Cat Nipped The ruthless killing machine gets its due.

By James A. Swan,

North American Hunter magazine

May 5-6, 2001 One person in five considers himself a wildlife watcher, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This flock, which outnumbers hunters and anglers combined, spends more than $25 billion a year on binoculars, film and camera equipment, bird feeders and baths, grain, field guides, and of course, tennis shoes. Some have even gone high-tech, installing "nest-cams" to track the development of nesting birds and animals.

The eternal quest of the wildlife watcher is a close sighting of a wild animal, the more exotic and rare the better. In our neck of the woods, we have recently had a flock of birders from all across the U.S. migrate to the Bolinas Lagoon to see a rare Asian plover. Before that it was the gagarney duck, normally is found in Russia, which caused traffic jams along Highway 1. Such sightings are trophies to those who hunt with binoculars and cameras and keep "life lists" just like big-game hunters have trophy rooms.

Many bird watchers are kind and gentle people who normally would not harm a flea. But they make a rare exception when it comes to their archrival: the cat. A friend of mine who is an ornithologist cannot bring himself to hunt, but whenever he goes afield he carries a pellet gun to shoot all cats on sight. He proudly keeps track of his cat kills, which now number over a thousand. And, he says that he feels not one shred of guilt about it.

"How could someone kill Tabby?" some people might exclaim. The answer is that the common house cat, especially those that roam freely, is a ruthless killing machine for small birds and mammals, far beyond the mice we hope they catch. Cats not only kill for food; they do it for pleasure and with abandon. (Several other animals, incidentally, engage in mass pleasure killings, one of the most common being the weasel.)

Not long ago the University of Wisconsin conducted a study of the diet of farm cats — cats that farmers hope will kill rodents. They found that in a single year farm cats kill at least 15 million cottontail rabbits and 28 million songbirds — in Wisconsin alone! There are an estimated 1.6 million farm cats in Wisconsin. Nation-wide, there are estimated to be 60 million feral cats, which have been abandoned and gone wild. This is in addition to domestic cats that roam freely. Their toll on wildlife exceeds the capacity of my calculator to calculate, but it easily is in the billions of birds and mammals. While hunting usually gets blamed, it is likely that predation by house cats was one of the main reasons why the heath hen, an eastern species of prairie chicken, went extinct in 1932. Hawaii has lost several species of native birds thanks to cats, rats and mongoose.

Domestic cats that go wild — either because they are abandoned or because they crave freedom — form colonies, like packs of lions. They devastate wildlife, compete with natural predators, and can spread rabies and a host of other diseases. Joining with wildlife watchers, the American Veterinary Medical Association endorses a policy of eliminating "the problem of abandoned and/or feral cats" with trapping, sterilization, and euthanasia. Plug "feral cats" into your search engine, and you will find a flock of organizations that target feral cats. Many want to catch them humanely and rehabilitate them. Others catch cats in humane traps, then perform sterilizations and release them. The cats still continue to kill, but they cannot breed.

Reading this, you may clutch Tabby a little tighter. Cats can be nice pets, but their place is in the home, where they can be your friends and control mice. If you want to let your cat roam freely, then affix a small bell to its collar to hamper his ability to stalk silently. If you have an outdoor rodent problem, there are poisons and traps that will kill rodents more quickly and humanely than cats.

We establish "Days" to honor historical events and call attention to issues and causes. May 12 is national "Keep Your Cat Indoors Day." It may sound ludicrous, until you stop to think of the millions of wild animals whose lives would be spared if cats were kept where they belong. We already have enough problems with exotic introduced species like nutria, starlings, English sparrows, carp, and Scots broom. This is the season when birds and mammals are nesting. If you care about watching wildlife, then please, on May 12th and every other day, keep your kitty under control.

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-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), May 07, 2001

Answers

Paper covers rock. Cats eat birds.

-- (Joan@SanDiego.zoo), May 07, 2001.