Politecol

Cats indoors Karori… killing-fields Kelburn

- Wayne Linklater • May 29, 2013

• #cats-to-go,
• citizen science,
• environment and ecology,
• gran experiment,
• Highbury,
• Karori,
• Kelburn,
• Northland,
• Wellington

  I caught a mouse in my compost bin, but it jumped over me to freedom. Rats live there now. The holes dug through my rotting household waste are large. Five neighbourhood cats visit my backyard. They take turns arriving at first light for reconnaissance of my … Read More

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At home with cats

- Wayne Linklater • May 17, 2013

• #cats-to-go,
• domestic cats,
• environment and ecology,
• free-roaming,
• indoor cats,
• Karori,
• litter box,
• predation,
• wildlife

My cats died. I buried them – head to toe, together – in my rambling garden below the kowhai tree. I don’t garden on their grave. It is a weedy sinking mound – a tribute to what the living cannot control. I met my cats because I fell in … Read More

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The 10 most WANTED – New Zealand’s conservation wishlist

- Wayne Linklater • May 14, 2013

• Departement of Conservation,
• environment and ecology,
• mammal,
• pest animal,
• Pest Summit

We are good at killing pests. We are winning battles on offshore islands or temporarily holding the front on the mainland, but we are not winning the war on pests… yet. New Zealand’s Department of Conservation want new tools, better tactics and grander strategy for the protection and security of our nation’s biodiversity. And they got them at the … Read More

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Its great to be Number 1, but…

- Wayne Linklater • May 02, 2013

• CBRE,
• Centre for Biodiversity and Restoration Ecology,
• environment and ecology,
• government policy,
• MBIE,
• msi,
• PBRF,
• research,
• TEC,
• university,
• Victoria University

I’d reply, ‘Awesome!’, ‘Wonderful’, ‘Pretty damn good’, ‘Deserved’, but no one has asked. I understand why no one asks. Gloating is seldom encouraged. But that is how it feels to be Director of New Zealand’s highest ranked university centre for applied ecology … … in the leading Ecology, Behaviour & Evolution research group… … at the … Read More

Where’s Waynie?

- Wayne Linklater • Apr 24, 2013

• Author,
• narrative

My daughter, Zoerita Jacks, was born in early February. During my 10 weeks parental leave, I had plans to at least keep writing and posting on this and my other blog. Politics and ecology, of course, do not sleep either. But the impossibility of daily routines with newborns and preparations to move the family for eight months … Read More

Wanted – pied pipers for New Zealand

- Wayne Linklater • Apr 06, 2013

• Biodiversity,
• conservation,
• environment and ecology,
• lure,
• pest animal,
• predation,
• trap

Lures have been critical to the control of New Zealand’ introduced mammalian pests.  Convincing a mammal, like a rat, to visit or enter a trap and behave in ways that trigger its lethal mechanism has depended largely on food lures – aniseed, chocolate, peanut butter, eggs, meat and many more. Read More

Science, evidence, policy and good government

- Wayne Linklater • Feb 07, 2013

• critique,
• debate,
• ecology,
• environment,
• environment and ecology,
• policy

Since beginning Polit-ecol Science a small number of colleagues have queried me on why I would write a blog that might be political and, to some, contentious. Some have even gone so far as to suggest that they would not do such a thing because it might impact on their chances of career advancement and success at external research funding. Frankly, … Read More

SPCA’s cruelty to cats and other animals – Are they mad?

- Wayne Linklater • Jan 30, 2013

• environment and ecology,
• feral cats,
• SPCA,
• stray cats,
• trap-neuter-release

Trapped, neutered and released stray and feral cats continue to inflict pain and suffering on native wildlife and people. Hunting cats, not part of the  native ecosystem, torture and kill other animals unnecessarily. Diseased stray and feral cats, when threatened or cornered inadvertently, will bite and scratch to injure, and transmit diseases to people. Why does … Read More

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Trap-neuter-release or Trap-kill-$5?

- Wayne Linklater • Jan 30, 2013

• environment and ecology,
• feral cat,
• predation,
• stray cat,
• toxoplasmosis,
• trap-neuter-release

To my horror, but thanks to Dr. Gareth Morgan’s recent announcement that he will donate $5 to Bob Kerridge’s SPCA for every cat they euthanize rather than release, I discovered that some factions of the SPCA are releasing cats into our cities, towns and countryside – lots of cats. Bob Kerridge – CEO SPCA – … Read More

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Cat-harsis – solutions aplenty and possible

- Wayne Linklater • Jan 29, 2013

• cat collar bells,
• cat netting,
• cat run,
• control,
• domestic cat,
• environment and ecology,
• feral cat,
• legislation,
• regulation,
• stray cat

  Indoor cats and cat runs, like the one illustrated, are more common in other countries but also possible in New Zealand. Indoor cats live longer healthier lives and cannot kill native wildlfe. I began writing about solutions to the cat problem by suggesting conservationists appeal to cat owners’ self-interest and the health and well-being of cats … Read More