Are cats one of the top predators in Ireland

magicbastarder

source?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

junospider wrote: »

In a study done in england,they concluded that over 70% of all wildlife killed,was killed by cats!

That's a nonsense figure, as all wildlife would be wiped out in a few years if 70% were killed by cats every year. In Britain it is estimated, however, that cats kill 275 million birds and mammals each year.

Mickeroo

Aubrey Stocky Tungsten wrote: »

That's a nonsense figure, as all wildlife would be wiped out in a few years if 70% were killed by cats every year. In Britain it is estimated, however, that cats kill 275 million birds and mammals each year.

They said 70% of all wildlife killed not 70% of all wildlife. I'd be interested to know where they're getting the figure from though, not that it would particularly surprise me if it's true.

Zoo4m8

Capercaillie wrote: »

Shooting pet's is a good way of losing any goodwill in protection of endangered wildlife/livestock.

True, which is why it's important that any action is taken not to a perceived threat to wildlife/livestock but only during or after an attack in which case any concerns about goodwill can safely be ignored..IMO anyway.

As this thread is about cat predation in Ireland and we appear to have wandered into the realms of irresponsible dog ownership let me drag it back..I have only my own experience to fall back on but I rarely see a stray cat on my patch or on my neighbours lands, there is also no evidence of cats on my new patch or in the yard there.

Some years ago a sheep farming neighbour asked me to dispose of three feral cats that had taken up residence in his sheds , he had no evidence of them killing birds and he never saw them about his fields, day or night ,but he had a Toxo problem with his sheep , a problem associated with cats as mentioned further up the page.

Basically what I'm trying to say is if studies from ,say the UK show that cats take a large proportation of wildlife it doesn't have to follow that we with a much smaller population and therefore much smaller number of cats have ,even relatively speaking, the same problem..

aaakev

I heard recently we could have up to 900,000 in Ireland so that is a lot!

I remember reading an article on them a year or so ago, did a quick search and found it. Didn't read the whole thing again but i think its from the us

http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/outdoors/richard-collins/cats-are-the-ultimate-predators-231047.html

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

aaakev wrote: »

I heard recently we could have up to 900,000 in Ireland so that is a lot!

I remember reading an article on them a year or so ago, did a quick search and found it. Didn't read the whole thing again but i think its from the us

http://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/outdoors/richard-collins/cats-are-the-ultimate-predators-231047.html

FEDIAF puts pet cats in Ireland at 310,000 while the ISPCA estimates ferals at 200,000. I suspect FEDIAF underestimate but even so 500,000 would result in the killing of at least 14,000,000 birds and mammals here. And that's based on studies of kills by pet cats: ferals probably kill more.

gzoladz

Who are the natural predators of cats? Foxes? Bop? However it is would not be festing if there are so many?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

gzoladz wrote: »

Who are the natural predators of cats? Foxes? Bop? However it is would not be festing if there are so many?

They don't have any natural predators.

aaakev

gzoladz wrote: »

Who are the natural predators of cats? Foxes? Bop? However it is would not be festing if there are so many?

As above, they have no natural predators just like foxes don't have either. We recently shot a big tom cat, this guy was as big as a medium sized fox and probably heavier :eek: Between him and a fox id say the cat might well come out on top.

Foxes will take a small, injured or sick cat or dog for that matter but they certainly wouldn't prey on them and bop tend to go for easier targets.

Jayzesake

gzoladz wrote: »

Who are the natural predators of cats? Foxes? Bop? However it is would not be festing if there are so many?

Cats' presence here is unnatural to begin with, and with the extinction of all of the larger native predators such as wolves, lynx and bears, only humans can control their numbers.

OBaoghil.7

Zoo4m8 wrote: »

True, which is why it's important that any action is taken not to a perceived threat to wildlife/livestock but only during or after an attack in which case any concerns about goodwill can safely be ignored..IMO anyway.

As this thread is about cat predation in Ireland and we appear to have wandered into the realms of irresponsible dog ownership let me drag it back..I have only my own experience to fall back on but I rarely see a stray cat on my patch or on my neighbours lands, there is also no evidence of cats on my new patch or in the yard there.

Some years ago a sheep farming neighbour asked me to dispose of three feral cats that had taken up residence in his sheds , he had no evidence of them killing birds and he never saw them about his fields, day or night ,but he had a Toxo problem with his sheep , a problem associated with cats as mentioned further up the page.

