From the BBC:
Cats are one of the top threats to US wildlife, killing billions of animals each year, a study suggests.
The authors estimate they are responsible for the deaths of between 1.4 and 3.7 billion birds and 6.9-20.7 billion mammals annually.
Writing in Nature Communications, the scientists said stray and feral cats were the worst offenders.
However, they added that pet cats also played a role and that owners should do more to reduce their impact.
The authors concluded that more animals are dying at the claws of cats in the United States than in road accidents, collisions with buildings or poisonings.
The domestic cat’s killer instinct has been well documented on many islands around the world.
Felines accompanying their human companions have gone on to prey on the local wildlife, and they have been blamed for the global extinction of 33 species.
I dont believe this..I think its made up to draw away attention from the real killers..
By: Helena Witte Kraai on January 31, 2013
at 7:44 pm
No to defend cats necessarily, but the article is silent regarding how many of the birds and small mammals killed by cats were destined to not survive anyway due to disease, injury and old age. Surely, at least some of the ‘depredation’ by cats could be considered ‘culling’, similar to the culling of elk and bison by wolves in Yellowstone Park, for example. I’ve noticed that healthy birds are pretty aware and agile when cats are around.
By: Martin on January 31, 2013
at 8:53 pm
Irresponsible stewardship of family animals has a lot to do with this. First, it is essential to spay and neuter to limit overpopulation. Second, you don’t just let them go free. We went to considerable trouble and expense to erect a PVC fence that the cats can’t climb and get out of, and I check frequently to make sure there’s no place they can dig under it. We don’t have a death-magnet bird or squirrel feeder in our yard. Care CAN be taken, and the public education can be done.
By: cathrynbauer on February 1, 2013
at 2:18 am
Given that there are about 6 billion humans, most consuming about a small
animal weekly or perhaps a little longer, The amount of animals consumed is nothing less than phenomenal by comparison! Cats however don’t really have a choice, Its in their genes. the real question is: is it also in ours?
By: Mick on February 1, 2013
at 7:46 pm
it may well be in their genes. I have always struck a bargain with my cats, I will provide food….they leave birds alone. I share bird watching with my current cat….as I have done with others, and always share that they are here to eat the seed we share, and on and on, whatever, so understanding and my one rule for cat is affirmed …Actually it is training, you start at the beginning with new resident cat….Now I needn’t have to tell her. However, I have also been in a country or rural setting….which makes a difference I am sure. Lots of other hunting options.
By: jacqui on February 23, 2013
at 1:23 am
This story seems to be doing the rounds, over here in NZ we have a multimillionaire encouraging people to kill cats due to their supposed decimation of birds/wildlife. No mention of the effects of the removal of hedgerows, use of pesticides, mega-farming practices, road building urbanization etc, etc…..just blame the cats
By: cavyjo on February 19, 2013
at 3:33 am
It seems there is a way of life….starting with insects…the predator way….I believe it is the way on earth. Blaming one mammal just doesn’t make sense. Dogs eat smaller mammals, cats eat rats, moles, voles, and mice besides a few sick birds. Crows eat rabbits, mice…etc. Hawks eat the same mammals as cats do! We could go on, this is the way of life on our planet. Get over it. At least cats don’t leave droppings all over the place!
By: Susan Handy on February 22, 2013
at 11:56 pm
The problem with cats, compared to other meat eaters, is that cats hunt and kill for the sake of killing. Not just as entertainment, though a hunting cat is ecstatic in the hunt, but because we domesticated them to remove small grain eaters from our crop silos and small pest carriers from our homes. We have systemically built nature out of our lives with chemical and technological methods to the point where there is no role for cats other than as companion, but that doesn’t change the nature we built into them. And it *is* a problem. To argue that cats are a problem not worth solving because they are merely one problem among many is a call to inaction, to apathy, to waiting for someone else to fix the world. Yes, they are a complex problem with no one-size-fits-all solution, and also a single part of a complex bigger problem with several fuzzy-logically-interlaced parts, but when has Nature and our reconstruction of it ever been otherwise?
By: Tiki Swain on March 25, 2013
at 11:03 pm
Thank you Tiki – when I posted that I was aware that I might upset cat lovers. And in fact I love cats too. We used to have cats, but when the last of them were gone, boy did we notice a difference in the bird life in the garden!
By: Philip Carr-Gomm on March 26, 2013
at 9:28 am
Man is blamed for the extinction of thousands of species – and one should think,too, of the attenuation of violence which cats do effect really. On the whole, before saying this or that. Judgement is not allowed to those who do not know how to stop themselves!
Gesendet: Donnerstag, 31. Januar 2013 um 14:03 Uhr Von: "Philip Carr-Gomm’s Weblog" <comment-reply@wordpress.com> An: e.edelsbrunner@gmx.net Betreff: [New post] Cats Blamed for the Extinction of 33 Species
Philip Carr-Gomm posted: "From the BBC: Cats are one of the top threats to US wildlife, killing billions of animals each year, a study suggests. The authors estimate they are responsible for the deaths of between 1.4 and 3.7 billion birds and 6.9-20.7 billion mammals annually. "
By: elisabeth edelsbrunner on April 23, 2013
at 8:55 am