Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Pet cats killing up to 270 million animals a year
i read the following in today's indpendent newspaper:
Pet cats may be killing up to 270 million animals as prey every year in the UK alone, according to a new study.
Researchers, including those from the University of Reading, said the loss of tens of millions of animals each year through cat predation may “go beyond animal welfare concerns and become conservation concerns”.
The study, published in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning, assessed the movement and prey of 79 pet cats in inner suburban areas and in areas adjacent to natural habitats on the edge of the suburban area.
Scientists assessed nine sites within the counties of Berkshire and Hampshire, UK – all within a radius of 30km from the town of Reading.
“Cats are a non-native species. They get fed by their owners and given veterinary care so you could consider them mini super predators,” study co-author Rebecca Thomas, from London’s Royal Holloway University, told The Times.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Another perspective from the RSPB
https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/gardening-for-wil...
I don’t have a cat either
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Permalink Reply by Janet S on
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And this is the alternative view of an expert in defence of the cat and critical of the statistical extrapolation:
The biologist, author and feline behaviourist Roger Tabor, one of the world’s leading authorities on cats, isn’t convinced either. An average of 34 animals a year? “Nonsense.” Even asking the average cat owner about their cat’s prey items, he says, “you’ll get nothing like that number. It’s just a crazy amount.”
“Most of the cat population lives in an urban area and as a result of that their prey catch is very low, and you can’t multiply that up,” he says. “When I’ve been looking at the catches of house cats in central London, it is very unusual to find even one cat that catches as much as two prey items a year. And most don’t catch anything. And that’s where the biggest population of cats are — in our cities and towns.”
He adds: “What you are doing is ignoring the reality of biology.” How many animals a cat kills depends on many factors and varies greatly, he says. For example, a cat that wasn’t taught to hunt by its mother won’t be skilled at it. And the reason that cats in suburbs have such a low kill count is they simply don’t have access to great amounts of prey because everyone is squished in and — thanks to the cat next door — “they are absolutely limited by the amount of space that they have as their range”. If their territory is a small garden, then “whatever that area holds is all you can catch”.
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why take the risk? Tabor is right, it's a people problem, https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-08-20-9708200048-st....
A focus on individual cat outliers sidesteps the issue. It's probably true that some cats are affected by this. But the big issue here is too many creatures are killed by cats. They are slowly destroying elements of urban biodiversity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyall%27s_wren
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And this is the alternative view of an expert in defence of the cat and critical of the statistical extrapolation:
The biologist, author and feline behaviourist Roger Tabor, one of the world’s leading authorities on cats, isn’t convinced either. An average of 34 animals a year? “Nonsense.” Even asking the average cat owner about their cat’s prey items, he says, “you’ll get nothing like that number. It’s just a crazy amount.”
“Most of the cat population lives in an urban area and as a result of that their prey catch is very low, and you can’t multiply that up,” he says. “When I’ve been looking at the catches of house cats in central London, it is very unusual to find even one cat that catches as much as two prey items a year. And most don’t catch anything. And that’s where the biggest population of cats are — in our cities and towns.”
He adds: “What you are doing is ignoring the reality of biology.” How many animals a cat kills depends on many factors and varies greatly, he says. For example, a cat that wasn’t taught to hunt by its mother won’t be skilled at it. And the reason that cats in suburbs have such a low kill count is they simply don’t have access to great amounts of prey because everyone is squished in and — thanks to the cat next door — “they are absolutely limited by the amount of space that they have as their range”. If their territory is a small garden, then “whatever that area holds is all you can catch”.
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A cacophony in the garden this morning turned out to be a neighbours cat playing with an injured wood pigeon, this involved pouncing on it, pinning it down and repeating. Wood pigeons seem to be very stupid, slow to take off when there is danger and easy prey. I chased the cat away and the pigeon appeared to be limp and in a state of shock for several hours but thankfully has now flown off.
I don't know who owns the cat -so the owner has no way of knowing that their lovely, cuddly moggy enjoys attacking birds in other peoples gardens.
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Permalink Reply by PoppyRed on
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If you find an injured bird please don’t leave it, please get in touch with London Wildlife Protection
on 07909 795064
or, in particular pigeons, Ovlix Little Dove Rescue, which is run by a lovely lady locally in Tottenham.
https://www.facebook.com/OvlixLittleDoveRescue/
Even if the bird seems ok, any contact with cats saliva can cause septicaemia, so it needs antibiotics a.s.a.p.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds article that Michael posted notes that it is predominantly weak and injured birds that cats catch.
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Thanks for this Poppy, in future I will; after I provided it with bird seed and water it perked up. I had forgotten how dangerous cat saliva can be.
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Felis Catus as pets have lots of benefits - companions, well-being, etc. And in the UK we even have our own species of cat, the Scottish Wildcat (Felis silvestris silvestris).
However, speaking as an ecologist, I can confidently say that putting a cat out is one of the worst things we can do to our local biodiversity. The simple reasons are:- there are way too many cats out there. The population is out of control. If you don't believe this, check the links provided above. Here is the power of one cat in a terrible story (the Lyall's wren) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyall%27s_wren
- they are not controlled by their prey as a food source. Eg if birds die out, they will still be fed cat food
- they kill for non-food reasons and are very good at it
- interbreeding with the wildcat population in Scotland is causing an issue (they are different species). This isn't scotland, I know, wildcats were wiped out here years ago.
Reduced biodiversity is a massive environmental crisis, and cats have a huge effect on the bird/reptile/amphibian element of this in urban areas.
Nature has a huge amount of economic and social benefits for us, for very little cost. We just have to steward. So I hope those who choose to have a cat as a pet can be responsible cat owners and realise the power they have to their community. They are cute killers of many things we all love.
Here's a story of the issue in Iceland https://hakaimagazine.com/features/its-10-pm-do-you-know-where-your...
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Permalink Reply by Oli Langford on
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I love my cat but he's a serial killer. Sparrows, blackbirds, robins, pigeons, magpies, crows, little mice, the occasional rat and he attacks the foxes too. My garden backs onto the allotments at Mannock Rd. I'd agree that cats kill huge numbers of native wildlife. I didn't consider this when I bought him 6 years ago. I do love him and care for him but I won't be getting another one. Instead I intend to put up bird boxes and bird feeders. A friend of mine has done this and his garden is joy to visit. He feeds the robins and sparrows from his hand.
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