Cats killing birds - again
Jul 22nd, 2007 by Birdy Trish
We have had our night time cat visitor again.
This cat has left it’s calling card near the bird table. If it has an owner why does the owner let it roam. It will have been stalking my birds all night.
At night birds need a safe haven and rest.
Birds don’t have their daily food handed to them on a plate as domestic cats do. Just look at all the cat food adverts on television and you will see how cats are pandered to food-wise.
It is estimated that Britain’s eight million pet cats kill nearly 300m wild birds and mammals every year and the average cat kills 35 times a year.
Cats should be kept indoors.
Owners should be responsible.
Some people say cats should be kept indoors from dusk to dawn. Doing that would stop them killing unsuspecting, innocent birds that have no defence at all. I’m also thinking of what is best for the the cat as keeping cats indoors would stop cats being killed by cars.
Cat owners seem to be defensive about the fact that their cats kill birds . Are they in denial.
Cats are carnivorous animals. They are also lone hunters.
There is slaughter in the countryside every night of the year which is caused by the domestic cat
my first hand knowledge of cats killing birds
Now read on -
People blame farmers for the decline in bird population. What is never talked about is the general public who own a cat. They must be held partly responsible for any decline in bird population. Can they live with that knowledge of bird slaughter?
There does not seem any other choice except to keep cats indoors. Cats are involved in the daily slaughter of many English birds. This cannot be right. They are helping the birds on the slippery slope to extinction. It would mean the cat owner would have to think more on the line of cat trays etc. On the other hand there are some really good outside cat homes which could be situated in the garden and the cat could be put in for part of the day if the owner wanted a rest from their cat.
It seems that all domestic felines are descended from group of cats in the Middle East around 130,000 years ago.
Researchers have traced the domestic feline family tree back to wild cats living in the area that is now called Iraq on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates. Maybe they should all be returned there. It would solve a lot of problems.
[...] had problems with cats killing my garden birds. By coincidence a year ago today I wrote about Cats killing birds again - written 22 July [...]
Yesterday I had an irate neighbour call at my house to complain that one of my cats, identified with a pointed finger, had killed three birds this month in her garden. To be honest at the time I thought someone had sent her round as a joke and I was waiting for a punch line or for a practical joking friend to come bounding round the corner laughing. Sadly though this woman was for real and I just stood there with my mouth open not believing what I was hearing, behaving solemnly and not knowing whether to laugh as she may be ill or something.
It was only when as an aside to her retreat she made a veiled threat to strangle my cat if she caught it that I actually took her seriously.
After various calls to the Vet, the RSPCA and a pet shop owner that I know with conversations muted by restrained laughter, I was advised to contact the police and log a complaint against my neighbour for threatening to harm my cat thus, if poor asbo was to come to any harm at the hands of this mad bird loving woman, action could be taken either via the CPS or privately.
The police were very helpful albeit mirth filled but it would appear that cats have the ‘right to roam’ it is in their nature to hunt and kill birds and small mammals and as a natural impulse it cannot be controlled by man. In the past this was actively encouraged where rodent infestations were rife and a cat was a prized asset.
Obviously these days responsible owners should keep their cats well fed and belled up A. to give the wildlife a bit of a chance and B. to stop them picking up a nasty disease from some sickly wild fowl.
They will obviously catch the odd one or two despite the full bellies and the bells but usually only the very young, old or sick.
In this world there are bird lovers, cat lovers, dog lovers and reptile lovers, in fact there is a lover of just about every genus and species on the planet. Each is in some way abhored or scorned by another.
Our environment is changing most especially in the towns and cities. Could we not be more socioecologicaly aware and recognise that most of our preferred pets are in some way natural killers and will indulge their passion if they can.
Political correctness has not yet embraced the natural world and until it does lets live and let live [or die as the case may be].
There are far more horrible things happening in the world these days - usually caused by pet owners.
Hi Cat Lover. I don’t dislike cats. I dislike cats that kill birds.
I think maybe you are missing a point here. You feed, water and look after your cat. It is well fed, can come in from the rain, snow and sleet and freezing weather. It never goes hungry or dies through lack of food in winter. Your can can sleep in comfort and warmth when it is tired. It wakes up with a full stomach and then goes outside and for no reason kills wild birds. The wild birds it kills have to spend hours searching for food. They are outside in all weathers. They do not have the comfort of a warm indoor bed. They have to fight for survival.
Cats kill for the sake of killing not for survival.
If the tables were turned and all of a sudden some imported carniverous species started killing thousands upon thousands of British domesticated cats you would have a different view. If your pet cat had kittens and you found the kittens dead one morning - killed by a predator what would you think?
Maybe we should all try and look at this from both sides of the coin. But for me it’s really hard. Trisha