AR-News: (AU) Cute and fluffy killers

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

By ROHAN WADE
04apr04 
THEY are always cute, fluffy, and guaranteed to melt all but the hardest 
heart.

But good looks alone are not saving kittens. 
Irresponsible owners are condemning thousands of kittens and cats to death in 
Hobart alone, dumping them, letting them stray, and allowing their cats to 
have litter upon litter of cute, fluffy, but ultimately unwanted kittens. 
Of the many that are not euthanased by the Hobart Cat Centre, many find a 
hard life as a feral cat, preying on birds and animals, often spreading disease. 
The journey from harmless dumped domestic kitten to full-blown feral cat is 
not a long one. Just two generations can turn a house cat to feral cat, known 
to grow up to 97cm long from nose to base of tail, and weigh a staggering 11kg. 
Unleashed in Tasmania's natural environment, the natural-born hunters plunder 
anything from mice, rabbits and birds, to small lambs. 
They can learn to hunt new prey, which means experts can't predict when an 
already threatened species of small mammal might become cat food. 
In the past five years, the Hobart Cat Centre euthanased 11,125 cats and 
kittens. Only 3000 were successfully claimed or re-homed during that period. 
Between 2002-03, it euthanased 2146 cats and kittens. Of those, it estimated 
20 per cent were feral. 



full story:

http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,9182349%255E3462,00
.html 
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