anon6789

Wow, I just read the wiki on her and that is a crazy story. I thought that was just an urban legend kind of thing, not that it actually happened and that it was one specific person.

It seems especially bad since they seemed to have more actual evidence supporting their claim right from the start than they had to convict them from the second investigation.

That's one hungry kitty!

I had to look it up, it's a Norwegian Forest Cat here, which looks to be exactly what Skogkatt means. I've only seen one and it was the most distinct looking cat I've ever seen. Its facial structure is so unique! I really wanted one for a while and never came across one again, so I just cat-sat my neighbor's Maine Coon while she traveled. 😁

We had a regular tabby that was outdoors originally and it brought home a big chunk of pheasant one day and we always wondered if he killed it or just found it.

Great shot!

Its beak is so red it's almost the same color as the feathers!

Thanks for the links. I hadn't gotten around to really learning anything about this guy yet.

Most things sounded like basic things a government should do for people. The real "controversy" seems to be that he wants rich people and businesses to chip in more and not get quite as many special privileges at the sale of other people

The city owned grocery stores sound interesting. The one article said other cities have recently started testing the same idea. In Pennsylvania we have state owned liquor stores that have gotten better now that rules have been loosened to create some competition. They've traditionally been looked at as a monopoly, limiting selection and keeping prices high.

With it being just city owned stores, they'd seem to still have all the same competition that exists now, but the city could get volume pricing and not have to include massive real estate expenses into the operating costs. If it continues to be run for the benefit of the people and doesn't line anyone's pockets, it sounds like it could be a great benefit.

With the low cost housing, one thing I thought while reading is how do you keep those units from being scooped up by investors?

He's really got a lot of lofty goals, and it seems like a very intense and complicated job if he gets to be mayor. I wish him luck!

That was what I was hinting at. Many things in nature do appreciate a nice unattended baby... 🥺

I think an adult would be too big for a Barny, but that doesn't necessarily take all rabbits off the table.

It does look like this area of Queensland has Powerful Owls, but most things I quickly searched said rabbits were too small for them to bother with. I want to say there's got to be some owl that would eat them, but I guess the lack of things that do is sort of the problem... 🤔

I'm pretty Aussie-ignorant. Every time I think I understand something there, it's bigger/smaller or has the same name as an European/American animal but is a completely different thing there, like magpies and possums. I just post these articles and hope actual Aussies chime in!

I was so thrilled this year when I started in Old New York and first thing when I went out in the morning, I heard the glorious hooting of a Great Horned Owl even there!

I've seen what it does to the birds, and I'm sure it's equally as unpleasant to the ratties. I like the rodents too, but I know we need to keep them away from our food and they should be dealt with humanely or naturally.

I like that better than owl exterminators, even if it was still a funny bit. 😁

Ah, good! We don't really get antagonistic types in this community, but if it was, I'd rather use it for a teaching moment.

I see a number of these programs popping up around the world, especially with Barn Owls. Greece just hosted a Project Tyto conference that was made of a few nations working together to spread this type of program.

Owls pretty much eat and sleep, so they need safe food and a place to nap and have babies!

Sorry, I can't tell if this is sarcastic or not. But even if one is against using animals for labor, I would think this should still be seen as a net positive.

What we do

Each installation is tailored to the site.

We design, install, and monitor purpose-built habitat to support on-farm predators, and specifically owls.

This includes nesting boxes, hunting roosts, ground rodent surveys and wildlife cameras to track activity and impact over time.

We use field data and ecological understanding to give owls the best chance to return, breed and establish long-term.

Our mission is to get the conditions right. After that, the owls take it from there.

There aren't any owls being supplied to anyone. They do species surveys and make sure properties are free from poison, including surrounding properties since owls don't understand property lines. If the land can support owls, they build nesting sites, which are not always readily available, as owls don't build their own nests. They also make sure the area is set up properly for the style of hunting Barn Owls do.

Basically, they are setting up farms to be appealing to owls that are in the area so they move there. They're not moving owls, selling owls, or what have you, they want to restore what should be existing biodiversity and reducing the use of indiscriminate poisons that kill many types of unintended animals. Modern rodent poisons, SGARs (Second-Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides), don't metabolize, so they accumulate in the bodies of things that eat rodents, like cats, dogs, and birds of prey. While one poisoned mouse may not kill them, since it remains in their system, eating multiple ones will eventually kill them. For things like birds that bring them back to their nests to share, 2 generations of birds can be lost at once.

While some areas are working to soft ban SGARs, actions like this can help with pest management while not destroying other animals unintentionally and bring balance back to local ecosystems.

The ears are amazing! Plushies and mammals are better for cuddles though. Birds feel like paper mâché to me.