Cats v Wildlife

[Mark Bolam]

Mst admit i find the views on both sides fairly shocking, u say live and let live but u don't really mean it do u. Well not if ur a small bird etc but equally u should not be going around or even threatening to shoot/harm/maim someones cat

 

Everyone talks about 'modern farming practices' as the big evil, now wot the hell dos that mean??

Can u all list how the 'evil' of modern farming has changed around ur area in the past 30yrs?

I have lived and worked in the same village all my life no hedges have been ripped up, there is not massive ammounts of pesticide or insecticide being sparayed about wily nilly. In fact very little has actually changed in the past 40yrs (apart from tractrs have got bigger and quad bikes). Infact quite the oppisate more hedges have been planted and more ponds dug and the advent of game cover crops/wild bird seed mix's has really helped

Yes in some of the more intensive arable belts there will have been a fair bit of change, but most of that would have been 30+ yrs ago before mosrt of the agri-environmental laws came in

Modern farming is just a catch all excuse same as (gloabal warming) spout it out and confuse folk

In my area the 1 big change that most people don't realise is there used to be 5 ful time keepers and predators were kept under control, and in those days not many crows, badgers hadn't moved up yet, no magpies and very few BOP's, now no keepers and no lapwings, curlews etc and all the predators are as common as anything

Even if u go onto some upland hill sheep farms where the only modern farming pratice is a quad bike lapwings, curlews,plovers redshank etc are stillalmost non existant as breeding populations, even most rspb reserves don't have vaible breeding populations of waders

 

Yet u go to an upland sheep area near a grouse moor and it is absolutely teaming with wildlife an brids fledging young all because of controling predators.

If u don't want to believe me, fair enough but loads of scientific work has been carried out on the benefits of predator control esp to ground nesting birds, try looking on the GWCT site (esp Otterburn and Sailsbury plain studies) and no matter how u look at it ur precious tiddles IS a predator.

 

U say ur 1 cat has never killed a bird, fair play but that leaves another 8.5 million -1 to kill 55 million birds, thats only 5 birds per cat per year, i'm sure some cats will kill that in a day. I'm no lover of the RSPB and for them to actually admit anything bad about cats is quite something and probably massively understated so it doesnae hit there membership

 

Yes own a cat but please put a bell on its collar and atleast have some respect for wildlife. Please

Like i said i have put a small wildlife resreve on hold becuase of cats moving into the area and i have done a fair bit of coppicing and tree work to improve it, a real shame that 1 neighbour who doesnae even own the ground can put a stop to it.

 

Very sensible post mate.

 

 

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[Graham]

'I have the greatest respect for fish, well at least for the ones I catch and eat'

 

Always wondered what cat tastes like....

 

Well a friend of mine cooked one. Years ago he and a few of his mates went on a fishing trip....500 yards away from home on the local river. His job was to supply the food for the party so he took along an air rifle with the intention of cooking a rabbit stew.

 

Unfortunately his intended quarry was pretty scarce but what did appear was a local moggy. To save face as a hunter the moggy ended up being the main ingredient of the stew. It was skinned and in the pot and his mates never found out about it.

 

My friend found it tasty and a sort of cross between chicken and rabbit. So a hint of gameiness about it.

[Mick Stockbridge]

During the war butchers had to sell rabbits with their skins on to prove they weren't cats.

[born2trot]

Skinned the kidneys had to be left , offset in a rabbit . Ps I would think any gamekeepers type organization would only be interested in one thing and that's themselves . Mass slaughter of wildlife for some fat pompous gits ego ...

[Graham]

Mst admit i find the views on both sides fairly shocking, u say live and let live but u don't really mean it do u. Well not if ur a small bird etc but equally u should not be going around or even threatening to shoot/harm/maim someones cat

 

Everyone talks about 'modern farming practices' as the big evil, now wot the hell dos that mean??

Can u all list how the 'evil' of modern farming has changed around ur area in the past 30yrs?

I have lived and worked in the same village all my life no hedges have been ripped up, there is not massive ammounts of pesticide or insecticide being sparayed about wily nilly. In fact very little has actually changed in the past 40yrs (apart from tractrs have got bigger and quad bikes). Infact quite the oppisate more hedges have been planted and more ponds dug and the advent of game cover crops/wild bird seed mix's has really helped

Yes in some of the more intensive arable belts there will have been a fair bit of change, but most of that would have been 30+ yrs ago before mosrt of the agri-environmental laws came in

Modern farming is just a catch all excuse same as (gloabal warming) spout it out and confuse folk

In my area the 1 big change that most people don't realise is there used to be 5 ful time keepers and predators were kept under control, and in those days not many crows, badgers hadn't moved up yet, no magpies and very few BOP's, now no keepers and no lapwings, curlews etc and all the predators are as common as anything

Even if u go onto some upland hill sheep farms where the only modern farming pratice is a quad bike lapwings, curlews,plovers redshank etc are stillalmost non existant as breeding populations, even most rspb reserves don't have vaible breeding populations of waders

 

Yet u go to an upland sheep area near a grouse moor and it is absolutely teaming with wildlife an brids fledging young all because of controling predators.

If u don't want to believe me, fair enough but loads of scientific work has been carried out on the benefits of predator control esp to ground nesting birds, try looking on the GWCT site (esp Otterburn and Sailsbury plain studies) and no matter how u look at it ur precious tiddles IS a predator.

 

U say ur 1 cat has never killed a bird, fair play but that leaves another 8.5 million -1 to kill 55 million birds, thats only 5 birds per cat per year, i'm sure some cats will kill that in a day. I'm no lover of the RSPB and for them to actually admit anything bad about cats is quite something and probably massively understated so it doesnae hit there membership

 

Yes own a cat but please put a bell on its collar and atleast have some respect for wildlife. Please

Like i said i have put a small wildlife resreve on hold becuase of cats moving into the area and i have done a fair bit of coppicing and tree work to improve it, a real shame that 1 neighbour who doesnae even own the ground can put a stop to it.

 

[mistahbenn]

This thread really is a joke and is bringing out some real joker trolls. Shame. Youre gonna be dead in 40 years and cats will still thrive. Maybe they will take over the world eh? (unless the Chinese eat them all first?)

[stuartc44]

Who do you see as the trolls and why?

 

If I'm going to die in the next forty years I'm fairly sure any cat around now will do as well!!

[countrryboy]

It is a rather bizzare post??? Bit early to be on the bevy??

 

If i last another 40 years i'll be doing fairly well

[geoff]

wife.....???

 

Can't see you turning away any stray wife's mate!

 

Well put it like this, in line with my post, I'm sure they would not wish to return!

[felixthelogchopper]

Well put it like this, in line with my post, I'm sure they would not wish to return!

 

They rarely did before the electric fence.