Feral cats, dogs and foxes do an enormous amount of damage wildlife in Aus, the number of marsupials/birds/reptiles that are killed per year is staggering. In a lot of cases they’re help push some species to exstinction.
National Park rangers take no prisoners.
Those bloody Aussie possums have done the same damage to the natural wildlife in NZ and wiped out some native species
At the peak it was estimated the possum population was 80 million ( big breeders those aussies 
) evidently progress has been made in reducing that number
Introduced animals are always a problem, I’d like to met the idiot that thought bringing rabbits to Australia was a great idea. Their stupidity is only beaten by the fool that thought foxes would help.
I can’t help think of Dame Edna. Who I saw live once.
Dane Edna a legend
She’s the only possum that should have been exported. A classic, of her time and place probably never see the likes of again.
Oh, I don’t know Pete. Whoever it was that thought it was a good idea to introduce Cane Toads was pretty stupid too!
Swanny where does the cane toad originate from ?
First time I saw one in QLD I couldn’t run fast enough !!
I’m afraid the list is long and devastating. Probably introducing white folk was the biggest problem. 
Won’t be long and they’ll be groking out the back of your place in Balmain. I lived in Port Douglas for 6 months in 1988 they were everywhere, locals use to go out killing them of an evening.
Anything that can kill a king brown snake has to be dangerous. They were imported to stop some bug from eat the cane and originally come from South America.
Sometimes they even look better than some of the Balmain locals 
Behave I’ve got friends in Balmain (but you’re probably right)
My understanding is that they were originally native to Central/South America where their numbers are held in check by predators which naturally developed a resistance to their toxins. Apparently, they were introduced to predate on a beetle which was laying waste to Australia’s sugar cane crops (hence the moniker Cane Toad). They controlled the problematic beetle, but unfortunately the predators in Oz were unable to deal with their toxic glands and skin, so their numbers quickly multiplied and became a bigger problem than the beetles. Even their tadpoles are highly toxic.
Read a great story the other day how Parks and Wildlife teams are “teaching” reptiles mainly freshwater crocodiles and goannas not to eat them.
Interesting article Pete. Hope their plans work.
So far, the strategy seems to have been taken from “The Old Lady that swallowed a Fly”.
When will mankind learn to leave nature alone?
I’m afraid not, For an intelligent species we’re really quite stupid.
Very sad news:
At the vets today, Sheaffer was diagnosed positive with FIE
Feline infectious enteritis (FIE) is a disease caused by infection with feline parvovirus (FPV), also known as feline panleukopenia virus.
It is sometimes referred to as panleukopenia virus because one of the results of infection is the development of a low white blood cell count (which is what panleucopenia means)
After consultation with the vets we came to the very sad conclusion that the most compassionate course of action is euthanasia, which took place this morning.
The young veterinary that administrated his passing said he had been a well behaved cat for a feral, showed great strength of character, and seemed to understand he was being helped.
Sheaffer was very pleased to see me arrive this morning, if only to say goodbye, and enjoyed being stroked and fussed, and it was during this he fell asleep very peacefully 
Sorry to see this news Debs, you tried your very best for him so it was sad to find that he had an underlying health issue.
I hope the other moggies living and served out of chez/cafe-Debs aren’t impacted by this news. PIE and the other maladies look very nasty and communicable.
Yes my three black sister cats are all vaccinated and booster (in June) all up to date.
The vet said it is very unlikely they will be infected.
