FERAL CATS

CAN'T LIVE WITH 'EM, CAN'T SHOOT EM, although i would if i could.   i have a stripey feral cat that's been skulking around here ever since i arrived.  i've been able to  borrow a cat cage to catch it, and of course i've made enquiries with neighbours about whether it may have an owner.    no, it's living out in the saltbush around the house.
so finally i feel i can handle the thought of getting rid of a wild cat, so i set the borrowed trap last night with a tasty piece of chicken.  in the morning the chicken was gone.
so i rang my friend donnie who'd lent me the cage, checking that i'd set it right.  apparently not, so i set it again.
this time, the meat was knocked off the hook in the cage and the door had shut, but no cat.   tried again and the meat was interfered with but the door hadn't shut at all.
so i moved the cage to a more stable base on the verandah.

i headed off for lunch with the girls at trentham and arrived home to see the cage untouched, but the cat sitting next to it, basking happily in the sun.

GITORRRRFFFF!!!!!!!!!   i yelled and the cat shot under the house.

after the brighton girls had gone i set up the cage yet AGAIN  and when i went out to check,  once again the cat was sitting next to the cage and i yelled. 
it ran under the house and that's when i saw . . .

THE SECOND ONE     groan.  identical stripey cats, they've probably both been here all along

the cage has gone now,  donnie and peter needed it themselves, feral cats are a huge problem here, killing lizards and birds.  so i have to wait and to be honest, i'm not sure what to do next.







as i sit here writing i've been watching the beautiful black-backed maggie just outside the floor length

window and next thing i know, i see the cat's head appearing over the river bank, watching the magpie.

all suggestions gratefully received, there are so many birds here  -  cats have no place.
i'm off now to google feral cats, wish me luck