Stop Killer Cats!
I know there are more compelling things going on, but this kind of freaked me out. From the Chattanoogan:
A new study of house cats allowed to roam outdoors finds that nearly one-third succeeded in capturing and killing animals. The cats, which wore special video cameras around their necks that recorded their outdoor activities, killed an average of 2.1 animals every week they were outside, but brought less than one of every four of their kills home. Of particular interest, bird kills constituted about 13 percent of the total wildlife kills. Based on these results, American Bird Conservancy and The Wildlife Society estimate that house cats kill far more than the previous estimate of a billion birds and other animals each year.
First, this is exactly the kind of scientific study I like: lurid, slightly pointless, and uncomfortable for cats.
Second, it inspires hilarious and over-the-top reactions from all of the expected corners:
“If we extrapolate the results of this study across the country and include feral cats, we find that cats are likely killing more than four billion animals per year, including at least 500 million birds. Cat predation is one of the reasons why one in three American bird species are in decline,” said Dr. George Fenwick, president of American Bird Conservancy, the only organization exclusively conserving birds throughout the Americas.
“I think it will be impossible to deny the ongoing slaughter of wildlife by outdoor cats given the videotape documentation and the scientific credibility that this study brings,” said Michael Hutchins, executive director/CEO of The Wildlife Society, the leading organization for wildlife professionals in the United States. “There is a huge environmental price that we are paying every single day that we turn our backs on our native wildlife in favor of protecting non-native predatory cats at all cost while ignoring the inconvenient truth about the mortality they inflict.”
Killer cats must be stopped.
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Dec '10
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
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Nov '11
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
My cats mostly kill nuisance animals, squirrels and chipmunks and mice. They don't usually take down birds.
Jun '10
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
My cat prefers to prey on endangered species like whiptails and hummingbirds. Good republican kitty.
Nov '10
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
They banned roving cats entirely in Winnipeg. Now the parts of the city that verge on agricultural areas are overrun with mice, rats and -- worst of all, to some residents -- rabbits. We have three cats, two of which are "outlaws" -- we let them roam. The neighbors are appreciative, especially that our big male top cat has a love for hossenfeffer, and in peak season can take down a rabbit a day.
It's not a bug. It's a feature.
Yes, my cats take down birds too. When my grapes begin to ripen I station them close to the trellis to chase away the eager sky-pirates. As for the songbirds and so on, I tell anyone who asks that the cats only kill the stupid ones. Over time we will see a tremendous evolution in songbird intelligence, and they'll be reciting passages from Mozart and Strauss before long. It can only do good in the longrun. What's the big deal.
Mar '11
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
Outdoor cats are so unsophisticated. We cats of the upper class prefer to let humans slaughter the birds and stick them in cans with a delicious brown gravy.
Dec '10
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
See? Now you've done it. You've forced me to expose some deep divisions among the Ricochetti. I'm from a long line of wild bird lovers and bird watchers, although it's a hobby I mostly practice by attracting my feathered friends to my back yard, rather than meeting them in the wild.
Between the birdie body count at the base of every *$%@ useless wind turbine pervading every (necessarily windy) migratory air space in the country, and the neighbor's cats preying on my back yard buddies, I get a little freaked out! So, yeah, I think it's the right thing to do to keep your kitties indoors.
Barring that, I've got a doggy who'd just love to play fetch with your kitty.
/sigh -- Ricochet used to be a place where dogs and cats could live together. This could get ugly.
Apr '11
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
13% seems awfully high. Maybe those birds were actually suicides.
Furthermore, by killing the odd bird those cats are saving the lives of countless worms!
Edited on August 8, 2012 at 9:01pmJan '11
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
This has The Far Side written all over it.
Jun '10
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
What a mouse's nightmares look like:
Mar '11
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
Non-native? Killer Kats from Outer Space! There's a movie in this.
May '10
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
Or at least a Ricochet Podcast.
Aug '10
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
Rob Long:
Killer cats must be stopped.
But, that's the whole POINT of cats!
