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Patrick Sawyer

climber
Originally California now Ireland
Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 29, 2013 - 12:57pm PT
I know our cat Boots usually delivers a dead bird or mouse onto the porch a couple of times a week. That is why I have the bird feeders well off the ground. Though of course cats CAN CLIMB (does that make this a climbing thread?).

Jennie loves cats, big and small. The only gift I could give Jennie this past Christmas was €40 contribution to the WWF for snow leopards, they even sent us a little stuffed toy snow leopard. There are two real ones at the Dublin Zoo. And those cats can climb (http://www.arkive.org/snow-leopard/panthera-uncia/video-06b.html);. So THIS IS a climbing thread, well not that far off of one.

I don't know how accurate the researchers' estimates are, I just thought it was an interesting article.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21236690

Cats killing billions of animals in the US

Cats are one of the top threats to US wildlife, killing billions of animals each year, a study suggests.

The authors estimate they are responsible for the deaths of between 1.4 and 3.7 billion birds and 6.9-20.7 billion mammals annually.

Writing in Nature Communications, the scientists said stray and feral cats were the worst offenders.

However, they added that pet cats also played a role and that owners should do more to reduce their impact.

The authors concluded that more animals are dying at the claws of cats in the United States than in road accidents, collisions with buildings or poisonings.

The domestic cat's killer instinct of has been well documented on many islands around the world.

Felines accompanying their human companions have gone on to decimate local wildlife, and they have been blamed for the global extinction of 33 species.

But their impact on the mainland has been harder to chart.

To find out more, researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service carried out a review of studies that had previously looked at the predatory prowess of cats.

Their analysis revealed that the cat killings were much higher than previous studies had suggested: they found that they had killed more than four times as many birds as has been previously estimated.

Birds native to the US, such as the American Robin, were most at risk, and mice, shrews, voles, squirrels and rabbits were the mammals most likely to be killed.

Dr Pete Marra from the SCBI said: "Our study suggests that they are the top threat to US wildlife."

The team said that "un-owned" cats, which they classified as strays, feral cats and farm cats, were killing about three times as many animals as pet cats, but that their owners could do more to limit the impact.

Dr Marra said: "We hope that the large amount of wildlife mortality indicated by our research convinces some cat owners to keep their cats indoors and that it alerts policymakers, wildlife managers and scientists to the large magnitude of wildlife mortality caused by cat predation."

A spokeswoman for the UK's animal welfare charity the RSPCA said that a properly fitted collar and bell could reduce a cat's success when hunting by at least a third.

EDIT

Cats are good for keeping vermin out of the house, but then so are cobras in India.
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Jan 29, 2013 - 01:03pm PT
Don't get me started.
limpingcrab

Trad climber
the middle of CA
Jan 29, 2013 - 01:07pm PT
That's why they're on this list!

neebee

Social climber
calif/texas
Jan 29, 2013 - 01:13pm PT
hey there say, patrick...

my mom always taught me to look out for the birds...

course, i am only one person--i have five cats, but they are indoors only...
spayed and nuetured from the cat shelter--i'd reckon that they used to be out there hunting our lovely winged flying critters, :O

even in here, i must be careful... ONE of the cats, and thank the good lord, continually does 'from across the room, flying LEAPs ONTO the birdcage' of my little parakeet... :O
he'd be far worse, outside, if free to do so, :O

i do keep him away, but a few times, he zooms from the mudroom, after eating, before i can grab him... he spends his days in the other room, NOT with the other cats... but he does enjoy the whole house, later, when bird is covered and asleep...

thanks for sharing...
hope all is well on your homefront, cat, too...

