Posted on 06/02/2009 3:03:35 PM PDT by JoeProBono
I’m trying to get to bedrock on conflicting assertions and policies related to free-ranging cats and songbirds. The American Bird Conservancy has posted a new video criticizing an array of programs across the country through which well-meaning animal lovers “trap, neuter and release” feral cats. Search the Web for “ trap, neuter, release” or “ feral cat coalition” and you’ll find such efforts from Indiana to Florida to Washington State. The idea is that, once sterilized, populations of wild cats will slowly decrease on their own accord by attrition. The video, and other experts on bird-cat interactions, strongly dispute this, noting that in some cases enduring communities of feral cats are a magnet for cat owners seeking a place to dump their unwanted kittens or cats.
(Excerpt) Read more at dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com ...
It is the cycle of nature. Cats kill birds. It’s OK.
I have many feral cats in my area. They kill and eat anything that moves that they can catch, lizards, birds, mice, vols, little rabbits. I’ve feed and tamed two of them. They are mice killing machines.....even when fed daily.
There was a study several years ago in San Diego County looking into the number of birds killed by feral and domesticated outdoor cats - the numbers were staggering - extrapolated over the country there were something like 1.5 billion birds killed every year. It was interesting to note that as coyote populations went up, so did bird.
And the Mockingbird wore that cat out. Pecked that cat all over the butt until the cat ran under a porch to keep from getting tormented anymore. Geez, it was funny!
Weenie dogs catch and kill birds, too... :-)
[along with squirrels and gophers and snakes, and so on...]
Cute little bugger... LOL... (the one on the right... :-) ...)
I’ve seen BlueJays do some damage to a cats head before. They know how to handle themselves aroudn cats most of the time.
Because of a hobby-like interest in natural science and also because knowledge of anatomy helps him in his work, my husband has a small collection of different animal skulls. It includes the skull of a mountain lion, and the skull of an ordinary housecat. After reading Tribe of Tiger, he got both skulls out and compared them.
Sure enough ... the housecat skull is identical in every way to the mountain lion skull -- except it's a scale miniature.
I love my two housecats and believe they return my affection, but I know that the only reason my remains aren't cat dung buried in dirt somewhere is because I'm about 20 times bigger than they are!
Feral housecats should not be encouraged, and the coyotes should be allowed to eat them as much as possible; it is the cycle of nature. Coyotes kill cats. It is OK.
That’s what I always say about my cats - if I were smaller and they were bigger, they’d eat me...
I’m not sure where the tipping point is, and I hope I never find out.
Neutering wild male cats is a waste of time. You will never get all of them and it only takes one male to impregnate hundreds of females. Spaying wild females is probably a waste of time too. Cats produce way way more offspring than can possibly survive off of what mother nature provides. Reducing the number of kittens born probably only makes it easier for the ones to survive that you don’t get.
A better solution would be to introduce a predator that eats cats but doesn’t eat songbirds. Raccoons, wolverines, badgers...maybe these would do the trick?
I don’t want to hear anyone who probably ate chicken for lunch complain about cats eating birds.
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