Cat Predation has Tremendous Impact

Cat Predation has a Tremendous Impact on Wild Bird Populations

Green Living- Reprinted from the July 2009 Sardinia Standard

By Jay Burney


Let me start out by saying that I am a cat person. That is as opposed to a dog person. I love cats. Nothing against dogs, they are fine, I have had dogs, but they are just not my favorite animal. Cats have been my companions and my pets of choice all of my life.

Late one bitter night last winter, a stray cat showed up at my rural door at Protection Farm. There are lots of feral cats in my neighborhood, perhaps a couple dozen visible daily along Miller Road. This one, a young jet black male cat recognized me as a species that it could adopt. It must be part of its genetic make up. Humans and cats have been co-dependent for a very long time. This cat is a very beautiful and pleasant animal with a magnetic and loving personality. It held nothing back and insisted that I pay attention. It was seeking shelter and compassion and it was willing to give its love. It was a very young cat and we decided to feed it. It came into the house which sent shock waves through our other two housecats. It wanted to stay. We knew that we faced a choice and that any actions would have consequences. We have a piece of property that we think of as a nature sanctuary. We love birds and other wildlife. We know that cats can be destructive of that kind of investment. Our two resident “inside” cats convinced us right away that we didn’t want another inside cat. \

And so the bargain that we struck with ourselves was that we would encourage the new one to be a barn cat as much as possible. In this decision we combined out compassion with idiocy and wishful thinking. We did fall in love with the creature, but we let it inside only on bitter nights. To make a long story short, here it is in June and the beautiful little black kitty which we have named snowball still lives with us.

A nature sanctuary, birds and small mammals, and a cat, cannot coexist. We enjoy birds, small mammals, insects and other wildlife. We feed them, garden for them, and build nest boxes for them. I take photos of them, many of which appear in this newspaper. This spring we had two pairs of bluebirds nesting in boxes we built, a pair of tree swallows, a pair of kingbirds, woodcocks in the field, and several other dozens of wild species. As I write a pair of bobolinks are chatting it up outside my window no doubt making plans and building a ground nest.

Until a few days ago snowball was an outside cat. As winter receded and spring progress I have had the pleasure of observing his hunting skills. It is a good mouser. It is proud of this and presents us with certain gifts, some still living. Early in the spring when the mouse population apparently declined, he moved onto voles. That was ok with me, because they did a bit of destruction to our lawns. Then I noticed that our rabbit population had all but disappeared. For a few days Snowball even stalked and hunted the digger bees that have a huge sand nest. He cheerfully devoured them without any apparent harm. And then he began taking chipmunks. The almost last straw to my self denial was when he presented me with a very much alive wide eyed baby chipmunk. I rescued and released it much to the, I assume, appreciation of its noisy parents which had followed Snowball and his treasure to the bench upon which I was sitting.
When the migrating birds started coming through and started to make nests I grew increasingly distressed. I asked around if anyone wanted a cat. I contacted the vet about getting the cat neutered but complications in my schedule prevented my action on this. Bluebirds were here early. Two pairs each laid four eggs in nest boxes we had constructed. They all hatched. Today Snowball is living in my basement

Because
According to the USFWS we have over 60 million housecats as pets in the USA. In addition there are feral cats that are uncounted. Each year it is estimated that in the USA, hundreds of millions of migratory songbirds are killed by cats. In 1990, researchers estimated that cats were responsible for killing nearly 78 million small mammals and birds annually in the United Kingdom. The University of Wisconsin issued a study that said as many as 150 million songbirds are killed annually in Wisconsin by cats. A Study done by Point Reyes, California researchers estimates that as many as 4.4 million songbirds may be killed daily in the U.S. by cat predation.
Housecats are not native to North America and therefore cat predation here is not a natural act that helps promote a balance of nature. The introduction of cats to North America was the introduction of an invasive species. And so if we are concerned with biodiversity, we have to be concerned about cats and cat predation.


What Can You Do?

-Putting a bell on your cat is practically useless in terms of cat predation. Wildlife does not necessarily recognize a bell sound as a danger sign. Many cats learn to stalk quietly even when wearing a bell. If the cat goes after a nest box, or a ground nest full of baby birds, the bell won’t mean much.

-Feral cats multiply exponentially. Make sure to neuter or spay any cats that lay claim to you.

-Keep your cats inside, especially during bird nesting season and especially during late spring, early summer when many of our wild birds are having their initial broods. Barncats are useful and helpful. But it is important to know that they will prey on songbirds, other small mammals, and other valuable creatures.

-Do not feed outdoor cats with the expectation that this will diminish hunting. This will not work. It may attract more cats which increases predator density.

-Support local pet clinics and shelters. The feral cat population in is way out of control and these valuable organizations and agencies play a big role in helping to protect our biodiversity.

Return to the Farm

I started this post to have an online place to put my regular, or semi regular journal writings about my and my families life at Protection Farm, where we have been living for a little over two years.  Often I find myself writing beyond the geographical boundaries of Protection Farm, or about wider issues. I will post those pieces here as I see fit.  I also publish and write for a newspaper The Sardinia Standard" and I will occasionally post stories from that publication here as well. For instance, the previous post about strawberries came from the June 2008 Standard.

I have just returned from a week or so in Costa Rica and am beginning to think through how to write about what I saw there.  Its not Sardinia, but it is me. You will see postings in the next few days and weeks about the fantastic, beautiful, unusual, experiences that we had there.

Today, at PF, it is raining. Apparently it has been raining since we left.  The gardens here are green and not dried and parched as I feared they would be when we were in the highland cloud forests of Monteverde.  And we have a second brood of bluebirds. The first thing I did was check the bluebird boxes and the five eggs have turned into five fuzzy little chicks.  They will probably fledge in about a week. Mom and dad bluebird remain, for the moment, calm and friendly. I know from experience that in the 48 or so hours surrounding the actual fledge, they will become frantic, aggressive, and very pointed in their attention to whomever approaches the nest box.  On friday, which is in two more days, we are having a large party here for Alpha, Jonna's sister, whom is having a baby.  Besides having to find a way to mow the lawn which has grown a couple of inches since I left for Costa Rica, I hope that we can find a way not to have any incidents with dive bombing protective bluebirds.