Post by keith on Jun 12, 2008 16:03:44 GMT -5
researchers are calling for urgent changes to prevent hybrid supercats from being imported into Australia.
The Federal Government has been under fire after it was revealed last week that savannah cats - twice as big as domestic species - are being imported by pet shops.
Scientists are warning that bandicoots, bettongs, potoroos and possums could soon be on the menu for the imported creatures, which were originally bred by crossing domestic cats with the African serval cat.
Scientists, environmentalists and bureaucrats attending a National Feral Cat Workshop in Darwin this week have angrily condemned the quarantine loophole.
The University of Sydney's professor of ecology, Chris Dickman, is warning hybrid cats - which can jump up to two metres from a standing start - would be uncontrollable in the Australian outback.
"It's taken a lot of people who are concerned about the impacts of cats in the Australian environment off guard," he said.
"I think there will be some real concern expressed at the meeting that here is an example of another species, a predator that is quite capable almost certainly of taking a wide range of native species.
"It hasn't come in through the usual quarantine processes, risk assessments that would otherwise need to be done."
Professor Dickman fears savannah cats would prey on the same Australian wildlife as foxes.
He says that while foxes can be poisoned, cats have proved extremely hard to control in the outback.
"It would be competing with the fox for food in the same size class. We can control the fox, we are not very good at controlling cats at the moment," he said.
"Cats tend to prefer living food, live food, that they catch themselves. And as a consequence, it's much more difficult to put baits out and expect feral cats to eat them."
The Environment Department says it has been in contact with two people proposing to import savannah cats later this year, and is examining the implications.
The Federal Government has been under fire after it was revealed last week that savannah cats - twice as big as domestic species - are being imported by pet shops.
Scientists are warning that bandicoots, bettongs, potoroos and possums could soon be on the menu for the imported creatures, which were originally bred by crossing domestic cats with the African serval cat.
Scientists, environmentalists and bureaucrats attending a National Feral Cat Workshop in Darwin this week have angrily condemned the quarantine loophole.
The University of Sydney's professor of ecology, Chris Dickman, is warning hybrid cats - which can jump up to two metres from a standing start - would be uncontrollable in the Australian outback.
"It's taken a lot of people who are concerned about the impacts of cats in the Australian environment off guard," he said.
"I think there will be some real concern expressed at the meeting that here is an example of another species, a predator that is quite capable almost certainly of taking a wide range of native species.
"It hasn't come in through the usual quarantine processes, risk assessments that would otherwise need to be done."
Professor Dickman fears savannah cats would prey on the same Australian wildlife as foxes.
He says that while foxes can be poisoned, cats have proved extremely hard to control in the outback.
"It would be competing with the fox for food in the same size class. We can control the fox, we are not very good at controlling cats at the moment," he said.
"Cats tend to prefer living food, live food, that they catch themselves. And as a consequence, it's much more difficult to put baits out and expect feral cats to eat them."
The Environment Department says it has been in contact with two people proposing to import savannah cats later this year, and is examining the implications.