Basically what I'm trying to say is if studies from ,say the UK show that cats take a large proportation of wildlife it doesn't have to follow that we with a much smaller population and therefore much smaller number of cats have ,even relatively speaking, the same problem..

This is a good point. In the UK it's pet cats not Ferrell cats that are the problem. There is a huge population of pet cats in the UK that are out, especially at night when the owners are asleep, hunting for wild life. If you look in fields along the green belts of the UK at night you will see many cats eyes.

dodderangler

Jayzesake wrote: »

the extinction of all of the larger native predators such as wolves, lynx and bears, .

Going back a while there

Keplar240B

Coyotes

Coyotes tend to be associated with rural areas, where they have room to hunt and roam, but that has changed over time. Now they are increasingly present in suburban and urban areas and that has had a big impact on house cats and other pets. One study in Tucson, Ariz., found that cats were the most common part of a coyote's meal, accounting for 42 percent of their diet.
Coyotes typically hunt for small critters, such as rabbits, mice and voles, but if given the opportunity they will happily make a meal out of a cat or small dog. As well, they also enjoy food that people leave out for their pets.

We need to introduce the coyotes

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Keplar240B wrote: »

Coyotes

Coyotes tend to be associated with rural areas, where they have room to hunt and roam, but that has changed over time. Now they are increasingly present in suburban and urban areas and that has had a big impact on house cats and other pets. One study in Tucson, Ariz., found that cats were the most common part of a coyote's meal, accounting for 42 percent of their diet.
Coyotes typically hunt for small critters, such as rabbits, mice and voles, but if given the opportunity they will happily make a meal out of a cat or small dog. As well, they also enjoy food that people leave out for their pets.

We need to introduce the coyotes

In Ireland? Right! That's an environmentally secure and natural remedy.

Jayzesake

Jayzesake wrote: »

Cats' presence here is unnatural to begin with, and with the extinction of all of the larger native predators such as wolves, lynx and bears, only humans can control their numbers.

dodderangler wrote: »

Going back a while there

The point is that ecological systems do not function properly in the absence of a key trophic level, i.e. predators. Moreover, non-functioning ecosystems are far more vulnerable to the effects of invasive species, and here we have a perfect example of that. You can be sure that in areas that do retain their full complement of large native carnivores, predation by cats is not an issue.

Keplar240B wrote: »

We need to introduce the coyotes

I presume Keplar240B is being slightly tongue-in-cheek here, but actually coyotes, and the study he cites (I imagine it's the same one I'm aware of), are very relevant to this. The study found a high correlation between, on the one hand, canyons where coyotes were present and a high diversity, and very healthy populations, of birdlife and, on the other hand, canyons where coyotes were absent and birdlife was highly impoverished.

At first the reasons for this correlation were unclear, but it then became apparent that where coyotes were present, they were not only killing cats but discouraging them from coming into the canyons to hunt birds.

The study was conducted by Michael Soule, who I mentioned earlier in this thread, and was quite influential in bringing an awareness of how vital predators are to a healthy ecosystem.

Obviously the introduction of large native carnivores is off the cards in Ireland right now, but their absence is nonetheless an important aspect in understanding exactly why it is that cats, and other invasive species such as mink, can be so damaging to wildlife here.

Capercaillie

Jayzesake wrote: »

The point is that ecological systems do not function properly in the absence of a key trophic level, i.e. predators. Moreover, non-functioning ecosystems are far more vulnerable to the effects of invasive species, and here we have a perfect example of that. You can be sure that in areas that do retain their full complement of large native carnivores, predation by cats is not an issue.



I presume Keplar240B is being slightly tongue-in-cheek here, but actually coyotes, and the study he cites (I imagine it's the same one I'm aware of), are very relevant to this. The study found a high correlation between, on the one hand, canyons where coyotes were present and a high diversity, and very healthy populations, of birdlife and, on the other hand, canyons where coyotes were absent and birdlife was highly impoverished.

At first the reasons for this correlation were unclear, but it then became apparent that where coyotes were present, they were not only killing cats but discouraging them from coming into the canyons to hunt birds.

The study was conducted by Michael Soule, who I mentioned earlier in this thread, and was quite influential in bringing an awareness of how vital predators are to a healthy ecosystem.

