Do You Think It Would Be Illegal In Australia?

[Kirislin]

I must be a bit naive. I just saw a photo on another forum of a mouse being taken by an owl. Fair enough, except that it was staged and the mouse was deliberately put there to entice the owl to come. It was in the US I think, but I feel certain if that was done here and the person was found out, wouldn't they be charged with cruelty? I am not so desperate to get the shot that I'd sacrifice an animal for it.

Edited March 30, 2013 by Kirislin

[CrazyCresties]

No idea about the legality of it, but was the mouse alive or dead?

[Kirislin]

alive

I put dead mice out on my fence posts for the birds when ever I catch one in a trap, but I think it's cruel to have a live mouse with no chance of escape set up just so the photographer can get his close up of its last moments.

Edited March 30, 2013 by Kirislin

[Are You Serious Jo]

Feeding live prey is not legal in Australia.

[CrazyCresties]

alive

I put dead mice out on my fence posts for the birds when ever I catch one in a trap, but I think it's cruel to have a live mouse with no chance of escape set up just so the photographer can get his close up of its last moments.

I agree, I feel guilty just trying to shift a bug into a better position for a shot sometimes.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

I think that's how they used to get animal wildlife shots eg tiger catches goat, goat clearly tethered. Not fun watching for me. I don't like watching the gnu get caught by the crocodile either.

[redangel]

As for feeding live prey...I believe that snakes are fed live prey in captivity ...but Im with you Kirislin I dont want to set up such a thing to record it on camera.

[Kirislin]

for anyone who wants to see what I am objecting to, look here, but a warning, it's quite graphic, well, it is for the poor little mouse.

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showpost.php?p=15762372&postcount=219

[Are You Serious Jo]

People might still feed their snakes live prey but if they get caught they are in trouble. Invertebrates can be fed live I think but definitely no vertebrates.

[CrazyCresties]

Ah ok, having seen pics and read what they were doing, it wasn't a case of using a mouse just for a photo - they were conducting a population study of the owls. A bit of googling shows that is actually a method used for population counts.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:u_VWsyw6DKUJ:www.nps.gov/lavo/naturescience/upload/2006%2520owl%2520survey.doc+&hl=en&gl=au&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjZNCJvopz2ynALFXsmQ4eFni_SpQmIwfAh3vtRbTN4xyiOPhftKOD6npxQrUaGM79-g_KZxngzQi_o4XnSYU3EFRKvoRi_ZnyCFAK7n1zH39_vHyHsCi1j16t1e8I7MDPot5kJ&sig=AHIEtbRF7Tu_YeZC3oEYGG-gp3lRnrXBYw

The surveys were conducted using established protocols used by the U.S. Forest Service

for their spotted owl surveys within the Sierra Nevada. This allows for consistency in

survey methods between agencies.

A technique called mousing was used to determine nesting status. Mousing consists of

placing a live mouse on the forest floor in plain site of the owl. An owl will normally fly

down and take the mouse. The owl will either eat the mouse or take it to a mate or nest.

If an owl eats four or more mice it is determined to be non-nesting. If an owl takes at

least one mouse to a nest or mate, pair status is confirmed. If the owl ignores the mouse

for an hour the follow-up visit is complete with the results being inconclusive.

The same results wouldn't be possible with dead mice I assume, and whilst it would be better if they weren't used at all I guess this has been shown to be a reliable method.

What I would object to is the owl being blinded by the flash he is obviously using!

I don't like watching the gnu get caught by the crocodile either.

I don't have an issue with that as it's just recording nature as it happens - nature ain't pretty most of the time.

Edited March 31, 2013 by CrazyCresties

[Guest Clover]

I know we are not allowed to sell live rats and mice as feeders. I just wanted to say though what a stunning Owl, that would be amazing to see them in full flight.

[stari]

People might still feed their snakes live prey but if they get caught they are in trouble. Invertebrates can be fed live I think but definitely no vertebrates.

I was visiting with someone who does wildlife rescue and we were talking about the snake she had there that she was minding for a friend. She said it's definitely illegal to feed live mice to snakes and she has to defrost and warm up a frozen mouse in the microwave to feed it (so the snake can sense warm blood and will actually eat it). That personally sounds about as appealing to me as feeding it a live mouse (as in not even remotely) but since snakes scare the crap out of me there's no fear of me ever owning one and being in that position anyway... lol.

She warms it up in the microwave They can explode if you do it that way! Better to put them in a ziplock bag and sit them in hot water for a bit, it warms them more evenly too.