Study: Kitties kill 500 million birds, should be regulated

washingtonexaminer ^ | 8/6/12 | Paul Bedard

[ColdOne]

Pet kitties and their wild feral relatives kill a shocking 500 million birds and over 3 billion other animals according to new studies, prompting a leading Washington-based bird protection group to demand that local governments order their dog catchers to snag cats too.

One disturbing new study is based on evidence from "KittyCams" strapped on to 60 outdoor pet cats in Athens, Ga. The results: They each averaged 2.1 "kills" a week. Just 13 percent were birds, the rest voles, lizards, chipmunks, frogs and small snakes.

Based on the joint University of Georgia-National Geographic study of pet cats and another of feral cats from the University of Nebraska, the American Bird Conservancy said over 4 billion birds and animals are killed yearly by the felines, four-times the previous estimate. The group blames the extinction of some birds on the killer cats. "Cat predation is one of the reasons why one in three American bird species are in decline," said George Fenwick of the conservancy.

While it would be hard to get cat owners to keep their pets inside, the group wants cat lovers and local governments to stop coddling feral cats and round them up.

"Wildlife are being slaughtered and so often community leaders only seem to express concern for the cats," conservancy spokesman Robert Johns told Secrets.

[null and void]

The last time a society tried to exterminate cats (as witches’ familiars) the Black Death visited Europe...

[OrangeHoof]

Liberals: “We can’t stop teens from having sex. They’re going to do it anyway.”

Liberals: “...But we can regulate cats from hunting prey.”

[null and void]

The last time a society tried to exterminate cats (as witches’ familiars) the Black Death visited Europe...

[jessduntno]

You mean they are just now learning about the kittehs?

Heh heh ... got one at home will leave a “present” for us every day. And there ain’t a lizard with a tail anywhere in a five mile radius.

[Emperor Palpatine]

Serves the damn birds right. They wait til I’m done washing my car then they hit it with bird guano like a squadron of dive bombers.

Maybe I’ll have to get me a cat.........

[null and void]

I didn’t double post, that was history repeating itself...

[cripplecreek]

I got Jack Russells and we support blaming the cats.

[Anoreth]

If I let her Piper could probably average about 5 rabbits an hour.
And with some training, I could probably get her to flush pigeons.

[Libloather]

should be regulated

The birds or the cats?

[DallasDeb]

So, how many insects did the birds kill?

[rockvillem]

Think of all the rats and mice that are killed in by those evil barn cats. Oh, the senseless slaughter.

Went to the web site of this bird advocacy group looking for where they stand on windmills (well-known bird shredders) - naturally they support them because it helps prevent the threat of “global warming”. You just can’t make this stuff up with these loons.

[ColdOne]

ping

[DallasDeb]

The natural food chain, right?

[Cyman]

Guns don’t kill.
Kitties do.

Register all felines!!!!!!

[Marie]

That’s what I was thinking. Cats keep down pests and vermin.

Last time I checked, that was a good thing.

Can you imagine how overrun we’d be with mice and rats without cats?

[nascarnation]

Once we get enough wind turbines cranking, we won’t need cats to kill the birds.

Then we can hire unemployed college grads to harvest the shredded poultry downstream to feed to the starving victims of the Baraqqi depression.

[FLAMING DEATH]

And yet, there are still thousands of birds flying around, building nests in my trees and dive-bombing the wife’s car with feces.

Somehow, life goes on.

[USMCPOP]

I occasionally rescue a bird or a lizard from the cats and set them free. Now it makes me wonder if I could be in violation of wildlife laws that prohibit the possession or transport of wild animals, even though I’m taking them from in the house out to the yard. YIKES!

[ConorMacNessa]

Cats kill birds? Whoda thunk it? Oh, the humanity!

We have a feral cat who showed up on our doorstep several years ago that we have been more or less able to domesticate. He goes out frequently for several hours at a time. We have no idea how many or what kinds of animals he dipatches, but we find no rats roaming our neighborhood. This was not the case before his arrival.

Haven't these people ever heard of the Circle of Life?



Genuflectimus non ad principem sed ad Principem Pacis!

Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)

[MagUSNRET]

OK....FIRST: WHO authorized the $$ for this stupid arse study?

2: What blithering idiot does not recognize an animal searching for FOOD!? They do not kill for the fun of it!

3. Are the same people with their knickers in a twist about cats killing birds, the SAME ones that are OK with abortion????

They are damned IDIOTS asnd the worse IDIOTA S are those that ALLOW these horsechit “studies” to go on.