Obviously the introduction of large native carnivores is off the cards in Ireland right now, but their absence is nonetheless an important aspect in understanding exactly why it is that cats, and other invasive species such as mink, can be so damaging to wildlife here.

Several reintroduction of large predators across Europe have happened and perhaps Lynx to UK in near future. Will address the balance of over abundance of medium sized predator.

dodderangler

It'll never happen in this country.
Reintroducing predators like lynx and wolves will just end so bad for the animals. Farmers and any idiot with a gun are already at fault for the decline of our birds of prey

Capercaillie

dodderangler wrote: »

It'll never happen in this country.
Reintroducing predators like lynx and wolves will just end so bad for the animals. Farmers and any idiot with a gun are already at fault for the decline of our birds of prey

That's true. The Country is probably one of the most backward when it comes to Wildlife protection. Reintroduced raptors are poisoned/shot. Species like Hen Harriers are shot and their breeding habitats destroyed. Even with benign creatures like Corncrake you have farmer's threatening to kill them, because of Land designations.

aaakev

dodderangler wrote: »

It'll never happen in this country.
Reintroducing predators like lynx and wolves will just end so bad for the animals. Farmers and any idiot with a gun are already at fault for the decline of our birds of prey

Not to mention the lack of space, our national parks are just not big enough to accommodate such a release without having a negative impact on surrounding farms and people.

Control of mid sized predators by humans is very effective, a new permission i got last year had a big fox population and they were very unhealthy, every one i was shooting had skin conditions and they were not in great shape, after a while they began to get healthier because of lack of competition for food and only the clever ones remained. When there is not big competition for food foxes and cats will be less of a problem and with foxes i wont ever shoot them all because i don't want to eradicate them, feral cats though id never pass if im honest

Capercaillie

aaakev wrote: »

Not to mention the lack of space, our national parks are just not big enough to accommodate such a release without having a negative impact on surrounding farms and people.

Control of mid sized predators by humans is very effective, a new permission i got last year had a big fox population and they were very unhealthy, every one i was shooting had skin conditions and they were not in great shape, after a while they began to get healthier because of lack of competition for food and only the clever ones remained. When there is not big competition for food foxes and cats will be less of a problem and with foxes i wont ever shoot them all because i don't want to eradicate them, feral cats though id never pass if im honest

Control of fox numbers is inadequate in many important areas in the Country. I have a problem with foxes and could not get any body to shoot them consistently.

aaakev

Capercaillie wrote: »

Control of fox numbers is inadequate in many important areas in the Country. I have a problem with foxes and could not get any body to shoot them consistently.

Good help can be hard to find so i take your point but if you had someone reliable the problem would be solved. What problem are you having?

Capercaillie

aaakev wrote: »

Good help can be hard to find so i take your point but if you had someone reliable the problem would be solved. What problem are you having?

Breeding corncrake in my meadows. I got a lad to clear out fox dens twice, but so many foxes in area they are quickly replaced. Everyone I asked were more interested in shooting my greylag geese, jack snipe, snipe than in controlling foxes. I don't allow hunting except for foxes.

robp

Capercaillie wrote: »

That's true. The Country is probably one of the most backward when it comes to Wildlife protection.

I don't think Ireland is exceptional in this regard. I don't want to down play the problem in any way but I think a lot of the problem is to do with how much the range of people and fauna overlap rather then Irish social attitudes. Look at Nordic countries, there is plenty of illegal killing of wolves, lynxes, bears, wolverines and golden eagles in these countries and although the numbers of people who kill these animals are small they have wide support rural areas. The only difference between the Nordic countries and Ireland is that they have big enough fauna populations to sustain such poaching (although perhaps not in the case of lynx, wolves and bears). My attitude must appear pretty defeatist.

dodderangler

^^^ fully agree. Our country is too small and in theory there's too much of a population of humans to allow a steady and healthy population of bigger predators such as wolves. Plus the entire country is almost cities towns or farmland so they wouldn't stand a chance. Not enough parks at all. Glenveagh is a big park but still not big enough to hold a healthy population of prey animals for packs of wolves or roaming big cats

aaakev

Capercaillie wrote: »

Breeding corncrake in my meadows. I got a lad to clear out fox dens twice, but so many foxes in area they are quickly replaced. Everyone I asked were more interested in shooting my greylag geese, jack snipe, snipe than in controlling foxes. I don't allow hunting except for foxes.

