How would you dispose of these bodies?

[Emotionalsupporthamster]

Can you please help settle this debate in our family?

My mum’s cat seems to be single handedly controlling the rabbit population in her neck of the woods. This week he’s brought no less than five dead rabbits into her house, and she mentioned that she had put these all in her green (garden waste) bin. I said that I’m not sure you should do that, but she doesn’t see why not. I couldn’t say exactly why - maybe that it doesn’t seem very sanitary for composting, with all the parasites they get and all that, though it is organic matter. I thought maybe bag them up and put in the general bin (goes to incineration rather than landfill). My DH says lob them over the fence, but then the cat may well just find them and drag them in again.

WWYD with all these rabbit carcasses?

So sad to see the cats coming to my garden to try to kill birds, especially in nesting season.
I know there are many cat lovers but surely they understand the impact they have on nature.

Our brown lidded bin is for food and garden waste we are supposed to put bones etc in but not really sure about whole/ dismembered rabbits. If you have a field next door Id chuck em over for birds. Or double bag to reduce maggots and put in general waste.

Humans are the most destructive out there... Do you have children?

I wish this wasn't a cat bashing thread.

It's not a cat bashing thread, I thought my post was balanced and reasonable and I just wanted to put my point as others have.

No, I don't have children and, as I can see where you're going with this, I don't fly, I ride a bike everywhere, grow my own veg, buy vintage clothes and try in all my activity to care for the environment and nature.

I spend a lot of time looking after the birds in my garden and it saddens me, that's all.

I do love seeing birds out as well, i like seeing them bathe in puddles and watch them.

But sadly cats do go out. Unless you have a cat you realise you cannot just 'keep them in' mine certainly would be climbing the walls!

There are ways to prevent this from happening but sadly it's a sad part of life.

@Mademetoxic I was raised in a house with cats so I understand their nature. I wouldn't keep a cat in, but I wouldn't like what it did when it went out. That's why I don't have a cat.

The wild bird population in this country is in terrible decline and cats are part of the problem.

What would be the best way to prevent this from happening?

To have less cats and, when they go out, put a bell on them.

Cats have a way of just arriving into my life one way or another. We managed to whittle down to 2 once... but back up to 4. One is semi feral and the whole street looks out for him, so I suppose it's 3.5

The red kites pick our dead wildlife up in minutes.

To anyone who thinks cats shouldn't be killing rabbits: it is humans who use a painful but effective way of controlling the rabbit population- myxomatosis- which is why populations die back every few years.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/20/science/myxoma-virus-rabbits-covid.html

Wow, that must be exciting to watch, Greenfinch. I saw a red kite fly close to me just once, at Gibside in the north east. Absolutely wonderful.

We have many more buzzards here than just a few years ago, who scout for the rabbits I think. They are lovely, but not a patch on kites.

ManchesterBeatrice · Yesterday 20:57
Ugh cats.

Yes, war, climate change, rape, knife crime, societal inequality. All the faults of those bastard cats.

Ugh, human beings.

I love how much unnecessary stress this post has caused 😂

I'm a cat lover and was passing comment on the fact they are gross though. In the same way dogs are.

You all need to LIGHTEN UP.

Get off the internet and get some fresh air.

Holy moly 🫣🫠😂

I mean @MrsSkylerWhite I aim that mostly at you.

You can have my most definitive CALM DOWN LOVE 😂😭🤣🤣

I don't think you're allowed to bury them. At least we got told off for burying chickens. You have to burn them. I don't see why really, you can bury cats and dogs. Defra.

I wouldn't use the black bin, you'd get maggots as they only collect fortnightly. Food bin is collected weekly so that's more hygienic if you don't want to burn. People put meat in that.

I have to admit we've always just moved them over hedge, but we do love rurally.

Live*

Picking up on the point about being dragged back in, we've never had that, they don't seem to show interest in the old kills 😥

That seems a bit strange doesn’t it. I wonder if with chickens it’s to do with standards for dealing with animals that would often be kept commercially.

I do suspect this would be the case with my mum’s cat as well. It must be the cat equivalent of an all you can eat buffet out there for him to be bringing in so many so I don’t see why he’d waste his time on an old one when he could be hunting instead.

Again, ugh cats 🤣

They are terrible.

Whatever you want them to do they'll probably do the opposite. 💅

As she lives ruraly the solution is so simple I can't understand why she's having such difficulty figuring out what to do. I thought you were going to say she lives in suburbia! If it were me I'd either eat them (provided they were fresh kills) or just lob them into a field for scavenging wildlife. No need to put them in the bin, bury them, or burn them.

We put dead chickens in our brown bin, last one was on top and it was still emptied. Our food waste bin isn't big enough for our chickens