Feral cats...and the lot

30 May 2009, 00:44

L. David Keith

I recently had the pleasure of watching a lady and her husband from Florida put on their Raptor show here in TN at our annual Renaissance festival. I must say it was a great show watching the various Eagles, Owls, Hawks, Falcons and Kestrels, but what really stunned me is when she told us how many songbirds are killed every day in the US by feral and "outside" house cats: approx., 100,000! I'd never thought about it, but have seen neighborhood cats with birds many times. In some areas it has become a serious problem, and some G&F/DNR departments were beginning to try and educate the public on the harmful effects of leaving your house cat outside. Compared to the house cat, the Barn Owl kills a tremendous amount mice, with one observed pair of Barn Owls bringing 27 mice to their Owlet's within one hour. Pass the word.
LDK

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05 June 2009, 03:50

N. S. Sherlock

If one cannot speak of crat damage control with ied's, remote control vehicles, "eye on the cat" supersonic drones, self-tripping crat eliminators, and perhaps, a crat mortar or two, those involved in the same process with birds of prey should be forbidden the same hunting pleasures. Oh, I can just think the hunting stories, the legends about old "Barney Owly and the midnight threefer" the great exploits of the Eagles of the desert, and indeed, The New York City osprey that liked kittens. It just ain't fair. I'm turning ya in for crat hate crimes. N. S.

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18 December 2009, 14:30

JBrown

quote:
Originally posted by L. David Keith:
what really stunned me is when she told us how many songbirds are killed every day in the US by feral and "outside" house cats: approx., 100,000!
LDK

I have seen the ads on TV. My only question is, who cares? Do we have a shortage of birds?

Every time my cat kills a bird she brings it to show us. As soon as I say, "good job Tuences" she gets down to eating it. If it is a hummingbird she downs it in one bite.

I envy my cats hunting skills.

Jason

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18 December 2009, 15:58

crowrifle

quote:
I have seen the ads on TV. My only question is, who cares? Do we have a shortage of birds?

Every time my cat kills a bird she brings it to show us. As soon as I say, "good job Tuences" she gets down to eating it. If it is a hummingbird she downs it in one bite.

I envy my cats hunting skills.

Jason

Dumb fuck, do we have a shortage of cats? Everytime I kill a cat my friends envy my hunting skills. All my fiends say good job Crowrifle as I sling it in the woods. If it is a kitten I can usually sling it a 100 yards or more.

29 January 2010, 02:54

0X0

Hunting is entirely instinctual in any meat eating animal. I had my cat jump off the desk, run across the room and swat at a sock, sticking out of the drawer.

Birds kill songbirds, a lot. Crows harass other birds. Outside the window here, there's a Bald Eagle in the tree at the top of the ridge. He's hunting.

The feral cats here come and go. The vet says it's likely Great Horned Owls that get them more than the coyotes.

The Great Wheel of Life.

29 January 2010, 21:45

GrayDuck

According to this it's hundreds of millions of birds and a billion small mammals. Not sure how accurate it is. One time on ESPN Outdoors they had a trivia question regarding how many song birds where killed a year by feral/outdoor cats and they quoted it as a billion a year.

http://www.abcbirds.org/abcpro...erials/predation.pdf

If you want a cat in your house fine but the only good outside cat is a dead one. Some states, like Wisconsin, allow people to shoot cats as long as they aren't collared and so far from a house etc not sure the exact details.

"The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry" - Robert Burns

13 December 2011, 04:33

Phatman

I was given a written warning by the police department for catching ferel cats and delivering them to the animal control office.
In Austin Texas (thank God I moved) it is considered harrasment to trap the cats.
If Animal Control does pick them up, they are spayed and released.

I discovered that a blunt arrow out of a good bow ends the problem quickly.

Cheers, John