Critters revenge!

[pitbulllady]

I try to do my best to avoid using the phrase 'invasive species'. However, on the evolutionary scale, domesticated cats are a complete aberration. They are placed near the top of the food chain but are protected so they have no natural enemies. They do not suffer from natural depopulation processes as a rule (disease and starvation). Scientifically it boils down to maintaining an animal in a 'bubble', fully protected, yet also permitting it to be a predator. Under those circumstances, the vast majority of prey of the domestic cat in the modern world are the few remaining benign or beneficial species.
I would also mention that domestic cats are not entirely harmless to their biped owners and protectors. They commonly carry the bacteria Pasturella Multiceda in their mouths which is often transferred to their claws when they groom themselves. Rapidly inflamed hot and painful bites and scratches from cats, commonly known as 'cat scratch fever', is usually the effect of that bacterium. If it is able to invade the body subcutenaceously it can cause severe cellulitus within a few hours.

As for living in Thailand goes, it is a paradise for the amatuer naturalist like myself. When I moved to the extreme rural life I had the opportunity to indulge in all the oddnesses that critter lovers revel in. I populated our house with hundreds of beneficial spiders as well as welcome and protect the occasional larger predator. To date a small cobra, a tree snake and two rat snakes have paid brief visits, along with several huge huntsman spiders.
When they were cleaning out a local canal a while ago I spent the day along side the backhoe taking a casual census. 4 snakes, centipedes, millipedes, a vast assortment of spiders, and dozens of insects. This within a mile of our house. Up in the hills I drive slowly along the dirt roads in the evening and often get to see a wandering tarantula or the giant black scorpion. I have seen several cobras about, often dashing madly across the road. The best so far was a very mature king lying on the side of the road. I was able to get my jeep within 10 feet of him. I estimated he was about 15 feet long with his body averaging thicker than my forearm for most of his length. Even if he wasn't poisonous, you wouldn't want to receive the typical downward butt of that chunky head with more than half it's body weight behind the blow.
The best comedy I saw was a smallish cobra, maybe a Siam, on the verge of the road. It had a couple of feet of front end raised up and was watching cars go by. Looking both ways before crossing the street?

That is definately not the case around here, in the rural Southeastern United States, insofar as cats are concerned. We have LOTS of animals all-too happy to make a meal of a cat, including coyotes(which also are not native), feral and free-roaming dogs, bobcats, and probably the most notorious cat-predator, the Great horned owl. I once caught a large Black Ratsnake(Elaphe obsoleta)which regurgitated two kittens"dead, of course), both of which already had their eyes open, and I'm certain a large Canebrake Rattler could eat a good-sized cat, since I've seen one swallow a large Cottontail rabbit that barely made a lump. There are also a LOT of highly-contageous, lethal cat diseases, like Feline Leukemia, Feline Peritonitis, and the list goes on and on. Even outdoor cats which are claimed by someone, and cared for, are very unlikely to reach old age. Someone from one of our universities actually did a study on the lifespan of free-ranging cats in this region of the country, and it was only two years.

What I really liked about your last post, though, was the story about the cobra on the roadside. That indicates that people there in Thailand have a much better attitude towards snakes than they do here. Around where I live, a snake on the roadside is a dead snake, unless I manage to find it before the next driver does. People will go out of their way to swerve to kill a snake, even running their cars into ditches and canals or utility poles in an attempt to run over a snake or a turtle. It's nice to think that there actuall IS somewhere where a snake can watch traffic from the roadside and not have someone intentionally try to run it over.

pitbulllady

 

[8legs2shave]

I like cats. Poor thing, he didn't know any better. Why would you value the snake's life over the cat?

 

[Stylopidae]

I like cats. Poor thing, he didn't know any better. Why would you value the snake's life over the cat?

Easy...the snake won.

 

[Mushroom Spore]

Easy...the snake won.

Well aren't *you* just too cool for school.

 

[padkison]

Found a northern brownsnake at the curb this AM while walking the kids to the bus. Recognized it as one of those we kept for a few months last winter. Looked possibly gravid.

Unfortunately, the lower 2/3 was paralyzed from a cat bite. I sent the kids ahead and put the snake out of its misery.

 

[BurrowDweller]

Ohio did a huge study on the impact of free ranging domestic cats. There conclusion was that in Ohio, more cottontail rabbits met their end due to free ranging cats than to all other mortality (cars, hunters, other preds) combined. They also are extremely hard on all native song birds, herps, inverts, etc. We lived on 5 acres in the country, the place was over run with cats. After 5 years of intense cat control the number of snakes, frogs, birds, rabbits, and lizards was increased about 500%. Funny thing was that the naturally occurring preds like foxes, coyotes, raptors, were also there in high numbers but did not seem to have the effect on the little critters like those cats did. As a wildlife biologist with a ton of field experience I have no tolerance for free ranging domestic cats!

 

[rattler_mt]

feral animals are a huge drain on ecosystems, wild horses and burros are causing the decline of bighorn sheep populations in the southwest USA. its well documented that free ranging cats are really rough on an area. probably more so than feral as they are fed by thier owners and have ready shelter when the weather gets bad. when i was younger, part of my summer chores out at my grandparents farm was to keep the barn cats at an acceptible level, why? cause they killed bullsnakes which were much better mousers than the cats. if it wasnt for the fact we can have snow on the ground for 6 months i think my grandmother would have done away with all the cats but something needed to help with the mice in the winter.

