On birds and cats

Understanding that I'm about to annoy and probably anger some of you, the following information about cats is important reading for anyone interested in birds. It was sent to me by Lisa Moore, editor in chief of The Wildlife Professional.

Cats are not native to North America. They're actually an invasive species, brought here by settlers from Europe long, long ago. It takes native wildlife many generations to adapt to non-native intruders. And even if birds had adapted to cats, the number of cats in North America is overwhelming when you consider the conflict. Birds – and other native wildlife species – don't have a chance. The solution is to keep cats indoors, and to stop releasing unwanted cats to fend for themselves. Here is what Ms. Moore has to say:

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Anyone who has ever owned an outdoor cat knows that cats kill wildlife. It's in their nature. Whether hungry or not they'll stalk and pounce, killing their prey and, often, depositing the corpses on doorsteps like hard-won trophies. Pet owners may throw away the victims with a twinge of guilt, then convince themselves that one little cat can't possibly make a difference in the balance of nature. It's time to think again.

"Allowing free-ranging pet and feral cats to roam outside, breed unchecked, kill native wildlife, and spread disease is a crime against nature," says Michael Hutchins, Executive Director/CEO of The Wildlife Society (TWS). As North America's largest scientific organization for professionals in wildlife management and conservation, TWS is taking a strong stand in favor of keeping pet cats indoors and removing feral cats from the environment to protect wildlife from cat predation.

As part of this effort, the Spring 2011 issue of the Society's magazine, The Wildlife Professional, has just released a package of articles titled "In Focus: The Impacts of Free-Roaming Cats." These articles explore the widespread negative impacts of outdoor, stray, and feral cats on wildlife, habitats, and human and animal health. Consider:

• By some estimates, outdoor cats in the U.S. kill more than one million birds every day on average. Some studies put the death toll as high as one billion birds per year. Other studies show that cats kill about twice as many rodents, reptiles, and other small animals.

• Cats can spread rabies, toxoplasmosis, typhus, plague, and numerous other viral and parasitic disease s to other wildlife and humans. By 2008, the number of rabies cases in cats was approximately four times the number of cases in dogs.

* Now the most abundant carnivore in North America, domestic cats are not even native to this continent, instead descending from wild cats native to the Middle East. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature labels domestic cats as one of the "world's worst" invasive species, predators that can devastate native wildlife populations, particularly on islands and in fragmented urban habitats.

Trap-Neuter-Release is NOT the Answer

Growing numbers of cities and towns across the nation are adopting trap-neuter-release (TNR) programs to manage overabundant populations of stray, feral, and abandoned cats. In outdoor TNR "colonies," cats receive food, water, and shelter. Many are trapped, sterilized, vaccinated, and returned to the colony, where they're free to prey on wildlife at will. Proponents of TNR claim that this approach will eventually reduce the numbers of unclaimed outdoor cats, but research shows otherwise. TNR colonies often become dumping grounds for unwanted pets, and because it's impossible to sterilize and vaccinate all feral cats in an area, populations may remain stable or rise. In turn these colonies attract other wildlife, such as raccoons and skunks, expanding the threat of disease transmission and human-wildlife conflict.

Since the science is clear about the harm associated with outdoor cats, why do people let cats roam free? The answer lies in human hearts. Much-beloved as pets, cats intrigue, amuse, and captivate, winning champions who go to great lengths (and expense) to advocate on cats' behalf. Wildlife conservationists who oppose TNR often find themselves unable to budge passionate cat advocates, who lobby persuasively for TNR and against any kind of ordinance to curtail outdoor cat populations. Lawmakers will often go along with the cat advocates, as was the case last year when commissioners in Athens, Georgia, adopted a TNR program against the advice of a host of wildlife conservationists and veterinarians.

Wildlife suffer from outdoor cats, but so do the cats themselves. "Cats left outdoors have short life spans and often experience cruel and painful deaths from collisions with vehicles, coyote predation, and disease," says TWS' Hutchins. "Misdirected compassion and support of ineffective TNR management by cat advocacy groups is actually resulting in vastly more animal suffering, rather than less. It is high time that our society addresses this significant and growing environmental, human health, and animal welfare problem."

To help educate policymakers and the public about this issue, TWS has created five Fact Sheets about stray, feral, and outdoor cats. Perhaps by understanding the impacts of outdoor cats, people on all sides of the issue will begin to develop solutions that not only benefit cats, but also the native wildlife we hope to conserve.