Tree rats

[wafflycat]

Some do, certainly.

 

[wafflycat]

Err.. if you knew about cats, you'd understand they do hunt for food. But if well-fed they tend to hunt less.

Who feeds the squirrels? Ooh.. the nut fairies?

 

[wafflycat]

I know what cats do. I was trying to make a point. That a squirrel eating from a bird table is natural. As is them eating birds and eggs. Cats will also hunt birds. It's what they do.

Without making this personal (I'd say it to any cat owner) why complain about squirrels killing animals and stealing food (to eat) while keeping cats who also steal food and kill animals (not to eat)?

The cats do eat what they hunt if left to get on with it. I could go into the feline behaviour patterns as to how they view humans in relation to hunting, but it's a bit long-winded, but basically they are bringing *us* food, as they view us as their kittnes... As a responsible cat owner, it's why mine wear collars with bells on, as it gives their prospective prey a chance. I once spent a summer keeping tabs on what mine hunted. Since they were kittens I encouraged them to give to me any prey they brought into the house. That way, if it was alive, it got to go into a rescue box to be released later, if dead and still identifiable, it was removed and binned (to keep the chances of the cats ingesting parasites down). In that entire summer, the total number of birds caught by three felines could be counted on one hand, whereas the number of rodents was much higher.

The problem with *grey* squirrels is that they are not native to the UK, and once introduced (only as recently as late 19th/early 20th century) they have *decimated* the population of the native red squirrels to the point where the native red has been wiped out from much of the UK and may well become extinct in a few years as there's less than 150,000 in the entire UK now.

That's one of the problems with introduced species - the unintended consequences of what happens when they affect native species. It's like the effect mink have had on our native water voles. Mink are not native to the UK, but escapees from fur farms have thrived in UK waterways and have hunted our native water voles to the point of extinction. Mink are beautiful to look at, but they are also vermin, doing vast amounts of damage - they will literally make a river or stream devoid of life before moving on.

Then there's the American crayfish..

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3343686/American-Signal-Crayfish-wrecks-UK-waters.html

 

[fossyant]

Our cats don't catch much - the one that did catch stuff now has no teeth, so she's given that up..... They also tend to ignore the squirrels round our house ! 3 cats, not one interested in dispatching a squirrel !!

So are you sure chilli has no effect on birds...so what's best - my FIL would be interested....

 

[wafflycat]

Indeed chickens aren't native, but they haven't gone around killing the native species to the point of extinction in a century or less.

 

[peanut]

Why not just feed the squirrels? they're more interesting than birds.

+1 squirls are fascinating creatures intelligent resourceful and part of the UK wildlife . Why not just give them some nuts ? are you so mean that you cannot afford a few quid for some extra nuts ?
Never understood so called bird lovers that want to kill every cat, squirrel ,fox and every other animal entering their gardens.

 

[wafflycat]

Grey squirrels are not a part of *UK* wildlife, peanut. Really. They were introduced only a century ago and have *decimated* the population of our real native squirrel, the red squirrel to the point where there is a growing view that our native reds are pushed to the point of extinction. There's squirrels and there's squirrels...

 

[wafflycat]

Rabbits aren't native. And they're fluffy.

And tasty. Another one I'd be eating..

 

[Mr Pig]

The problem with *grey* squirrels is that they are not native to the UK...

And the domestic cat is? I guess people just keep searching until they find a way of defining a pest that allows them to feel the they wanted to in the first place.

Personally, I'd get rid of cats before I'd get rid of squirrels. At least squirrels are natural animals, and not bastardised creatures that serve no purpose other than amusing humans.

 

[Will1985]

Squirrels are shot on sight at home in Norfolk. For a start, they chew the electricity and phone cables (mmm fried squirrel), and have terrorised the chickens in their shed. Most annoying is when they start cracking nuts on the roof just above the bedroom windows.

I've never seen a red squirrel in the flesh. I saw an albino squirrel when I visited America, which was a kind of mascot at OSU university until it was killed by a hawk the week later. We need to train up birds of prey!

 

[wafflycat]

The domestic cat is a cat, and it is not a true domestic. It can, and does, survive in the wild looking exactly as it does in a human-controlled setting. Indeed, as a cat owner, it's one reason I act responsibly by limiting any damage it can cause (neutered so they can't breed on and also with warning bells on collars). Indeed, if we had had more cats in the middle-ages, instead of killling them, we may not have had the rat problem at the level it was which led to the easy spread of say.. the black death (spread via rat fleas). There's always plusses & negatives to all animals, even to grey squirrels (they are pretty to look at), but so far, as I say, it's not the cats that have pushed UK-native species to the point of extinction.

 

[fossyant]

Grey squirrels are not a part of *UK* wildlife, peanut. Really. They were introduced only a century ago and have *decimated* the population of our real native squirrel

Sounds a bit like the introduction of the motor car.....not many about 100 years ago...seem hell bent on 'reducing' the population of the native cyclist.....

 

[Mr Pig]

You keep justifying your position but you're missing the point. If looked at objectively, cats could easily be categorised as pests. But as a cat lover you just don't want to see that.

A human being would be prosecuted for killing most birds, all birds during nesting season, yet cats kill them all the time. If you love your precious birds so much isn't it hypocritical to keep cats?

 

[wafflycat]

MrPig as I've already acknowledged that cats can kill wildlife. And no I'm not hypocritical, as having studied in detail what my cats hunt, their preferred prey by a huge margin, are rodents, not birds. If cats in the UK were responsible for the near extinction of other native species, I'd change my view, but the reality is they aren't. I am indeed a cat lover, but I'm also an animal lover.

Oh, and 'the birds' aren't mine, they're wild, and as an animal lover, by feeding them I'm assisting in a tiny way, to mitigate the adverse effect of their habitat loss, their food loss, eg through use of insecticides, grubbing up their habitat for farming, building of houses etc., etc.. Life just isn't simple.

 

[PatrickPending]

Chilli does seem to work - just use a light dusting, my neighbour used loads of chilli powder - think this put the birds off tooo thought they apparently are immune. You might of course get mexican squirrels moving in