They must be all shotgun and dog men so! Id be the opposite, i love going out with the rifle and wouldn't shoot birds often, the shotgun is mostly used for ducks a few times a year.

A few heavy weeks of shooting and then a trip out every few weeks should get it under control.

What part of the country you in?

Zoo4m8

dodderangler wrote: »

It'll never happen in this country.
Reintroducing predators like lynx and wolves will just end so bad for the animals. Farmers and any idiot with a gun are already at fault for the decline of our birds of prey

That would be all farmers would it? And just the odd idiot with a gun...I don't see buzzards declining, I see sparrow Hawks almost daily , ten years ago it was a novelty to see one here...

aaakev

Zoo4m8 wrote: »

That would be all farmers would it? And just the odd idiot with a gun...I don't see buzzards declining, I see sparrow Hawks almost daily , ten years ago it was a novelty to see one here...

I see them daily in my own area too, last Sunday we were being followed by 2 adults and 2 young buzzards, great to see. Never heard of any bop being shot or poisoned round here either

dodderangler

Zoo4m8 wrote: »

That would be all farmers would it? And just the odd idiot with a gun...I don't see buzzards declining, I see sparrow Hawks almost daily , ten years ago it was a novelty to see one here...

Depends where you are in the country

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

aaakev wrote: »

I see them daily in my own area too, last Sunday we were being followed by 2 adults and 2 young buzzards, great to see. Never heard of any bop being shot or poisoned round here either

4 buzzards poisoned and one shot in this county in the past 8 years.

OpenYourEyes

Mod Note to everyone: No more blanket statements about hunters or farmers. If you're talking about raptor or predator persecution you can realistically only be referring to a minority of either group, but I expect you to make that clear in your posts.

If you're talking about wildlife declines due to farming practices thats fair enough, but again make it clear in your post. This is and will continue to be a place for open discussion, but not a place for adversarial conflict and taking digs at whole groups.

Capercaillie

aaakev wrote: »

They must be all shotgun and dog men so! Id be the opposite, i love going out with the rifle and wouldn't shoot birds often, the shotgun is mostly used for ducks a few times a year.

A few heavy weeks of shooting and then a trip out every few weeks should get it under control.

What part of the country you in?

Outside belmullet nw mayo

aaakev

Capercaillie wrote: »

Outside belmullet nw mayo

Have you tried the hunting forum? Plenty of decent lads there who might be able to sort your fox problem

Capercaillie

aaakev wrote: »

Have you tried the hunting forum? Plenty of decent lads there who might be able to sort your fox problem

I did before. Too far from anybody it seems. Road along the entire length of farm, so would be a problem with shooting a lot of the time. Snaring would be the job.

Zoo4m8

aaakev wrote: »

Not to mention the lack of space, our national parks are just not big enough to accommodate such a release without having a negative impact on surrounding farms and people.

Control of mid sized predators by humans is very effective, a new permission i got last year had a big fox population and they were very unhealthy, every one i was shooting had skin conditions and they were not in great shape, after a while they began to get healthier because of lack of competition for food and only the clever ones remained. When there is not big competition for food foxes and cats will be less of a problem and with foxes i wont ever shoot them all because i don't want to eradicate them, feral cats though id never pass if im honest

What you were seeing ,as you probably know , was most likely mange , quite common in large malnourished populations of foxes. I have a pair here that don't bother me so I don't bother them, they help control the rabbit population with help from the buzzards especially when they have cubs. They rarely seem to bother the ground nesting birds, for instance I have never seen pheasant feathers at the den entrance. So I feel by leaving them alone, as they are so territorial , that the status quo is maintained and there is a reasonable balance with the assorted residents of my patch.
Now back to the cats..cat flu is quite a virulent and contagious disease and will very quickly knock over a malnourished animal. I have seen it rampant in farmyards where cats are given the odd drink of milk and nothing else and are expected to make up the rest of their diet from rodents but if the rats and mice are gone the inevitable happens. So I'd assume it poses a real threat to feral cats and only those that escape it are the strongest and most successful so of course they do the most damage.
Incidentally, sorry, back to foxes, my daughter in Camden London sent me a photo of a fox in her garden last week and asked me what was wrong with it..it was in the last stages of severe mange..there is a large number of foxes around the streets and gardens where she lives with a lot of interaction between them , will be interesting to see how soon others show with symptoms ...

