Posted on 08/06/2012 2:16:31 PM PDT by ColdOne
Pet kitties and their wild feral relatives kill a shocking 500 million birds and over 3 billion other animals according to new studies, prompting a leading Washington-based bird protection group to demand that local governments order their dog catchers to snag cats too.
One disturbing new study is based on evidence from "KittyCams" strapped on to 60 outdoor pet cats in Athens, Ga. The results: They each averaged 2.1 "kills" a week. Just 13 percent were birds, the rest voles, lizards, chipmunks, frogs and small snakes.
Based on the joint University of Georgia-National Geographic study of pet cats and another of feral cats from the University of Nebraska, the American Bird Conservancy said over 4 billion birds and animals are killed yearly by the felines, four-times the previous estimate. The group blames the extinction of some birds on the killer cats. "Cat predation is one of the reasons why one in three American bird species are in decline," said George Fenwick of the conservancy.
While it would be hard to get cat owners to keep their pets inside, the group wants cat lovers and local governments to stop coddling feral cats and round them up.
"Wildlife are being slaughtered and so often community leaders only seem to express concern for the cats," conservancy spokesman Robert Johns told Secrets.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...
I guess global warming is losing some of its caché.
Wait until they run the numbers on birds killed running into plate glass windows...
http://www.mnn.com/your-home/at-home/stories/window-glass-silent-bird-killer
A billion a year in North America alone.
Perhaps we could put up little federaly mandated signs telling cats not to eat birds. Then we could spend a few billion on a new government department trying to teach cats to read.
Sucks to be a bird. Adapt or die.
BTTT
Jerusalem is overrun by feral cats, so one year they rounded them all up. Next year they were overrun by feral rats.
Now they leave the cats alone.
Not everything in Nature needs to be screwed with.
That worked out so well the first time around.
EPA is banning rodenticides.
Catch and release program for rats in MD.
I’m seeing a pattern.
Mark
However mice, which carry serious diseases for humans, and Grizzly Bears, which tend to eat humans now and then are both native species.
So it’s perfectly natural to get sick and end up as grizzly poop.
Still does not make it a good idea, like having a house cat.
At one time we had four cats and actually they did!!!Their instinct is to hunt so if they get a chance they will do just that. We were always finding dead prey on our porch. Point is the more birds there are the more birds cats will kill...it's a ratio thing!!
Where I live no cats. Birds eat them. Yeah I am talking the big birds, falcons, eagles owls.
Cat should be made to become vegetarians. /x
Cat should be made to become vegetarians. /s
We need more cats, there are too many birds.
Years ago, my beautiful momma cat walked in the door with a note attached to her collar. “She needs a bell. She’s destroying the bird population.” My 8-yr. old turned to me and said, “Obviously a liberal. They all love nature, but they hate how it works.” (He was a very precocious child.)
Birdie ping.
The neighbors’ semi-feral cats hunt in my backyard for alligator lizards, rats and mice, and other nasty stuff. They can hang out as much as they want — they’re automatic vermin control, and I don’t even have to feed them :-)
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