:)
Patrick Sawyer

climber
Originally California now Ireland
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 29, 2013 - 01:24pm PT
Limpingcrab, I definitely think that the pythons in the Florida Everglades should be on the list.
Patrick Sawyer

climber
Originally California now Ireland
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 29, 2013 - 01:39pm PT
Tami, our cat is neutered, and while not a stray (he preferred us to the neighbors), he is both an indoor/and outdoor cat. He is our pet. I'd like a dog, but Boots and Jennie are afraid of dogs. Well, Jen is okay with little dogs, but Boots freaks when he sees one at the vets.
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Jan 29, 2013 - 01:51pm PT
New Zealand, Hawaii, Guam, just to name a few of the islands decimated by
man's thoughtlessness in either the witting or unwitting importation of
non-natives.
SteveW

Trad climber
The state of confusion
Jan 29, 2013 - 01:56pm PT

I'm like Tami (I wish I was that funny). . .
but my two kitties stay indoors and kill dust bunnies!!!
Barbarian

climber
Jan 29, 2013 - 02:00pm PT
Any leaf or bug that gets in the house is dead meat. Have a 7' Boa....haven't seen a mouse or rat for years.
The Lisa

Trad climber
Da Bronx, NY
Jan 29, 2013 - 02:12pm PT
The Oatmeal took the report that Patrick linked and made this hilarious article http://theoatmeal.com/misc/frame/cat_kill

I see nothing wrong with feral cats hunting to feed themselves. I am sure well-fed indoor/outdoor cats kill more for sport. We had outdoor cats growing up and they brought us bunnies and rats. They had no interest in eating their kills.
survival

Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
Jan 29, 2013 - 02:49pm PT
Believe it or not, this simple cat bib made all the difference in our cat's bird killing capability.


Looks stupid as hell, but it works.
Patrick Sawyer

climber
Originally California now Ireland
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 29, 2013 - 02:49pm PT

The Lisa, that Oatmeal link is hilarious. Thanks
Phil_B

Social climber
Hercules, CA
Jan 29, 2013 - 05:31pm PT
And one guy is out to rid New Zealand of cats
http://rendezvous.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/a-plan-to-save-new-zealands-birds-get-rid-of-cats/
limpingcrab

Trad climber
the middle of CA
Jan 29, 2013 - 05:37pm PT
Limpingcrab, I definitely think that the pythons in the Florida Everglades should be on the list.

I agree. Looks like this list is from 2000 or so, so maybe that's why. Just went over it in class last week, maybe there's a newer one out there.

I grew up killing cat's a my parents' house. Nasty ones that would piss on everything. Neighbor killed over 20 in one month. I love cat's, but within reason :)
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Jan 29, 2013 - 05:58pm PT
What about all the Canadians in Florida, huh?
Patrick Sawyer

climber
Originally California now Ireland
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 29, 2013 - 06:35pm PT
There are Canadians in Florida? Good gawd. Talk about pests. It's an invasion. Do they 'conglomerate' at Disney World or Universal Studios?

Just joking, Jim, Tami, Ghost, Anders et al.

But seriously those pythons are reproducing at high rates and destroying the fauna of the Everglades.

As for our Boots, nobody is going to do him in, he is doing that already by overeating (I try to do what the vet says, but don't they have those sad - killer - eyes. Think Puss n Boots in Shrek).
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Jan 29, 2013 - 07:03pm PT
The pythons are beyond the point of no return. Unless you put a meaningful
bounty of 'em and allow the rednecks to use their AR-15's with mega-magazines.
That's the only way - Bounty Hunters, Baby! None of this stoopid catch
one here and there for the stoopid TV shows.

Nile Monitor Lizards may be almost out of control too in the far southern
end of Florida. They're pretty damn rapacious, too.
Patrick Sawyer

climber
Originally California now Ireland
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 29, 2013 - 07:29pm PT
Reilly, let's hope you are wrong about the pythons in Florida. There has some be sort of eradication program.

I didn't know about the invasive Nile Monitor Lizards in Florida until you brought it up now. Googled it. Hmmm, another problem.
Reilly

Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
Jan 29, 2013 - 09:30pm PT
Patrick, I told you not to get me started, and I've only just.
Did you see just a week or two back they caught a 17.5 footer?
That's a big-azzed snake. And for every one that size you know there
are 25 eight to ten footers.

Jim, could you have said no to her?
justthemaid

climber
Jim Henson's Basement
Jan 29, 2013 - 09:34pm PT
He's not wrong about the pythons BTW.
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