Posted on 03/02/2019 12:29:49 PM PST by Albion Wilde
Here’s an alarming but little-known figure—stray cats and pet cats allowed outdoors kill 3.6 million birds every day on average in the United States, for a total of at least 1.3 billion birds per year. That’s most likely a sizable chunk out of the U.S. land-bird population, which the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center estimates is around 10-20 billion....[snip]
But some cat lovers are also bird lovers. Two of them, a birdwatcher named Nancy Brennan and a bird biologist named Susan Willson, have developed what they believe is a solution...
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
I’m pretty sure my cat used to eat coyotes. He outlived every cat in our neighborhood. Died of heart failure at 20. He mainly ate furry creatures. I didn’t have a gopher problem until he died. Probably killed a thousand birds, rats, gophers and rabbits. He never dragged a coyote through the cat door. I don’t think he was able to carry it over the fence.
We have 3 semi-feral cats and they kill rabbits so no problem.
We have a rather plump Siamese blend that has never missed a meal in her life, and has never been outside other than a few doors left open and a meek walk around the front deck.
The point is the cat has never had any bird or any other rodent training other than the occasional roach.
But one day a sparrow got in the house as I came in from the garage. My wife and a few guests were in kitchen and we all got quite a show.
The sparrow never even got to the other side of the room. That fat cat lept from the couch and nailed it in mid-air and did not keep a prisoner. It was all over in less than two seconds.
It was truly a sight to behold. My wife and guests were terrified. I was proud and at the same time marveled at that cat’s God given instincts, and never quite looked at that “fat” cat quite the same way again.
Here on LI we have Bluebirds all over the place and they seem to love chasing cats and teasing them. Drives the cats crazy.
Blue Jays maybe? That’s a different story.
Had me concerned at first as I knew chicken bones were not good for dogs, but I realized cats eat birds in the wild, so must have a way to deal with bone fragments.
Difference between cooked bone and raw bone. Cooked bone splinters, can kill a dog/cat.
This morning I saw a hawk with a squirrel in its talons. How many more squirrels have to die in order to satisfy the blood lust of birds?
/s
Are not cats predators? Are not birds their natural prey? In the immortal words of Boomhauer, “Dang ol’ circle o’ life, man...”
and abortionists kill 3,300 babies each day. That I'm worried about . . . not birdies.
I think I will cue up “the Circle of Life” music and not worry about it.
DRINK!
My favorite line from ‘A Bug’s Life’...
It’s a “bug eat bug” world out there, Princess. One of those “circle of life” kind of things.
That many more for the wind turbines, right?
Ok: per google
Domestic cats: https://www.statista.com/statistics/198102/cats-in-the-united-states-since-2000/
Feral: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_cat#Distribution_and_habitat
From what I gathered in a few minutes on google, there are approximately 140 million domestic and feral cats in the USA. Even if every one of them lived outside all the time, there is still no way possible to kill that many birds. Sorry.
Fudged numbers.
LOL. Yeah, mine like chicken, too. Only one of mine is allowed outside into the backyard, and after he’s murdered several birds, and at least two rabbits, he has to wear a bell on his collar now.
She crunches them up rather finely I suppose. Cannot deal the the joints, just eats the span. She is small too, only about 7 pounds.
Just the other day, I wondered if you were still playing that.
Cats “murder” birds? The use of the term is absurd. No shortage of birds anywhere I’ve ever lived in my entire life.
Seriously, is this really a concern?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.