Those numbers are just wildly off. Hundreds of millions of mice and a good number of chipmunks, I could believe.
But even wildly successful outdoors kitties catch birdies less often, and most of our outdoors cats today are lazy, overfed, not in their prime years, house cats at heart anyway.
You have a very good point 9Yearlkr. Most of our fuzzy beasts know when they’ve got it made. Why shop in the gutter when you get food brought to you daily on a silver (or stainless steel) florentine platter?
I used to think that before I witnessed my indoor cat leap off the back deck and snatch a goldfinch that had landed on one of the coneflowers behind the deck........
FWIW, she hunts off the deck and has repeatedly caught mice and baby rabbits in the garden area on the back of it........
It's very disconcerting when I'm in the den and suddenly hear a squealing from the dining area of a creature my cat has just brought into the house...........(open pet entrance attached to my back deck doorwall.....)