I rest my case

[ColdOne]

LOL!

[Marie]

LMAO!! I wish I could ‘like’ a post here! lol!

[mardi59]

Burrrp! That last liberal just hit the spot.

[wbill]

Liberals: “...But we can regulate cats from hunting prey.”

Classic. When I was a kid, we lived on a river. Our cat used to leave a trail of dead river rats behind him when he went hunting. I didn't see anyone complain. "Better dead down there, than live and in my house", approximately, was the opinion.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

LOL, what a great article. This whole country is nuts.

[cripplecreek]

What woodchuck?

[Slings and Arrows]

---

[stormer]

Two issues: Domestic and feral cats are not native to the Americas; pet cats are generally well fed - they hunt instinctually and don’t consume their prey. Nothing natural about it.

[Buckeye McFrog]

next up, a series of tax credits for Chinese restaurants

[Bon mots]

They also spread toxoplasmosis

[workerbee]

[nomodem]

I got Jack Russells and we support blaming the cats.

Ditto - me and my Min Pins !!!

[Sir Napsalot]

Of course they are (re: windmills). Nobody ever says they are logical. But they FEEL.

[rockinqsranch]

This is what happens when drugs are involved with impaired, Liberal minds. The drugs accentuate their impairment, and make everything exaggerated.

My studied, and extremely humble opinion :)

[CatherineofAragon]

So what’s next? Re-education camps for cats? Sensitivity training, instructions on tolerance toward birds and other small animals?

Cats, big and small, are nature’s perfect killers. Dey iz skilled at teh art. Not much to be done about that.

[CatherineofAragon]

So what’s next? Re-education camps for cats? Sensitivity training, instructions on tolerance toward birds and other small animals?

Cats, big and small, are nature’s perfect killers. Dey iz skilled at teh art. Not much to be done about that.

[DannyTN]

Top Ways to regulate Cats:

• Make Cats report their kills each week.
• Make Cats redistribute their kills each week.
• Make Cats buy an annual kill license.
• Make Cats wait 7 days for a kill license.
• Make Cats attend mandatory classes.
• Desegregate Cats and Birds
• Mice under 500 grams must be thrown back.
• Birds under 1 oz must be thrown back.
• Limit of 2 kills per week.
• Implement cat 1 child policy.
• Import more Asian restaurants.

[Kriggerel]

Jeez, not this again...

I’ve never understood just why it is that the “experts” who put forth this particular argument don’t take the time to consider that small cats exist to fulfill a certain ecological niche?

Maybe, just maybe, before domestic cats were brought to North America, bobcats were eating just as many of those poor little birdies and micies? I’ve always maintained that in populated areas, domestic cats have merely filled the bobcat’s ecological niche.

I also believe that if we were indeed to eliminate domestic cats (as some of the more radical proponents of this particular argument have proposed), we’d simply see more bobcats moving into populated areas. Nature abhors a vacuum.

And the only reason we don’t keep bobcats as pets is that as they mature, they’re easily ten times the sprayers that domestics are, and even neuter/spay doesn’t stop them from doing it.

[CatherineofAragon]

Sorry bout that....new laptop, VERY sensitive touchpad.

[workerbee]

The group blames the extinction of some birds on the killer cats.

I guess global warming is losing some of its caché.

[Slicksadick]

Wait until they run the numbers on birds killed running into plate glass windows...
http://www.mnn.com/your-home/at-home/stories/window-glass-silent-bird-killer
A billion a year in North America alone.

[American in Israel]

Perhaps we could put up little federaly mandated signs telling cats not to eat birds. Then we could spend a few billion on a new government department trying to teach cats to read.

[Flag_This]

"Domestic and feral cats are not native to the Americas... Nothing natural about it."

Sucks to be a bird. Adapt or die.

[BenLurkin]

BTTT

[ontap]

huh!! Fat chance!!!

[American in Israel]

Jerusalem is overrun by feral cats, so one year they rounded them all up. Next year they were overrun by feral rats.

Now they leave the cats alone.

Not everything in Nature needs to be screwed with.

[TASMANIANRED]

That worked out so well the first time around.

EPA is banning rodenticides.

Catch and release program for rats in MD.

I’m seeing a pattern.

[mardi59]

Kitty/Bird lovefest. Birdie wakes his friend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sumn6flhNtg

[MarkL]

Oh my goodness! Are you telling me that predators are killing prey animals? On no, we must intervene and establish social justice between predators and prey!

Mark