Unlike Sylvester and Tweety, Cats Usually Get Their Birds--Up to 3.7 Billion of Them

SUFFERIN' SUCCOTASH: Although habitat loss as a result of human encroachment is a primary threat to birds and wildlife of all kinds, outdoor cats, counting both pets and feral animals, no doubt exacerbate the problem. Image: iStockPhoto                             Outdoor cats, counting both pets and feral animals, also nab up to 20 billion other small mammals yearly.   EarthTalk® is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine.  Dear EarthTalk:   I understand that pet cats prey on lots of birds and other "neighborhood" wildlife, but isn't it cruel to force felines to live indoors only? And isn’t human encroachment the real issue for bird populations, not a few opportunistic cats?—Jason Braunstein, Taos, N.M.
While it is true that habitat loss as a result of human encroachment is a primary threat to birds and wildlife of all kinds, outdoor cats are no doubt exacerbating the loss of biodiversity as their numbers swell and they carry on their instinctual business of hunting.
The Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Peter Marra estimates that outdoor cats in the United States, counting both pets and feral animals, kill up to 3.7 billion birds each year—along with up to 20 billion other small mammals. Researchers estimate that roughly 114 million cats live in the contiguous U.S., 84 million of them pets and the rest feral—and that as many as 70 percent of pet cats spend some time roaming outside and hunting...Continue reading...