Designer invents a cat collar which he claims could save the lives of 55 million birds in the UK

The Mail Online reports that Philip Yorke, 82, has designed a cat collar which he believes might be very effective in protecting British birds. This is important. It’s important because of all the animals that domestic and stray cats hunt, the bird is the most precious to the British public. They don’t like it. Given the chance they would do something about it.

Cat killing what appears to be a magpie
Cat killing what appears to be a magpie. Image: MikeB (Canva license).

There have been attempts to protect birds with cat products. One of which is the most effective: a brightly coloured collar. Philip Yorke’s device is also a attached to a collar but it works by sensors detecting the position and movement of the cat.

RELATED: Noticeable, brightly coloured, cat collar protects birds from cat predation (47 – 54% reduction)

When the device detects that the cat is taking up an attack position and is moving in a way which indicates that they are about to pounce on a prey animal, the collar emits the sound of a blackbird or a hawk or I hope some other raptor (a predatory bird) which Yorke hopes will instantly scare away the bird about to be attacked.

Mr Yorke observed – as millions of cat owners have – that when domestic cats are about to attack an animal they crouch low to creep forward in stealth mode to approach as close as possible to the prey animal. This collar can detect this motion and positioning I understand.

Mr Yorke said: “Until now, cat owners were forced to use bells or bibs when trying to stop their pets killing birds. But there is a new, unique and harmless way of preventing this behaviour.”

Note: the bib is another ungainly device to stop predation.

Bells on collars are not very effective because the cat wearing the bell learns to prevent it ringing! The brightly coloured collar I mention above is about 50% effective which is very good. They look a little bit silly though.

Mr Yorke’s collar is called BirdSonic. It’s in the last stages of development. They have a website which is a single page waiting to be enlarged. The business is called Catsonic International Limited was founded in 2016. The device took many years of research and development.

They say that they are at a critical stage in development. The product has been patented. The device is in the final stage of development.

RELATED: 8 ways to have an indoor/outdoor cat and feed birds without jeopardizing the birds

Leave a Comment

follow it link and logo