Posted on Sep 9, 2012
Wherever I go…cats seem to know…I’m a pushover for a furry face! Hanging out in the hot tub on my patio at Beqa Lagoon in Fiji it didn’t take long for the local gang of kittens to settle in. Most of them were too feral to get this close, but the tough guy of the group was undaunted by my threatening demeanor.

Feral cats are a big problem in many island nations. Efforts to control breeding are futile and the population gets out of control. The locals sometimes resort to very inhumane ways to deal with the problem.
Years ago I was doing some work for Tokoriki Island Resort when I noticed a group of very upset kids gathering around something that had washed up on the beach. It was an almost dead kitten. Some of the kids were in tears trying to revive it, but there was little hope. One of the big Fijian workers there carried it away with a shovel as the children watched in horror.
When I mentioned this to the resort manager, she commented that “the rat poison must not have worked”. I later found out that they also offered a “cat hunt” as a form of entertainment for the resort guests. Obviously these South African managers never had pets, so I explained to her that if they are going to be so inhumane to the animals, they should not flaunt this to the guests. She really didn’t care. They were just damn cats to her.
Dive right in!