KittyCam Reveals High Levels Of Wildlife Being Killed By Outdoor Cats
Monday, August 06, 2012

KittyCam Reveals High Levels Of Wildlife Being Killed By Outdoor Cats

A new study of house cats allowed to roam outdoors finds that nearly one-third succeeded in capturing and killing animals. The cats, which wore special video cameras around their necks that recorded their outdoor activities, killed an average of 2.1 animals every week they were outside, but brought less than one of every four of their kills home. Of particular interest, bird kills constituted about 13 percent of the total wildlife kills. Based on these results, American Bird Conservancy and The Wildlife Society estimate that house cats kill far more than the previous estimate of a billion birds and other animals each year.

The study was carried out by scientists from the University of Georgia and the National Geographic Society's Crittercam program.

“The results were certainly surprising, if not startling,” said Kerrie Anne Loyd of the University of Georgia, who was the lead author of the study. “In Athens-Clarke County, we found that about 30 percent of the sampled cats were successful in capturing and killing prey, and that those cats averaged about one kill for every 17 hours outdoors or 2.1 kills per week. It was also surprising to learn that cats only brought 23 percent of their kills back to a residence. We found that house cats will kill a wide variety of animals, including: lizards, voles, chipmunks, birds, frogs, and small snakes.”

Ms. Loyd and her colleagues attached small video cameras (dubbed Crittercams or KittyCams) to 60 outdoor house cats in the city of Athens, Ga., and recorded their outdoor activities during all four seasons. Ms. Loyd said the cats were outside for an average of 5-6 hours every day.

“If we extrapolate the results of this study across the country and include feral cats, we find that cats are likely killing more than four billion animals per year, including at least 500 million birds. Cat predation is one of the reasons why one in three American bird species are in decline,” said Dr. George Fenwick, president of American Bird Conservancy, the only organization exclusively conserving birds throughout the Americas.

“I think it will be impossible to deny the ongoing slaughter of wildlife by outdoor cats given the videotape documentation and the scientific credibility that this study brings,” said Michael Hutchins, executive director/CEO of The Wildlife Society, the leading organization for wildlife professionals in the United States. “There is a huge environmental price that we are paying every single day that we turn our backs on our native wildlife in favor of protecting non-native predatory cats at all cost while ignoring the inconvenient truth about the mortality they inflict.”

Volunteer cat owners were recruited through advertisements in local newspapers, and all selected cats were given a free health screening. Each cat owner downloaded the footage from the camera at the end of each recording day.

The new study does not include the animals killed by feral cats that have no owners. A University of Nebraska study released last year found that feral cats were responsible for the extinction of 33 species of birds worldwide, that even well fed cats in so-called “managed” cat colonies will kill, that feral cats prey more on native wildlife than on other invasive creatures, and that most feral cats (between 62 and 80 percent) tested positive for toxoplasmosis (a disease with serious implications for pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems).

This study was collaboration between Kerrie Anne Loyd and Dr. Sonia Hernandez from the University of Georgia, and Greg Marshall, Kyler Abernathy, and Barrett Foster of National Geographic’s Remote Imaging Department and was funded in part by the Kenneth Scott Charitable Foundation. For further information, please contact either kloyd@uga.edu or shernz@uga.edu.

View video and photos from the KittyCam at the University of Georgia's website.

www.chattanoogan.com/2012/8/6/...-High-Levels-Of.aspx

quote:

We found that house cats will kill a wide variety of animals

Notice they avoided saying rats and mice.
Rats and mice would have popped their balloon..

Good comment about rats and mice. No doubt that cats do kill some wildlife, but so does habitat loss,pesticides, etc. I have 8 indoor/outdoor rescue cats and have NO intention of giving them up, they are family members. It seems like a simplistic approach to consider cats as the sole cause of a decline in some bird species or other animal species. We have an abundance of birds and squirrels on our property--have not seen a rat in years. If we are highlighting a species that causes environmental havoc, we can start with humans.

jones,
The granola eaters would never admit that farmers plow under many, many birds, snakes, frogs etc in the process of growing food for vegans.

SR4759,
Very true--may they enjoy driving their Prius cars while eating the granola--I like my Chevy pickup. I used a lot of SR4759 over the years for reduced loads--good stuff. Thanks for your comments.

Had two barn cats in WV. Even though I had chickens and kept their feed stored in an out building, I had zero mice/rat problems.
They would knap an occasional bird and squirrel but the birds were getting a free ride from the feeders so I figured it balanced out.
I see this as just another outcome driven bit of "research".

I know that feral cats and house cats allowed outside access can be and are Top Tier predators. North American wildlife evolved with no small feline predators, other than bobcats and lynx, which are larger.

