| Wildlife Lovers v/s Pet Lovers
by Dave Cowley - Sentinel News
Sadly in most countries animal wildlife and birds have been either
exterminated or seriously endangered by man. Europe once hosted herds of
wildlife much the same as Africa but expanding populations of Homo Sapiens
created an irreversible impact on species by their hunt for food and shelter.
Regrettably the pattern has been repeated on every other continent. However,
man's destruction of wildlife habitats has probably had an even greater
effect.
How would one define a "wildlife habitat" ? Well, it is simply
an environment for wild life which provides food, shelter and protection
from predators, normally of an extent sufficient to keep life indefinitely
sustainable. In many countries Urban Parks are now the only safe havens for
many species where man is no longer a threat, but sadly in such habitats
domestic pets are often problematic.
Recently, many animal lovers of the Peninsula were shocked by the
report that dogs had killed several Jackass Penguins at the Boulders Sanctuary.
I'm sure that the owners of the dogs were remorseful and did not willfully
precipitate the incident but non the less all petlovers must understand that
the ownership of a pet brings responsibilities outside the homes from which
they often stray.
Domestic dogs and cats have an ancestry of territorial hunters and
carnivores. Through no fault of their own they are the descendants of animals
which perfectly fitted a natural environment at the top of a food chain and
in nature their numbers would have been naturally controlled by the abundance
of food and competition from their peers.
Our pets do not have to fight for food and shelter any more and have
few, if any, natural enemies ,but that instinctive desire to hunt is still
present and there is no doubt that the Boulders penguins fell victim to it.
My wife and I are animal lovers. We do not have domestic pets simply because
we often go away at weekends and would feel concerned about pets which might
suffer because of our absence. However, we do have "garden pets" which often
delight us with their appearences. I refer to birds, lizards, geckos and
regrettably golden moles, all of which have started to flourish since we
set aside an area for fynbos plants (which is looking really good at the
moment). Sadly, the once plentiful chameleons seem to have gone - I haven't
seen one in the garden for several years - but I have a strong
suspicion why.
Throughout last Satrurday morning I counted 5 different neighbour's cats
in our garden at different times. They are insatiable hunters who stalk
anything that moves. While puzzling over suitable action, I phoned Cape Talk
Radio's Rod Mckenzie who quickly drew a response from another listener
recommending an aerosol product called "Keep Off". It's available from
pharmacies and I'm pleased to say it works without harming pets. Rod also
suggested that all cats should have collars with bells which would give birds
an early warning of attack and most probably save their lives.
I have found that pet owners often suffer from a denial syndrome when it
comes to accusations regarding their pet's misdemeanors but I would suggest
that they look around their gardens and ask themselves why they have so many
insect pests and ants - could it be because all those little lizards and
skinks have been hunted to extinction?
When I came here more than 25yrs ago, one often saw small buck whilst driving
along Victoria Rd at night, tortoises were frequent visitors to our garden
but they have largely gone as have the baboons on Chapmans Peak. If we are
to restore some of our natural environment to support wildlife we will have
to accept the fact that we will also have to control our pets, not just on
the beach, but we will have to prevent them roaming into areas where we want
to encourage the reconstruction of habitats, our wetland areas being a case
in point.
If pet owners cannot control their animals in future, the debate Pets
v/s Wildlife will be a hot potato.
9/07/05
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