay said, it was made clear the shelter would not accept feral cats. Willson and City Manager John Rowe could not confirm that, but noted that the shelter has been accepting them from the beginning of the five-year contract, in 2010.
Feral cats are described as "wild" cats that are not socialized, avoid interaction with people and can act aggressively toward them. Stray cats, in contrast, are socialized, not aggressive and don't avoid human contact.
None of the wild cats was seen Thursday by a Pilot reporter who toured the woods line where shelter staffers have been letting them go. The only evidence of the colony was a half-dozen small animal carriers or shelters placed near the line, along with bowls for food and water.
There aren't any homes near the shelter, which is in an industrial area. But at least one adjacent business has noticed the increased presence of cats. Erin Poro, office manager for American Insulation Service next door, said her co-workers had spotted only one cat, but they've seen a lot more of something else on the grass behind their building: cat feces. "I noticed it a few months ago," Poro said. "because we have to walk our dog back there."
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Wednesday, October 16, 2013
National Feral Cat Day 2013
October 16, 2013
Today is National Feral Cat Day. This day was launched by Alley Cat Allies, a national advocate for feral and stray cats and the foremost authority on Trap-Neuter-Return, in 2001 to bring attention to the unnecessary killing of cats in animal control pounds and shelters.
Feral cats are descendants of a domesticated cat that have returned to the wild. Feral cats are born in the wild, as opposed to stray cats, who are usually cats who have been lost or abandoned. Most animal shelters across the United States kill virtually all feral cats who come through their doors, because they are considered unadoptable.
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Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Sumatran Tiger Cub Dies After Drowning At London Zoo 3 Weeks After Its Birth
15/10/13
Zoo officials said Tuesday that the cub drowned at the edge of a pool inside the tigers' enclosure.
The cub was born on Sept. 22 and died on Saturday. It had not been named and officials said its gender had not been determined.
Officials said they believe the cub's mother, Melati, carried it outside to the pool area. A review is underway to determine what went wrong.
Curator Malcolm Fitzpatrick said the staff was "heartbroken" about the death.
The cub's birth had been captured on video that was widely distributed.
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*This should not have happened!!!*
Big cats attack in Houston
Big cats attack in Houston
Posted: Oct 14, 2013
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