Correct! Over a billion small mammals and hundreds of millions of birds are killed annually by rural cats who are actually contributing to the endangerment of some birds. And these numbers don't include statistics from urban and suburban cats. Cats also disturb the natural order of things as they compete with native predators like hawks and, as an added complication, cats are linked with transmitting diseases to other wildlife. We're cat lovers here. We are owned by two indoor cats, having lost a third to heart problems. When we bought the house, the previous owner told us he befriended a stray and asked it we would watch over her. Of course we said yes. Not familiar with the problems with strays, we didn't realize that one would turn into five and then into twelve and then seventeen. We saw the difficult life they had, despite our help with food and water. We saw them fight and hurt each other over territory and saw them killed by cars. Finally, we had seen enough of this very difficult life and, with the help of our local animal control, we caught and found indoor homes for all of them. One of them adopted us. There are some things we can do to help correct this situation. Among them would be to keep cats indoors or, at the very least, have them neutered. And don't feed stray cats that come to your door or invite them by leaving garbage or outdoor petfood where they can get it. If you do have a problem with strays, be sure your feeders and birdbaths are not placed in such a way that a cat could be laying-in-wait for birds to come along. Fact taken from Cats and Wildlife--A Conservation Dilemma, University of Wisconsin--Madison Here are a few links on the subject matter: |
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Correct! Over a billion small mammals and hundreds of millions of birds are killed annually by rural cats who are actually contributing to the endangerment of some birds. And these numbers don't include statistics from urban and suburban cats. Cats also disturb the natural order of things as they compete with native predators like hawks and, as an added complication, cats are linked with transmitting diseases to other wildlife. We're cat lovers here. We are owned by two indoor cats, having lost a third to heart problems. When we bought the house, the previous owner told us he befriended a stray and asked it we would watch over her. Of course we said yes. Not familiar with the problems with strays, we didn't realize that one would turn into five and then into twelve and then seventeen. We saw the difficult life they had, despite our help with food and water. We saw them fight and hurt each other over territory and saw them killed by cars. Finally, we had seen enough of this very difficult life and, with the help of our local animal control, we caught and found indoor homes for all of them. One of them adopted us. There are some things we can do to help correct this situation. Among them would be to keep cats indoors or, at the very least, have them neutered. And don't feed stray cats that come to your door or invite them by leaving garbage or outdoor petfood where they can get it. If you do have a problem with strays, be sure your feeders and birdbaths are not placed in such a way that a cat could be laying-in-wait for birds to come along. Fact taken from Cats and Wildlife--A Conservation Dilemma, University of Wisconsin--Madison Here are a few links on the subject matter: |
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