COUNTRY LIFE

Well, it's happened, i finally caught one of the three feral cats that are living in the rubbish next door. the cage wasn't set quite right before,  i realised that they were getting in to the food but could push the door open and get out again.  i finally got it right, but it's a conflicted feeling to end a life even if it's such a destructive animal.  friend peter who  lent me the cage came and did the deed or 'put a bit of lead in its ear' as he describes it.
not a good feeling but i have to stop them breeding in amongst the pile of old baths, stoves, and generally 50 years worth of rubbish that runs from the house next door down to the river.  i've seen too many bird feathers around the house and they'll be killing small marsupials and reptiles too.

pic from the internet

Dept of sustainability and environment - 

Feral cats are carnivores and can survive with 

limited access to water, as they use moisture from 

their prey.  They generally eat small mammals, 

but also catch birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and 

insects - taking prey up to the size of a brush-tail 

possum.  In pastoral regions, they feed largely on 

young rabbits, but in other areas feral cats prey 

mainly on native animals. 

last night was a public meeting in wentworth, the government is proposing to redefine boundaries between shires, and wentworth could become a tiny part of a huge western rural area of nsw.  so there was a decent turnout and it was good for me to realise how the area works,  how important the mining towns to the north and widespread farming lands are to the town. it's interesting too that wentworth is just about the most far west town from sydney, and we have such a close relationship to mildura which is the most distant victorian 
town from melbourne.  


pretty pic
writing about that feral cat episode has left a bad taste in my mouth, i'll find a photo to finish with - 

beautiful mr. egret who sits on this fallen tree just off the riverbank - every day