Taxburden carrier

Taxburden carrier wrote: »

If they were half as big as us we would be in danger of extinction !

In Africa they are and humans did just fine

Zoo4m8

Capercaillie wrote: »

I did before. Too far from anybody it seems. Road along the entire length of farm, so would be a problem with shooting a lot of the time. Snaring would be the job.

Snaring is NOT the job..its inhumane and cruel..I have seen animals with horrendous injuries from snares, foxes and other predators just do what they are programmed to do, they shouldn't have to choke slowly to death at best or die over a number of days with, say , a noose tight round their stomach ... Road or no road a responsible person with a rifle is the proper way.

Zoo4m8

aaakev wrote: »

I see them daily in my own area too, last Sunday we were being followed by 2 adults and 2 young buzzards, great to see. Never heard of any bop being shot or poisoned round here either

Likewise..

Birdnuts

Zoo4m8 wrote: »

Snaring is NOT the job..its inhumane and cruel..I have seen animals with horrendous injuries from snares, foxes and other predators just do what they are programmed to do, they shouldn't have to choke slowly to death at best or die over a number of days with, say , a noose tight round their stomach ... Road or no road a responsible person with a rifle is the proper way.

By law snares must have stops to ensure non-target species can be released. Done properly it can be an effective method of fox control in certain situations. Fox cage traps are another option.

Capercaillie

Zoo4m8 wrote: »

Snaring is NOT the job..its inhumane and cruel..I have seen animals with horrendous injuries from snares, foxes and other predators just do what they are programmed to do, they shouldn't have to choke slowly to death at best or die over a number of days with, say , a noose tight round their stomach ... Road or no road a responsible person with a rifle is the proper way.

All legal snares have a stop to prevent choking. Snares have to be checked every day. I would rather the foxes removed than have dead corncrake.

Zoo4m8

I know this is a thread on cat predation in Ireland, but I'm not letting this one go particular on the off chance that someone might think it's a good idea to try snaring a nuisance cat..
I hate snares, so called stop or not..have you ever seen the state of a fox that has been in a stop snare for ,say, ten hours? The hedge or ditch that it has been caught in will kook like a JCB has been at it ..I have seen foxes in stop snares with the nails and pads gone from their feet from hours of terrified digging in their efforts to escape..disgusting and inhumane..
For what it's worth I have a fox cage trap you can have , it's homemade and works very well, if you arrange it's relocation from Wicklow to Mayo..

Eddie B

Zoo4m8 wrote: »

I know this is a thread on cat predation in Ireland, but I'm not letting this one go particular on the off chance that someone might think it's a good idea to try snaring a nuisance cat..
I hate snares, so called stop or not..have you ever seen the state of a fox that has been in a stop snare for ,say, ten hours? The hedge or ditch that it has been caught in will kook like a JCB has been at it ..I have seen foxes in stop snares with the nails and pads gone from their feet from hours of terrified digging in their efforts to escape..disgusting and inhumane..
For what it's worth I have a fox cage trap you can have , it's homemade and works very well, if you arrange it's relocation from Wicklow to Mayo..

That's simply not true! I hate when people give out false information! Fox's don't "dig for hours terrified!" Simply not true! Pads gone from their feet WTF! A fox can dig an earth many feet deep, no problem! SNARING on ditches is bad practice, because a fox could end up hanging from a fenceline e.t.c, and that would be inhumane! Snaring is legal, and if done PROPERLY, its humane! Obviously you'll get the idiots setting snares illegally and inhumanely, but you get idiots in every walk of life!

OpenYourEyes

Mod Note: Ok, we've had a point and a counter-point made about snaring foxes, lets bring the thread back to cats. I know these discussions tend to drift slightly from their original topics, but lets leave the non-cat stuff at that.

Capercaillie

BWI did on good job on the cats on Tory Island a couple of years ago. They got all pet cats neutered. They set humane traps and caught all the feral cats. Every one of the Islanders who had pet cats put a collar on their cats and photos were given to the trappers so any pet cats were released. Feral cats were humanely euthanised. Easier to do in a confined space.

aaakev

Zoo4m8 wrote: »

Now back to the cats..cat flu is quite a virulent and contagious disease and will very quickly knock over a malnourished animal. I have seen it rampant in farmyards where cats are given the odd drink of milk and nothing else and are expected to make up the rest of their diet from rodents but if the rats and mice are gone the inevitable happens. So I'd assume it poses a real threat to feral cats and only those that escape it are the strongest and most successful so of course they do the most damage.

