>>Consider this: If the issue is predation on native wildlife by animals that do not or should not interact with the eco system then it should be illegal for people to use wc amphibians and reptiles as food for captives. This is of course not uncommon.

That depends. I've fed wild caught reptiles and amphibians to a few snakes...but they were all introduced exotics.

>>Since invasive species have a tendency to have a negative impact on native species should it be illegal to keep any species in captivity outside their natural geographic range?

No, but it should be and is illegal to release them. It is also illegal in most places to allow any domestic pets to run loose, but even where it applies this is rarely enforced against cats.

>>I have never seen any studies that implicated cats feral or otherwise as being as significant a detriment to native species

http://www.audubon.org/local/cn/98march/nasr.html
http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/Feral cats
http://www.wildlife.org/policy/index.cfm?tname=policystatements&statement=ps28
http://www.deh.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive/publications/cat/
http://www.dvmnewsmagazine.com/dvm/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=31506

Those are from 1.5 out of the 3000 pages of results I got for "feral cats",predation on yahoo.

>>Bottom line: You have cited an important issue but appear very biased and selective in your intolerance to the various causes.

Sorry, but I don't think he's the one who's biased if you don't think cats (feral or free-ranging pets) are the second greatest threat to small wildlife in this country next to man...

I don't remember posting anything on these forums lately that would lead you to believe I was one of the hypocrits you referred to, but I'd bet if I had posted anything about cats you think of me that way, but I think you're wrong. I don't think introduced exotics should be tolerated in the wild, whether they be dogs, cats, monkeys or snakes. We complain most about cats because they are without a doubt (in my possibly biased mind) the biggest offender in this area and most people don't care or refuse to see it because they're "cute and fuzzy".

Snakes are my thing, and I would be happy to take in a few burmese collected from the Everglades, but I don't expect anyone to go out of their way to bring them to me, and if there aren't enough proper homes for them they should be killed in the most expedient way possible. If it can be done humanely that's great, but if that makes it harder, burn 'em, poison 'em, drop bricks on 'em from a helicopter. Whatever it takes. I'd be happy to go shoot them myself. Ditto for feral cats.

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