 

[Tim Benzedrine]

I always dread fledging time for the birds around here. That's when I really see cats prowling for the easy pickings. I just found a pile of feathers near our garage where a feral mother cat has been raising kittens. I found one dead kitten in our front yard, probably a victim of disease. I'm not sure what became of the others (there were three) but I saw the mother lurking about yesterday. If disease or some other natural cause doesn't take her, she'll likely end up roadkilled, shot, or poisoned. There are others hereabout that are less tolerant than I am.

Loose cats are a real nuisance, even more so than loose dogs, if you ask me. Dogs can be more of a physical threat to humans, of course, but I do not believe that they are as efficient predators as cats. Plus, anyone who cultivates a flower garden can attest to another really annoying habit that cats have.

 

[Stylopidae]

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/2006/06/mousestole.wmv

Kind of the opposite concept, but still made me think of this thread

 

[Ewok]

I feel bad for the tokays, they are so cool.
We have some annoying cats around my neighborhood too, they like to run around and spray stuff

needless to say I am not a fan of cats for other reasons too.

 

[The Snark]

I think we all agree that feral cats have their place in the ecosystem, or at least, a relatively balanced ecosystem. There are predators and weaknesses in the animals themselves that keep the population in check.
I see most of the problem arising when cats are artificially elevated to the top of the food chain by their proximity to man. This is where my example with the cobra came in. Feral cats around here usually have a quite short lifespan. This is often the case where there is an abundance of poisonous snakes. But when the cat is fed and cared for by humans, it follows it's natural instincts blindly instead of for need of food. In my opinion, cats are the great offenders in that regard. They kill, as other animals sometimes do, wantonly, but enjoy a reliable food source from the humans, and protection from many of their natural enemies as well as diseases.
When in a disease infested area as it is here, malaria, dengue, etc., the creatures that prey on the vectors have more value in the ecological chain. What isn't needed in that chain is an aberration which goes out and kills the primary predators that aid in disease control.
An excellent example of this is the dengue incidence areas are always centered around locations where there are few natural enemies of the mosquitos. What amphibians are able to survive close contact with human depredations of the environment usually do so for reasons related to their nocturnal behavior. These predators tend to concentrate in the remaining open fields, drainage ditches and so on. And then, Mr. and Mrs. Homeowner puts the cats out at night. The amphibians and reptiles don't stand a chance.
With the tookay geckos, they usually hide in very remote locations and are safe. However, during the beginning of the rainy season the termites swarm. Where ever there are lights at night there are hundreds of easy pickings for the insectivores. In just a week or two a single cat can and commonly does slaughter almost every insect predator in it's hunting area. Most of these kills are entirely for fun. The cat then returns home and enjoys immunity from it's natural predators.

 

[Drachenjager]

I think it's funny that people who keep tarantulas get all up in arms about a predatory animal doing what predatory animals do. I'm sure you'd think it was ridiculous if someone wanted to kill your tarantula because it killed poor cute widdle crickets.

I don't agree with cats being kept outside and I feel sorry for the cat who had such an irresponsible owner, especially with such dangerous animals around.

I guess T keepers aren't so different from people who think all snakes are evil and should be killed but cute widdle bunny rabbits deserve to live.

cats or any other non native species should be eliminated from the wild. Places where cats did not, evolve or get placed there by God depending on your belief, should not be in the wild they destroy the natural balance

 

[Drachenjager]

I like cats. Poor thing, he didn't know any better. Why would you value the snake's life over the cat?

the cat is not supposed to be there . and cats are things that man should never have domesticated

 

[thisgal]

My cats have always been outdoor cats. Except one. I just don't trust her around cars. Any time I've had to keep one indoors for some reason (post-neuter/spay, for example), I've had to deal with the consequences of a bored cat. Cats aren't supposed to be penned up in houses, but I wouldn't go so far as to say people who keep their cats indoors are wrong. If the animal's happy, so be it.

The only predators here are young mothers driving at light speed in their humongous SUVs to get their kids to school on time, and we have a few hawks as well. The main things our cats catch are voles and birds. The occasional chipmunk, mole, and small snake will decorate our back patio in the summer. We used to live in Denver, Colorado, and we had to make sure everybody with a tail was inside before dark because we had coyotes, and the occasional young mountain lion would scare the bejesus out of the neighbourhood.

If a neighbour has a problem with one of my cats, I'd expect them to address it with me. The last thing I want is my pets being a nuisance to anyone (except me ). Maybe man shouldn't have domesticated cats. But we did. Technically, man never had the right to decide any animal could be his pet.

If something were to happen to one of my cats because of my own irresponsibility, I don't think I could ever forgive myself (I've done everything I can think of to prevent this.). I don't think the hawks are big enough to be hunting cats, but if so, there would be no one to blame.

I'm glad we have cats running around here. I think they actually help to keep a balance. There are so many birds around here in the spring, and there was actually a house nearby that burned down because of starlings nesting in their dryer vent, and in their chimney.

 

[Tleilaxu]

In Wisconsin there is a cat season. While I love cats I also think wildlife needs protecting as some critters have not eveolved with the house cat and the cats are wiping them out. As for valueing a cats life over the snake I would take the snake anyday. My family had a cat that was kept indoors and was very happy, I see no reason why cats or anyother pet should be alloud to free roam. ... and back to the topic of this thread if your dumb enough to piss off a King cobra you deserve whats coming to you.

 

[Arlius]

@EC I've never been able to determine/decide if that clip is staged or the kid actually lost his pet...