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BIRDS AND CATS

Posted on July 25th, 2010 in Cat Control by Trish

Cats do kill birds.  That is a fact

I know someone who is having a problem with cats.

She says cats regularly leave their excrement on her lawn and flower beds.  They use her shrubbery to ambush and kill birds and small mammals.  They destroy plants with their urine and leave their infested paw prints on her garden furniture.  But the worst thing is the killing of garden birds – needless killing.

She says she did not invite these animals into her garden.  She has used powder, gel and spray but non of the cat repellants work. 

She does not understand how anyone can love a pet yet let it roam outdoors and forget about it.  She says millions of cat owners let their cats roam and if the cat owners were more responsible then perhaps the newly fledged birds would survive.

She believe that cats do not have an automatic right to roam and they do not need to.  She wishes cat owners realised that and took  more responsibility by keeping their cats inside more or enclosed in their own garden.  

I am lucky at the moment as we do not have a cat problem here.  But I do know the carnage a cat can cause.  If I am driving on an evening and I see cats sneaking into hedgerows I just say a prayer for the birds inside the hedge.

Amazing way of stopping cats killing birds

Posted on October 12th, 2009 in Cat Control by Trish

I would never have thought of this.  John has contacted me with this surprising way to stop cats killing birds -

We have three cats, and have found a paradoxical way of stopping them from catching birds..

We have about a dozen bird feeders with different foods in. As a result we have a huge population of birds, particularly house sparrows.

At the first sighting of a cat the alarm goes up and every species is alerted. More food is more pairs of eyes to watch out for danger.

The moggies have next to no chance. They still bring home the occasional bird, but it used to be several a week rather than a handful over the whole summer

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I thought I was bad enough with my variety of feeders, but I don’t think I have twelve!

John, you must keep the feeders close together do you, that will be why you have a large group of birds in one place.

I spread my feeders around the garden. Some are hanging from branches, some are bird tables, some are ground feeders, but they are not all together in the same place.

Thanks for getting in touch and it is an amazing thing to hear about.  They say there is safety in numbers don’t they and what you have told us proves that is the case.

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Keep cats indoors?

Posted on January 31st, 2009 in Cat Control by Trish

Cats seem to be loved or hated in equal measure.

But there is no getting round the fact that cats are carnivourous mammals who have a bloodlust.

Should cats be kept inside entirely or in contained cat runs to stop them cutting a swathe through our bird life (as well as other wildlife)?

In Australia some areas already have  legislation in place to keep cats indoors. Could this happen in Britain?

Worldwide cats may have been involved in the extinction of more bird species than any other cause except habitit loss and are contributing to the danger of other small mammals possibly becoming extinct.

In Britain alone domestic cats now number 8 million and are said to kill millions of birds annually.

A cat’s motivation to hunt is separate from its desire to satisfy hunger so it will hunt at any time. Their taste for blood is never ending.

Most of the creatures they kill are tortured to death. So you could call cats murderers who torment their victims.

Cats are well fed and do not have to forage for food as their owners feed them well. This means they are well fed and alert for each killing spree.

Somewhere safe and secure to sleep is of paramount importance to man and animal alike. Cat owners ensure their cat has a comfortable, safe and secure bed.
The bird population does not have the luxury of a safe haven where they can renew their strength. They have to be on the look out for predators 24/7. They also have to forage every day for food to survive.

I want to enjoy the wildlife in and around my garden. I do not want to see them being killed by cats.

What do you think?

A stray cat that killed birds

Posted on January 18th, 2009 in Cat Control by Trish

About 3 years ago we had a thin, bedraggled, stray cat wandered into our lives.

It came from nowhere and started to come to the house. It would sit on the window ledge outside our living room window and tap on the window with its paw.

We told it it did not live here and shooed it away. But every time we opened the front door it ran inside and sat on the living room chair. We threw it out. It came back. We listened to the cat tapping and the rain tapping on the window at the same time. The cat won the battle and joined the household. We have never found out where it came from. We called it Tabby. Then the trouble started.

It killed and ate birds. Lots of them. Killing birds seemed to be its one aim in life. I would watch it as it climbed inside a high hedge, crept along a branch and tried to kill an unsuspecting bird. It was a born hunter. I did try to stop it. I put two bells on its neck. I tried to keep it inside all the time, but it found open windows and also sneaked outside whenever anyone opened a door. I put up with a lot. I tried to make excuses for this cat.

Then one day I found two sets of soft, red, fragile robin feathers close together. So light and innocent. These soft feathers gently started to flutter in the breeze. This was solid proof that two robins had been killed by this cat. This was two lives too many. If the robins died, should the cat die? My patience turned to anger.

I realised that cats will always kill birds. This was just a food factory for this cat. I did not kill it. I rang the RSPCA. I left it at a collection point to be picked up by the RSPCA and have not seen it since. It was the only decision I could make. We have been free of cats since then and it has been lovely.
It is because of this experience I know that cats do a lot of harm to bird life. Too much harm.
 I found out the other week that we have a feral cat round about.  Hope it’s not killing a lot of birds.