Cute mammals, protected from cats now. See photos.
A critically endangered mala or rufous hare wallaby in the feral predator-proof fenced area on Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary. Photograph: Wayne Lawler/Australian Wildlife Conservancy
Excerpt:
The world’s largest cat-proof fence has been completed in central Australia, creating a 94 square kilometre sanctuary for endangered marsupials.
The 44km fence – made of 85,000 pickets, 400km of wire and 130km of netting – surrounds the Newhaven wildlife sanctuary, a former cattle station that has been bought by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.
Endangered species such as the bilby, the burrowing bettong and the mala (also known as the rufous hare-wallaby) will have a chance to replenish their populations inside the massive sanctuary, safe from Australia’s feral cat epidemic.
Feral cats kill a million native birds every night across Australia and have caused the extinction of 20 native species since they were introduced by the first fleet.
Bilby
Burrowing bettong
And people still doubt that cats are problem animals somehow
Keep your cats inside. Stop adding to the problem.
Lake Chapala, the largest fresh water lake in Mexico, is being taken over by invasive water-weeds. Aipromades, an organization that cares for the lake, partnered with the Peace Corps and IBM Corporate Service Corps to clean it up in economical and environmentally-friendly ways. The weeds, called water hyacinth, spread very fast and cover the lake, which throws off its ecological balance by reducing water flow, oxygen levels and the fish population. The team developed sustainable alternative uses for the water hyacinth and other practical implementation methods to help clean up the lake, so future generations have a clear way to enjoy it and avoid pollution.
Over the course of running this blog, we have received a few messages about outdoor cats bringing home wild snakes. So, while this is certainly not the first post to bring up the issue, it bears repeating that outdoor cats are extremely damaging to the environment.
A number of studies have shown that outdoor cats, along with feral cats, kill billions of native birds, mammals, and reptiles and have even contributed to or outright caused the extinction of entire species. While some, like the Lyall’s Wren, are and were particularly vulnerable due to their limited range, outdoor cats pose a significant threat everywhere. You probably live within the range of an endangered, threatened, or protected species without even knowing it.
You can instantly and permanently improve the health of your local ecosystem just by keeping your cat indoors. This isn’t even to mention that outdoor cats live statistically shorter, more stressful, and less healthy lives. So, for the sake of your pet and the lives of many vulnerable creatures, don’t let them roam.
If your cat needs to be outside that damn badly then it better be supervised or you better have an outdoor enclosure of some sort. Cats kill things for the heck of it and most of the time don’t even eat what they kill, so it’s not like they’re even hunting for food. Just because you haven’t seen yours bring prey home doesn’t mean your cat isn’t still a natural hunter.
This is the Spotted Lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula). An impressive 2 inch exotic Fulgorid type thing from China and Southeast Asia, it is a bark sucker and can do tremendous damage to smooth barked woody plants. The Ag folks are concerned about things like apple, peaches, and grapes, but there are indications that other native plants may be at risk.
Currently found in 6 counties in PA, efforts to eradicate it are ongoing, but it continues to spread. Any sightings of something like this should be reported to your local Ag Extension Office if you are in the U.S. One final note is that this species favorite late season host is Tree-of-Heaven (Ailanthus altissima). Another reason to remove this exotic wherever it occurs.
Photos, in part, by Sydney Price. Specimen from USDA APHIS. I would love to have additional fresh specimens particularly of the strikingly colored nymphs.
I understand why people don’t know, though. I’ve been interested in bugs since I was a kid and I only learned that these guys aren’t “real” ladybugs a few years ago. At the very least, it seems they do actually eat aphids, which is why they were spread globally in the first place (unlike some other intentionally introduced species that fail at their intended purpose). Why people didn’t just use local species that do the same thing, I have no idea. Species becoming invasive after introduction for human use seems to be a recurring theme throughout history, unfortunately. Cane toads are another bad example.
Ladybugs got ruined for me by those invasive beetles that look like them.
Those invasive beetles are horrible! We walked through a patch of them earlier this year. There were thousands. They were all over our clothes and stuff.
After that I started noticing a few in the house. Not that many. But I’ve heard stories of peoples houses being infested with them!
Apparently here in TN, some officials thought it would be great to release these beetles to combat the aphid situation. Now we just have a bunch of invasive beetles instead of aphids.
The worst part about those fake ladybugs is that they die en mass in your lamps and they sttiiiinnnnk.
What ‘invasive beetles’?
Basically they’re an orange beetle that looks like the American ladybird. They were introduced to the US (because nobody’s learned the lesson about introducing non-native species yet, I guess) and the beetles will get into your house somehow. They will bite you, which feels a bit like a pinprick, and die in light sources (lamps, ceiling lights, windows, etc). They smell gross. Like rotten burning hair…
PiraticOctopus 