The Truth About Cats and Birds?

dotearth ^ | June 2, 2009 | Andrew C. Revkin

[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.

[Scythian]

CDC Reports Prevalence Of Worms Transmitted By Dogs And Cats To Humans Is Higher Than Previously Understood

[Lady Jag]

"Of all God's creatures, there is only one that cannot be made slave of the leash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat." - Mark Twain

[mamelukesabre]

All I know for sure is that when you have a place in the city where stray cats are going through garbage for scraps, they all disappear real fast when the coons show up to go through the garbage for scraps.

Not sure if that would work out to the benefit of songbirds or not.

[A knight without armor]

I just love that picture! There is something about the back of that cat’s head...it’s so funny!

[goat granny]

When city people move to a rural area, deer are cute to them and they are thrilled to see them****until they landscape their property...I use to feed them when I first moved from the farm to where I am now...I would have as many as 11 at a time at my corn piles...then I landscaped my back yard and stopped feeding them..It took a couple of years of scaring them off for them to get the idea that the clearing was the only part of my property they were welcome on...over in the clearing are several ancient apple trees and they do clean up the ground under the trees, but say out of my back yard. They love my hosta and I put bird cages over them so the deer cannot get them...Some of ours states have way too many deer. I once counted 8 dead in a 11 mile section of my road (I was going into town) Insurance rates because of deer hits are high in this state.. In Michigan its called bumper hunting..

[TheOldLady]

Oh gosh! We have a few deer, but our yard is quite sturdy, and they don’t do any damage. When we lived in California, we used to hear about people running into the “giant, antlered rats” all the time. And there were a lot of deer-repellent ads in the paper, and so on.

Here in Ohio, we just kill them and eat them. During deer season, don’t bother going to the local meat market because they won’t have time to talk to you for all the butchering going on non-stop.

But those little fawns sure are cute as can be right now. The other evening, there was a doe in the yard, and her two fawns were chasing each other all over the place. They can run really fast, the darling little things.

[TheOldLady]

ROFL!

Rummaging around for youthful enthusiasm. It's gotta be here somewhere!

[goat granny]

Fawns are sweet, I found one dead when it tried to jump over an old rusty fence and by the time I found it, it was dead...I did bury it in the back and covered the grave with a large 2 X 2 patio stone so the coons would not dig it up. Had a mother desert one behind my barn, I think mom got killed as she never came back to feed it. Buried that one also...but to bury a full size one you need a back hoe..Thats why I just shovel quick lime on them and it does take the odor away...I got that bit of information from the elevator in town...also put a little vicks under your nose so you can get close enough to the carcass to shovel the lime on..

[Lady Jag]

Cats can kick butt.

Cats also stun their opponents by appearing to be crazy.

[TheOldLady]

Well, my cats stay indoors, and they’re healthy and happy.

As far as the songbirds, we have a ton of them because we put out lots of feed (Wagner’s Greatest Variety) for them in two enormous feeders, plus two big suet feeders, and a sunflower dispenser.

We’ve supported generations of cute little predator fodder for the four years that we’ve lived here, all of them safe from our cats, and our cats safe from them.

[Slings and Arrows]

I agree...what makes it great is that that cat is NOT bluffing!

[Slings and Arrows]

Cats also stun their opponents by appearing to be crazy.

"Appearing?"

[TheOldLady]

A dead deer, I would probably bury, but the fawns I would leave out so that someone could eat them.

One day the first year we came here, I saw a raptor standing over a db out in the driveway in front of the pole barn. It saw me looking and flew away. The db was a rabbit. I left it there, and the next day there was nothing left but the bones and a bit of pelt. The following day, even that was gone. Pelt, flesh, teeth, bones: someone had a use for them all.

[PA Engineer]

I've always liked that picture. PA game commission did catch and move three of the aggressive ones (they tend to become that way when people think they are cute and feed them) from our area.

Recently they tagged a few more here. People will feed them and they will become a problem again.

[Lady Jag]

They will always deny it.

[Lady Jag]

In the spirit of Steve Allen, grab your bird and shake it.

[SZonian]

AP,
Our family’s farm had cats and we took care of them and they took care of the pests. Win-win. Unfortunately, I don’t live on a farm anymore, I live in the burbs and the situation is now turned around.

If, in an urban environment, dogs are to be treated as poorly as they are for being loose, why not cats? I’m not advocating tit for tat, just saying that the rules apply to all, not some.

I know that cats, in the right environment are essential to pest control. The issue I have is that when owners won’t take responsibility and animal control won’t help, one has to take measures into their own hands.

My situation is not unique nor all encompassing. We all have different circumstances.

SZ

[Slings and Arrows]

As other freepers have mentioned, feeding bears is a death sentence for the bears. Mush-brained idiots.

[ichabod1]

I’ve heard they don’t have a cat problem in China.

[TheOldLady]

Cue the “That wasn’t chicken” fortune cookie picture! Right over here! Bring it in!