Just one time, before I die, I would like to see the animal rights groups join hands with the state game agecies and USF&WS and study just exactly how much wildlife is killed by automobiles annualy.

quote:

Originally posted by wasbeeman:
Had two barn cats in WV. Even though I had chickens and kept their feed stored in an out building, I had zero mice/rat problems.
They would knap an occasional bird and squirrel but the birds were getting a free ride from the feeders so I figured it balanced out.
I see this as just another outcome driven bit of "research".

And either itentionally or unintentionally, the product of yet another group which wants its share of controlling every single thing its neighbors have or do.

I think those groups should send all this kind of crap to God, along with a formal complaint about how He designed things. (I hope they hold their collective breath until He answers and changes things to how they want them.)

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:
I know that feral cats and house cats allowed outside access can be and are Top Tier predators. North American wildlife evolved with no small feline predators, other than bobcats and lynx, which are larger.

Just one time, before I die, I would like to see the animal rights groups join hands with the state game agecies and USF&WS and study just exactly how much wildlife is killed by automobiles annualy.

I have often wondered how many small animals farmers kill tilling the soil. I remember looking back at a tandem disc just as it plowed under an entire covey of quail chicks. I have also seen rats and mice run down the previous furrow of a breaking plow until they tire and the tractor tire rolls over them - no big loss except for the fox, coyotes and hawks.

I'd be interested in seeing what percentage of the victims are eaten, that would be an interesting statistic IMHO. I do suspect it is pretty high as if say only 10% of animals killed were eaten I'm sure we'd be hearing about it but do they eat 51% or 99% of the animals they kill? When I was growing up we had one momma cat who would bring things (especially snakes) back inside to share with everyone on what seems an almost every other day basis.

With my cats, I'd say it'd be close to 100%. They may bring the varmint to the house to show off and to show you that they're on the job, but mine, after I'd bragged on them, would haul them off and eat them.
A pampered inside cat that is only out for short periods might not eat it's prey but the predator instincts are hard-wired in a cat.

quote:

With my cats, I'd say it'd be close to 100%. They may bring the varmint to the house to show off and to show you that they're on the job, but mine, after I'd bragged on them, would haul them off and eat them.
A pampered inside cat that is only out for short periods might not eat it's prey but the predator instincts are hard-wired in a cat.

From my observations that is pretty accurate.

quote:

Originally posted by Crazyhorseconsulting:

quote:

With my cats, I'd say it'd be close to 100%. They may bring the varmint to the house to show off and to show you that they're on the job, but mine, after I'd bragged on them, would haul them off and eat them.
A pampered inside cat that is only out for short periods might not eat it's prey but the predator instincts are hard-wired in a cat.

From my observations that is pretty accurate.

My Last cat had a definate preference for Cottontailed Rabbits, and when he had one he'd eat part of it and GUARD his kill either until he was hungry again or he finished eating it.

Recently I was pruning a spruce tree in the yard that had branches down to the ground and I found what was obviously a Kitty Condo linws with dried rabit ears and the little puff cotton tail, long with quite a few squirrel tails, basically the only parts he wouldn't eat...

I've found such nests before.

It's not suprising that he'd come inside and look for some "lap time" but would sometimes go two to three weeks without asking to be fed.
and trust me he knew how to ask.

When Rabbits were unavailable he'd generally switch to squirrels

Here on the square in Williamson County I have had the (pleasure?)while working on the R.T.U.'s of being in the HVAC industry + seeing firsthand the cat villages that are erected(?) on this series of roof tops.The entire square is infested + the the people working in the 3rd floor offices have designed a system of a (bent stick w/ bowl; attached to a pole to pass food over the parapet wall.Total feral city .Probably they reside in your town too but only us in the service industry see what really occurs.
For what it's worth; all of my cats now are rescue cats.God knows I have a houseful but I can afford to feed them .At the risk of getting too philisophical
I have found that my fellow hunters are much more attuned to the theory that all life is sacred + what we do when we hunt I have said as well by the deer body that my son's 1st deer was done well( I would'nt give a million bucks for the [HOURS} that it took him to pull the trigger amongst the shaking.Helpful hand hold hint..."When you quit shaking,quit hunting ;you're through.Best wishes to all,R.

My two barn cats were a fixed male and female. The female was the better hunter but the male was quite a bit bigger. When little cat would make a kill, big cat would try to bully it from her so she got into the habit of climbing a large tree with an accomadating tri-fork before dining. It was like a miniture version of a leopard hauling a gazelle up a tree.

The original post is very true.
The wife and I have had cats for many, many years.

When we lived in the city of Dallas, there was a creek and some woodlands behind our house.

Our cats brought in the following animals, some they had killed some that were still alive.

Snakes, mice, crawfish, [for a cat to catch crawfish, they must get not only wet, but somewhat under water I would think, they caught several], many different kinds of birds, including morning doves, and small O'possoms.

Since we have moved to the country our cat has brought in field mice, flying squirrels, moles, and gophers.


ALL cats, even Housecats are very effective, and natural hunters.

Even in one of Elmer Keith's books he makes mention of how many songbirds and gamebirds,domestic cats killed.