Scratched my head over this one and what the agenda might be. Then I spied the reference to vaccines: “Follow The Money”. Yes, they want to vaccinate your cat on the flimsy and rather preposterous pretext that your pussy is a dolphin killer. NIWA’s already shaky credibility just took a nosedive. MH
From Radio New Zealand 22/6/19
A NIWA scientist is defending a report on the threat cats pose to Hector’s and Māui dolphins against claims it lacks credibility.
© Provided by Radio New Zealand Limited Māui dolphins
A proposed Threat Management Plan estimated on average 334 nationally vulnerable Hector’s and two nationally critical Māui dolphins died from toxoplasmosis every year, due to cat faeces in the water.
That dwarfed the 58 NIWA estimated died in trawl or set nets. NIWA used government-observer fishery data to estimate the number of dolphin deaths through bycatch from commercial fishing.
Dolphin expert Liz Slooten said the theory was nonsense and fishing nets posed a much greater threat to dolphins than the disease spread by cats.
The man behind the theory, Jim Roberts of NIWA, said a quarter of all dolphin deaths he looked at were attributed to toxoplasmosis and it was worth further study.
An infected cat could shed about 20 million toxoplasmosis cysts, he said.
“It’s not something that we typically hear about very much, but there are some things we know about the toxo parasite, which is that it’s incredibly hardy and can last for about a year in sea water,” Dr Roberts said.
“There is lots of research quite recently looking at vaccines for cats, so they don’t shed the cyst.”
However, Otago University dolphin expert Professor Slooten was surprised the theory that cats posed a greater risk to dolphins than fishing nets had even seen the light of day.
The figure of 300 dolphin deaths a year from toxoplasmosis was “wildly exaggerated” and had been based on a sample of just 28 dolphins, she said…
In defense of moggies worldwide, here’s proof that Dolphins and pussies can live together in love and harmony. Awwww…!
