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Post by Avril on Feb 1, 2014 3:13:12 GMT -5
Weird, this site is finally accepting the password I use as Avril on my laptop, on my desktop. Anyway, this is what landed in our garden today. It's a bush turkey chick. Here's what they look like full grown. media2.apnonline.com.au/img/media/images/2012/07/13/9-1376607-wk%2014%20brush%20turkey_fct1024x630x63_t460.jpg [/img] I've seen a full grown one sitting briefly on our side gate. I've no idea where the nest is or whether the chick had flown the nest or was lost or just adventuring. I feared for its little life with our catlets. Specially since Tombei brought in a huge dead rat last night. Much praise and petting and a sumptuous reward in the form of a cut glass dish of Dine Gourmet Salmon in a Seafood sauce. But I didn't want dead bush turkey chick on her menu so I (gently) chased it away and it FLEW, thank god, on to the fence and over to the next door back yard, hopefully where it's safe.
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Post by sunfrog on Feb 1, 2014 18:31:48 GMT -5
My kitty is mad at me. I put up some chicken wire and cut him off from entering my garden or jumping over the fence near my garden. I also moved a table he used to use to get out from the side. The only place for cats to get in and out of our yard now in in the front left corner. I need to block that off somehow. Such a simple solution I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner. Cats don't hurtle over fences like dogs do, they need a landing spot for their paws. Never noticed that before. Their little paws fit perfectly through chicken wire and they don't like that.
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Post by Avril on Feb 13, 2014 16:40:03 GMT -5
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Post by Small Plant on Feb 14, 2014 19:18:05 GMT -5
Are your kitties spayed and neutered?
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Post by Avril on Feb 15, 2014 19:28:10 GMT -5
Of course they are, Frank. Chipped, chopped and vaccinated. And belled.
Microchipped and registered with the local council(so they can be identified if they get hit by a car); desexed at around 10 weeks; vaccinated against heartworm and other diseases; belled to protect wildlife; and regularly de-fleaed and wormed.
If you want to be a responsible pet owner, that's what's involved.
My sister lives in a rural area, and during the time she still had cats she built a huge shaded chicken wire enclosure that the cats went into during the night. This protected native wildlife, but the foxes still got their chickens, likewise enclosed in chicken-wire.
Since we have to deal with a legacy of thoughtless settlers who introduced cats and foxes and non-native birds, we need to deal responsibly with feral cats. Humane capture and culling, if necessary, but at least desexing, are essential.
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Post by Avril on Feb 15, 2014 19:51:49 GMT -5
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Post by sunfrog on Feb 16, 2014 0:38:51 GMT -5
I'm confused again. I don't know what to do. I thought your wolf video was telling me cats have a place in the ecosystem. At first I thought they were an invasive species since cats aren't endemic to Arizona, but they are. We have wildcats which are bigger than house cats, and cougars. I don't think cougars eat birds but wildcats probably do. Should I leave them then? I should at least trap, neuter, and release them right?
If I release them here will coyotes come in to eat them thus restoring the balance of nature and the flow of rivers?
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Post by Avril on Feb 19, 2014 18:22:21 GMT -5
Trapping, neutering and releasing seems humane to me. There'll be less overbreeding, less competition for prey, less disease. Good option. It'll definitely have an effect on the ecosystem, though I'm not sure about the rivers.
Try to get your local council authorities involved, because for one person it's expensive and difficult to make much effect.
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