Hello. I am a HSC student in Australia currently suffering the same problem. I live on a farm and put up with the ducks daily dips in my pool at early hours of the morning and evenings, and even when we are not home. i am currently studying Design and Technology at High school and have decided to construct a scare sculpture that will deter ducks, i would love it if you people could fill out one of my surveys for my project. I will let you know how my duck experiments go and how my final design gos'. If you have any ideas or any more stories please send them to me cause they are great help. Regards Imogen

THANK YOU for the Tin Cat recommendation. I found they also make a poly version called, strangely enough, "Poly Cat", that is recommended for outdoor or damp conditions. I don't have a greenhouse, but we live next to a horse farm and always have a few mice around in the fall. This year they took over the basement. I finally caught all the basement mice, I think, but in a show of solidarity, their outdoor relatives snuck under the hood of my car and started chewing wires and tubes. Four trips to the shop so far. Fortunately, I discovered insurance will pay almost all of the damage. Apparently, Honda is using some soy-based product around the wiring and the mice find it very tasty. So I'm getting a Poly Cat to place next to the driveway, plus a few for the garage, basement and shed. I like the idea of not having to check and reset constantly.

huachuma, that is so smart. I wish you had posted this a few months ago when my dad was going nuts trying to outsmart the raccoons who were destroying his new sod. I thwart my kitty Sam with rose canes, pongee sticks, and black bird-netting. The bird netting also works to dissuade the squirrels, oppossums, and raccoons from digging up grubs. I can see the benefit of the orange netting, though- it is thick enough so that you can easily roll it up. The bird netting is tough to handle. gobluedjm, we have found that a large pet dog works well to keep raccoons from munching on the patio furniture. Or the fish. Renee

The only situation where I can imagine Domestic cats killing 1 or 2 birds per year, is a domestic cat that is kept indoors virtually all year, or in an area where the bird life has been devestated. My cat had ample and constant access to food, but still managed to kill more birds than I could tolerate (hence no new cats after Dinah passed on), and they were only the birds I saw - could have been plenty I didn't see. Also cats do not just kill to eat - female cats tend to do this as a natural survival instinct, but male cats kill for the sheer pleasure, and often do not consume their kill. Bacteria from birds? I never heard that one on 5 years of vet school and many years of practice! What cats get from birds and small mammals, that is good for their guts, is roughage, in the form of fur and feathers. They need this far more than dogs. I once attended several tigers from one of the circuses that go round the states. They were ailing because they were being fed only raw meat, and were getting no roughage from fur in their diets. You can satisfy your cat's need for this by giving it an unskinned rabbit or letting it eat dead mice or rats. THEN - de worm it because it will have picked up worm larvae from the mice (and birds if it eats them). I think people will go a fair way towards solving the problem in the next few years, because, sadly, fur is back in vogue. Have you noticed all the fur coats and furry collars in shops. Mostly just synthetic of course. Back in the 70's we, and many neighbours) lost a cat to a fur trapper - mostly tortoiseshell, and I knew of many people who were losing dogs - black and white ones in particular. The people doing the killing were fussy about colours and types - no doubt to satisfy their market.