Keep Your Cat Indoors, For Natures Sake

[TheCount]

In a report that scaled up local surveys and pilot studies to national dimensions, scientists from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that domestic cats in the United States — both the pet Fluffies that spend part of the day outdoors and the unnamed strays and ferals that never leave it — kill a median of 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals a year, most of them native mammals like shrews, chipmunks and voles rather than introduced pests like the Norway rat.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/sc...ller.html?_r=0

Yet another reason why "outdoor" cat "owners" that somehow insist their cat be the worlds problem should reconsider.

[Lonestar94]

Wow. Cats are hunters. I just realized that.

Pardon me while I let my cat out.

[arglebargle]

I don't think we have shrews, voles and chipmunks here. I just wish the cats would keep the mice, bugs, and skunks under control. And keep from losing all their lunch money to the raccoons in those overnight poker games....

[Hopeuhavechange]

I have solved my ongoing battles with cats on my property since this guy showed up recently (ignore my camera's timestamp/I'll get around to fixing that one day) He comes for the White Winged Doves who pig out and loiter about..they are not my favorite. Anyway, the cats are terrified of him while my resident Mockingbird and crew of Blue Jays torment him and blow his cover more often than not. But those wandering cats want no part of him and scatter like roaches when they see his approaching profile in the sky. Just look at those talons. It may be hard to fully appreciate their lethality from this shot. On this day he bathed and drank for some 20 minutes. And this is a Cooper's Hawk.

[JIMMYBUFFETT]

Cats killing nuisance vermin??? Shameful! I just got my cat a cool trucker hat that say "Been Shrewing". He wears it all the time while he's out getting his vole on.

[speedkilz88]

Cats help keep pests and varmint populations under control? We need more cats!

[Hopeuhavechange]

Originally Posted by speedkilz88

Cats help keep pests and varmint populations under control? We need more cats!

Roaming cats ARE pests.

[TheCount]

lol, Cat owners. You guys are selective of hearing if nothing else.

[burmafrd]

Billions? They kill billions? Excuse me while I show serious doubt of that number. Considering the number of cats that are strictly indoor or poor hunters or live in areas that do not have a lot of prey, that would mean all the rest of the cats are killing something every day or so. Color me skeptical.

[speedkilz88]

Originally Posted by TheCount

lol, Cat owners. You guys are selective of hearing if nothing else.

I wouldn't call myself a cat person. I just call this a stupid argument.

[TheCount]

Originally Posted by speedkilz88

I wouldn't call myself a cat person. I just call this a stupid argument.

Of course, it's stupid if you refuse to read it. Vermin aren't the only animals being killed.

Originally Posted by burmafrd

Billions? They kill billions? Excuse me while I show serious doubt of that number. Considering the number of cats that are strictly indoor or poor hunters or live in areas that do not have a lot of prey, that would mean all the rest of the cats are killing something every day or so. Color me skeptical.

Did you even read the article?

[jobberone]

I wouldn't trust those numbers but I don't know for certain they aren't valid.

[vta]

What about Lynx's?

[Lonestar94]

Originally Posted by vta

What about Lynx's?

I have a baby lynx and let him outside all the time.

[vta]

Originally Posted by Lonestar94

I have a baby lynx and let him outside all the time.

No kidding? They are generally wild animals and I wonder if they're factored into the equation as well.