During the last century, global domestic cat numbers rocketed past 200 million, along with a surge in cat diseases and numbers of feral cats and sick, injured and malnourished cats. Cat shelters are overflowing. Hundreds of thousands of cats are euthanised every year by despondent animal welfare workers. Misplaced sentimentality, sometimes promoted by corporate greed of cat food companies, has exacerbated this situation through promoting irresponsible feeding of strays.
Ecologist and author John Read has travelled the world consulting cat experts and collating the most recent science. In Among the Pigeons he balances the allure of indoor cats with the animal welfare, human health, and conservation issues they create when allowed to roam. But he also presents solutions, from breeding ideal indoor pet cats to development of humane and targeted tools, to control feral cats.
In striking parallel to the repercussions of human-induced climate change, warnings about the damage wrought by free-ranging cats have been largely denied or overlooked. But we ignore these issues at our peril. For our own mental health and endangered wildlife worldwide, time is running out.
$25.95 – $34.95
John L. Read lives with his wife and young family on Eyre Peninsula, on the largest private nature reserve in South Australia. He is a passionate ecologist and spends most of his working and relaxing hours researching animals from deadly taipan snakes to critically endangered mammals and working with traditional landowners. John has published over 100 scientific manuscripts and two acclaimed books.
ISBN
CATEGORIES: Environment/Ecology/Gardening, eBooks
IMAGES Greyscale images throughout
PAGE COUNT 366
DIMENSIONS 210 x 140 mm