The cats I shot seemed healthy and well fed for the most part, there is a school nearby so plenty of food there to subsidise if hunting was scarce and i would imagine a few people from a housing estate that is cut from a corner of one of the fields were leaving food out or throwing scraps over their back walls because i used to see a lot of them hanging around near there and there was lots of chicken bones in the area.

A jack russle or 2 in a farm yard would be just as good if not better than cats at keeping the rodents at bay

Zoo4m8

That's right, even my sheepdog is a good ratter even if her size is a disadvantage at times. I have rarely needed to use poison and have stopped now anyway as there are Barn Owls about the last couple years.
Years ago there were six or seven cats in this yard , all they seemed to do was look for any chance to sneak into the house , the rat population stayed more or less the same so I don't subscribe to the myth ' if you have rats get a cat' .
Make sure rats have no access as much as possible to food and clear sheds of clutter so they have no cover to nest, it all helps .
As I said before there are little or no feral cats in this neck of the woods but yard cats and 'if you have rats get a cat ' cat that survive cat flu, mange etc must add a lot to the feral populations particularly away from towns.

Jayzesake

Capercaillie wrote: »

BWI did on good job on the cats on Tory Island a couple of years ago. They got all pet cats neutered. They set humane traps and caught all the feral cats. Every one of the Islanders who had pet cats put a collar on their cats and photos were given to the trappers so any pet cats were released. Feral cats were humanely euthanised. Easier to do in a confined space.

As Capercaille says, removing an invasive animal species is easier on an island, since once gone, they can't simply recolonise from an ajdacent area, as can happen on a larger land mass. Also, moving a little further afield than Ireland, there is often much more at stake on an island in biodiversity terms, as remoter island ecosystems often evolved without predators, leaving native species with little or no defenses against an introduced exotic. And because of having evolved independently, island species are very often endemics, so if they become extinct on that island, they're extinct in the wild globally. Hawaii is a disaster from the point of view of invasive species driving extinctions: apparently if you go there, you'll be lucky to see almost any native species of plant, insect or bird unless you scramble up remote inaccessible ravines in the mountains.

Here's an interesting paper about successful cat eradication programmes on 87 islands throughout the world:

http://www.biodivrestoration.co.nz/assets/Uploads/Cat-Eradication-Review.pdf

"Of the 87 successful campaigns, eradication methods are known for 66 (76%). On average, each campaign employed 2.7 eradication methods including leg-hold traps (68%), hunting (59%), primary poisoning (31%), cage traps (29%), and dogs (24%) (Appendix 1)."

Poisoning would be a no-no here in Ireland as it would risk affecting other, non-target, species (as well as being illegal), but on an island with no native predators presumably that's not an issue. One important point the authors make is that consideration should first be given to how other damaging invasive species may react to the removal of cats:

"Before cat eradications are planned, potential positive and negative impacts should be considered in any feasibility analysis. Mitigation actions such as the eradication of other introduced species may also need to be planned. Mixed ecosystem responses to eradication are not restricted to cats (Zavaleta et al. 2001; Campbell and Donlan 2005). In addition to considering potential negative impacts on conservation values, managers should also consider the sequence in which invasive species are removed, and plan eradications so that the removal of one species will not complicate or prevent the future removal of another."

I suppose what that means is that if rats, for example, were also introduced, then they may need to be taken out of the equation before the cats, otherwise their numbers may increase in the absence of the cats, also damaging native wildlife.

recedite

aaakev wrote: »

By the way, im not going around shooting pet cats, these are wild feral cats

I'm just wondering, how do you know the difference between a "feral cat" and a "domestic cat" when its out walking across a field at night?

syklops

recedite wrote: »

I'm just wondering, how do you know the difference between a "feral cat" and a "domestic cat" when its out walking across a field at night?

Well first off, very few hunters hunt at night. Cats hunt at night, humans hunt early in the morning and during the day.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

recedite wrote: »

I'm just wondering, how do you know the difference between a "feral cat" and a "domestic cat" when its out walking across a field at night?

A domestic cat should not be walking in fields at night!

Capercaillie

syklops wrote: »

Well first off, very few hunters hunt at night. Cats hunt at night, humans hunt early in the morning and during the day.

Fox control by shooting is almost always done at night.