Faunal deaths

When I worked in the Northern Territory at a mine, each week there would be a report on activities at the mine, x tonnes of ore dug, y number of safety incidents and there would be a report of Faunal Deaths on the mining lease, and a brief, but grizzly discription of the manner of the demise of the poor animal - 1 kangaroo stuck in the mud after wandering into the shallows of the tailing dam.

I feel it is my duty to keep a record of the native German wildlife that cats have been dragging in recently. So here goes - 5 small rodents (not mice exactly, but close cousins I suspect) met an untimely end at the end of a cats paw. 4 have so far been recovered.

It is not as if they catch them to eat them, it is purely for entertainment purposes. So it seems that my cats have taken upon themselves to decimate the local population of these small bewhiskered creatures. Bad cats. I suppose it could be worse, in Melbourne their favourite game was to catch a bird (usually a pigeon), and bring it into the house, and then release it, so they could catch again, and again, and again, until it didn't move anymore. The result was usually feathers from the front door to the back door, and a dead bird hidden somewhere in the house - they weren't always easy to find either.