Ever since my parents' cat got old and developed arthritis in her hind legs, the squirrels and chipmunks strut around like they OWN the place!
The Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office was hired specifically to keep the rat population down!
Cats are snuggly killers. That's why I love 'em.
May '12
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
This rascal clawed holes through the screens so he could snatch a pigeon from the window ledge.
And he pushed a box screen aside, crossed over the fire escape and into the neighboring apartment's kitchen because he felt we spent too much time away on vacation.
Aug '10
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
Randy Weivoda:
Furthermore, by killing the odd bird ...
Isn't it against the ADA to target only the odd birds?
Sep '11
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
Please--please, people, do not let this get viral.
I deal with the Agricultural Extension people all the time, and for the past several years "forward-thinking" agriculture bureaucrats have focused on "invasive" and "non-native" as the Magic Adjectives.
Magic Adjectives are to a government bureaucrat what Belladonna is to Severus Snape: add the right ingredients, at the right time, and you can "bottle fame, brew glory, and even put a stopper in death." Or, at the very least, safeguard your budget now that the football program has been hamstrung.
So everything these days is all about invasive, non-native species. Trees. Flowers. Crops. Animals.
It's no use pointing out that horses, cows, goats, pigs, sheep--and tractors, when you think of it--are all non-native, and pretty darn invasive. And they're precisely what we (4-H) are supposed to be for.
No--to the forward-thinking agricultural bureaucrat, whether it makes sense or not is immaterial. What matters is that you get budget funding to study the problem next year--and a budget commitment for ever-increasing funding over the next five years.
Dec '10
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
Western Chauvinist: ...
Barring that, I've got a doggy who'd just love to play fetch with your kitty.
/sigh -- Ricochet used to be a place where dogs and cats could live together. This could get ugly.
We've got a male Maine Coon cat (think Arnold Schwarzenegger) who is famous for leaving Black Crow slicks around the neighborhood. The first time was in the backyard where a huge Black Crow liked to attack our timid female cat. The last time the crow swooped down to attack the female, the Maine Coon intercepted it midair.
Until recently the Maine Coon's best buddy was the Alaskan Malamute who lived next door. He recently got two of his own Australian Shepherds and the three bonded just like the Three Musketeers. The Aussies take the welfare of their cat very seriously. They gave some lessons in good manors to a Cao who had displayed less than wholesome intentions toward their cat. They've also gotten into it a couple of times with a bobcat who lives somewhere in the neighborhood.
Threats to their cat are cause for righteous indignation ... for the Aussies, it's personal :)
Mar '11
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
My cat is a superb hunter. He brings home several birds, chipmunks and mice a week - so if he is not bringing it all back, he is doing well, indeed.
I know that one of the reasons the ancient Egyptians worshipped cats is because besides snakes, nothing else can protect grain stores from rodents. And Egypt was a storehouse civilization.
Dec '11
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
We joke about the mole-ocaust ever year. 2-5 moles a day for days on end.
May '11
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
Can I borrow your cat? I'm overrun with moles.
Aug '11
Re: Stop Killer Cats!
There will be no more cats.
Cats spread infection,
cats pollute the air,
cats consume seven times
their own weight in food a week,
cats were worshipped in
decadent societies (Egypt
and Ancient Rome), the Greeks
had no use for cats. Cats
sit down to pee (our scientists
have proved it). The copulation
of cats is harrowing; they
are unbearably fond of the moon.
Perhaps they are all right in
their own country but their
traditions are alien to ours.
Cats smell, they can’t help it,
you notice it going upstairs.
Cats watch too much television,
they can sleep through storms,
they stabbed us in the back
last time. There have never been
any great artists who were cats.
They don’t deserve a capital C
except at the beginning of a sentence.
I blame my headache and my
plants dying on to cats.
Our district is full of them,
property values are falling.
When I dream of God I see
a Massacre of Cats. Why
should they insist on their own
language and religion, who
needs to purr to make a point?
Death to all cats! The Rule
of Dogs shall last a thousand years!
- Peter Porter