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Observation or thought.

J

JayinNY

Well-known Member
I posted below about a grouse living in the woods, go get the mail after words and get my conservationist magazine. They have an article in it about keeping your cats inside because they kill 1 billion birds are year? First off how do they get these statistics? I have seen piles of feathers in the barns, of birds barn cats got, but what really interested me was, I guess I never gave it any thought, how does a cat get a bird? Seeing as birds can fly, iv never seen a cat in action actually getting a bird, must be something. I wonder if they have statistics on how many mice cats kill! Lol
 
I always question when they just throw out numbers like that. Do you suppose they go around the country checking on how many cats are loose, and how many birds they kill? Makes you wonder where they get these numbers from. I think it is more for the shock value coupled with the probability that few are likely to call them out on it.
 
Your post reminds me of this picture posted on Tales not long ago.
a213198.jpg
 
I agree Jim, were do they come up with these numbers? As you said it's probably a guess for the shock value, well I got there message loud and clear, I'm gonna let my cat outside? Lol, no she has to be an indoor cat not because of the birds, but the cars. I do feed the song birds, as I like watching them at the feeder.
a213199.jpg
 
Jay,
I have a big ol' yeller Maine coon cat and he catches lots of animals.
He catches plenty of birds; matter of fact, he caught a Chickadee yesterday. He likes to bring stuff in the house and once in a while I can get a bird away from him before he kills it. We have one of his escapees coming to the feeder...we call him "stubby' because boots got his tailfeathers. They are growing back in tho.
Another thing that cats catch a lot of are flying squirrels; I never realized there were so many because they are nocturnal.
Your calico cat looks a little like mine...she is beautiful but has no personality at all. She goes outside but has never caught a thing.
32488.jpg
32489.jpg
 
Times like this make me wish I had paid more attention. It's been several years but soon after this statistic was released, I read an article about it in a magazine. I can't recall the name of the magazine, it was one of good repute, the likes of Outdoor Life or Field and Stream. The magazine authors challenged the people who came up with the statistic and found they could not support it with facts. The outrageous number was created from nothing more than guesses, interpolation of guesses and hearsay all massaged with statistical analysis skewed to produce the answer they wanted.
I have never heard of anyone else questioning the number. "Research" like this is what makes good news.
 
Seen a ad in a newspaper that if you donate 60 cents a day it will keep the animals from starving. Showed a picture of a cat. A cat is one animal that left out side will survive. If it don't, it needs to be out of the gene pool anyway.
 
Oh wow that cat in the last pic is beautiful, there
was one at my friends farm were I got my cat the
one I posted a pic of, she was the same calico
colors as yours., I named her fuzz ball in 2009, I
don't see her there now, I kinda wish I took her
home too. Thanks for nice pics. My cat that passed
away, and my cat I have now,
a213202.jpg

a213203.jpg
 
A neighbor had an "attack cat"....it would jump anyone that came by except the lady of the house. Was all claws & teeth!
 
I would bet that cars kill more birds every year than cats ever will. Cats could never take down a hawk or owl, but cars kill them by the dozen every day.
 
watched a cat catch a bird once. A flock of sparrows was on the ground under a set of steps going to an apartment. Steps were wood & there was no vertical board connecting the steps, just open space. Cat started his stalk from under the upstairs porch, slowly closing the distance between them, then rushed them. All they had to do to escape was fly between the steps but they didn't & the cat evidently knew they wouldn't. As the flock rose upward, limited by the steps, the cat leaped & with one paw snagged a bird out of the air. I was 10 yrs old at the time & gained a new respect for 'dumb' animals.
 
Lot of people don't know how high a cat can jump straight up in the air, flatfooted. I've seen a cat catch a mockingbird. The cat just laid down in the yard and the mockingbird, who probably had a nest nearby (though not necessarily--mockingbirds hate cats, just like they do crows) showed up. When the bird made one of its dive-bombing runs, SPROING! goes the cat and the bird's a goner.
 
That cat kind of looks like one of my aunts (by marriage). Won't get into any details about that now.
 
(quoted from post at 23:48:26 02/01/16) I agree Jim, were do they come up with these numbers? As you said it's probably a guess for the shock value, well I got there message loud and clear, I'm gonna let my cat outside? Lol, no she has to be an indoor cat not because of the birds, but the cars. I do feed the song birds, as I like watching them at the feeder.
a213199.jpg
Click to expand...

Shoes off, feet up in a recliner, in the garage... wow, I hate to think of myself as the jealous type, but I like how you live. Looks like you got one huge lap blanket as well!
 
Cats are an invasive species. One of the absolute worst. But make a post about this and all the cat owners shy away from the reality and say how cute and cuddly their puddy tat is. It's a shame.
Yes they are decimating our bird populations. I don't know if it is billions or just many millions of them each year.
Stray and feral cats need to be eradicated. But anytime they try to do anything about it the cat people go nuts.
This world will be a poorer place with out the songbirds.
And cat owners are to blame.
google search
 
Saw one of my sisters cats jump up and catch a bluejay off the bird feeder about 5' off the ground, jay was lucky she lost her grip when she hit the ground. Also look at how many birds are killed in window strikes, people went around and picked up dead birds in one city and it was a lot.
 
Chances are if a cat is killing a bird in a barn, it is either an English sparrow of Rock Dove (pigeon). In that case, the cat is doing you a favor. Those birds are invasive and have no legal protection. However if he stalks by your bird feeder he may take a more valuable neo-tropic bird. I have 2 young cats that sit by my feeder, but the birds are up to their tricks and have learned to avoid them. Mainly they skulk the gray squirrels. But the squirrels are also savvy to their ways. Actually, it is a game they both play. The squirrels entice the cats to chase them which , although coming close sometimes, it is always the squirrels who scramble to higher reaches of the tree, and levies some fine squirrel cuss words at his opponent.
 
I'd wager most of the "stray or feral" cats are someone's barn cat and not a stray at all. As much as I dislike cats, they are needed around any farm for critter control. I also must respectfully disagree with this current PC stuff about cats being the danger to wildlife that all the greenie-weenies say they are. Nothing more than the soup of the day for the "save the baby flies" wannabes until the they move on to the next "in" cause. I believe my old biology teacher used the phrase, "natural selection". Once a cat catches one or two sparrows or barn swallows, they'll never catch another one all year. The few birds I have seen our cats drag in certainly hasn't harmed the population around here any and the cats sure have reduced the rabbit damage to my garden and the chipmunk and squirrel damage around the buildings. Oh and by the way, the more dirty, filthy pigeons they kill the better. All this "feral" cat thing really amounts to is a convenient sideshow to further the cause of the anti-pets/anti-animal use crowd.
 

I have to disagree with the "cats don't kill" crowd. Our, (mu wife and kids) cats bring in birds all year round, we've seen them wipe out chicks and they bring in baby Cottontails regularly. Cats, if let outside, hunt. It's what they do. As far as I'm concerned if you're going to own a cat and let it outside, it should have to be licensed just like a dog. I have no doubt they kill just as much as the Conservationist magazine says, or more. The only good thing about coyotes is their love of feral cat for supper IMO.

FYI- I might feel a bit less strongly about cats if the Townies would stop dropping their pregnant, filthy felines off out here for me to feed, spay and neuter. I'd shoot the feakin' things but the resultant divorce would outweigh any possible benefit to my mood or wildlife.
 

This is why I love being here. I love to see stuff like this and I love to see someone living the good life. What else can you ask for? Maybe a TV? Maybe a fridge in reach? You are doing life right. The rest of us are just trying. You are doing it!
 
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