Posted on 09/28/2018 6:13:23 AM PDT by C19fan
Feral cats fail to fulfil their role as rat controllers in New York City, new research reveals.
Cats (Felis catus) are often released in New York in the belief that they will make a dent on the city’s centuries-old rat problem. However, a study of the two species in the mean streets of Gotham reviewed 306 videos of cat-rat interactions over a 79-day period and found that just two – yes, two – rodents lost their lives.
In contrast, earlier research from the US suggests that feral cats are likely the single greatest source of anthropogenic mortality for US birds and mammals. In Australia, a 2017 review on cat predation on birds estimated that they consume up to a million native birds per day.
(Excerpt) Read more at cosmosmagazine.com ...
Hawks are actually more adept at rat catching than cats.
Maybe pigeons just taste better
We’re going to need a bigger cat.
Forget cats. Too lazy. Hire Rat Terriers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2Pyu-Cj0gg&frags=pl%2Cwn
Breed rat killers.
But I've never seen a rat or mouse flavor on the shelves. I'd say breed red-tailed hawks instead. But how are you going to get them in the subway?
I’ve seen some big ass rats there. Kids take sticks and chase and kill rats for fun. They corner them and beat them to death. They don’t get them all however. Some of the more bad ass rats charge head long back at the kids. It’s pretty good fun to watch them scatter. Kind of like Rooster Cogburn.
The rats are much smarter than the cats.
Release German Shorthairs. They will take care of the rats and the cats.
“I don’t bother chasin’ mice around.....”
A full-grown rat’s incisors can often hold its own against a cat. Cats are good mousers, not great rat-catchers. There’s a reason people bred rat terriers.
Screech, barn, and even great horned owls do well in suburbs, I wonder if they could make it in urban areas. Seems like the bird of prey that does best in big cities is the peregrine falcon - lots of pigeons to hunt, and high-rises are the next-best thing to mountain cliffs for nesting.
Rat Terriers have hyper energy and overwhelming prey drive, and will take out a large population of rats in an amazingly short period of time.
As a cat owner (or more aptly as one owned by cats) I agree with the article.
I’ve watched our own cats just sit and watch mice play. For some reason or another they will go after a bird before a mouse.
I have no experience with rats (thank God), but they are considerably larger and do bite, which may put hesitation into the cat. And their willingness to kill is less likely if they are fed by people.
But I would say that the common rodent rats (Rattus norvegicus & rattus rattus)are not NYC’s biggest problems. The larger rat, democratus scummus, is much more threatening to mankind. The only effective weapon against this larger rat has been Donaldus Maximus.
I searched ‘ferrets used for ratting.’ I guess what some supposedly do is use a combo of ferret to flush rats out of burrows and terriers to kill the rats once they get flushed topside. I would think you would have to get the terriers used to the ferrets, ha.
Freegards
“In New York’s war between cats and rats, the rats win hands down...”
What about the 4 legged rats...we already know the democRATS have the upper hand in the Big Rotten Apple.
“In Australia, a 2017 review on cat predation on birds estimated that they consume up to a million native birds per day.”
I wonder how many cats are predated every day by Australia’s copious supply of poisonous snakes?
I don’t that anything can take out the fierce, nasty, aggressive, rather large rats of New York. They are everywhere. Not sure why they are not poisoning on a mass scale, because they eat mostly from the garbage bins.
We had a rat terrier. Great with kids, high energy, manageable size, but too stupid to catch rats.
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