Hello from Austria, In Austria, hunters are allowed to shoot stray cats (ca. 300 m - distance from house). But I have also heard stories of hunters shooting cats just so. In a small village, one could suppose that hunters know the owners of the cats, but they will still be shot. It seems that hunters see cats as rivals. I have heard of stories about hunters shooting pet-cats within the allowed range. In central Europe the wild cat is on the Red List.. I have also heard that the Lynx is shot illegally by hunters (and their GPS-collars /transmitters discarded).....
Below is a brief report from a colleague in Switzerland: "Years ago I have been collecting data about alpine reptiles and causes of death. There wasn't a single species of snakes not killed by feral cats. It was only up to the geographic area what species was more often killed. Even Elaphe longissima and Coluber viridiflavus up to 140cm have been killed and adult specimen of Vipera berus and Vipera aspis as well as Natrix natrix and Natrix tesselata. Most often Anguis fragilis was a victim but any species of lizards else too. It is true that most cases of death have been recorded from traffic and agricultural activities but it has to be accepted that feral cats are an important factor of elimination of Reptiles even this might be local, but reptiles also are occurring only locally. Additionally, I have collected data about feral cats killing other wild mammals and birds as well feral stock. The size was going up to Turkey and kitten of feral Goat. " Dr. Werner Haberl Former Chair, Insectivore Specialist Group, IUCN Hamburgerstrasse 11/17 A-1050 Vienna, Austria Phone & Fax: (+431) 941 13 13 E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Shrew Shrine: <http://members.vienna.at/shrew> or new: http://members.chello.at/natura The Dormouse Hollow: http://www.glirarium.org/dormouse
