Every scientific paper that you read regarding the extinction of native species on small islands in archipelagoes always refer to cats and rats as the top two culprits. One scientific study starts, “Invasive rats are one of the world’s most successful animal groups that cause native species extinctions and ecosystem change, particularly on islands”. And …
Rats or cats? Which is the worst for killing island species? Read More »
Inadvertently and in typical Donald Trump style, he has brought domestic cats into the presidential election campaign. He doesn’t like wind power. He doesn’t like wind turbines for various reasons one of which is that the energy produced by wind turbines is expensive and another is that they messed up the landscape from one of …
Donald Trump brings cats into the presidential election campaign Read More »
Flying kitty from r/gifs My impression is that this bird is a magpie and she is defending her young. I’m not an ornithologist so I am assessing what’s happened as a layperson (update: the magpie is attacking the cat during nesting season). The cat, which looks like a dilute ginger tabby, simply wandered onto the …
Bird attacks domestic cat. Cat makes mighty leap in retaliation. Read More »
Here is a photograph by Jak Wonderly of 232 animals that were injured by cats during 2019 and which could not be saved by a non-profit wildlife hospital based in San Raphael, California, USA: WildCare Animal Hospital. The hospital was able to save 89 of a total of 321 animals that were brought to the …
Domestic cats much prefer mice to birds no matter what source of information you refer to (including personal obesrvations by the cat owning public). In order to assess what, at a fundamental level, domestic cats prefer as prey animals you have to go back to their wild ancestor which is the African-Asian wildcat, otherwise knows …
It’s the bird nest building season (Feb-Aug) and I have just learned that domestic cats can contribute to the welfare of birds which is nice to know considering that ornithologists are annoyed about cats attacking and killing birds. A lady writing to the East Bay Times says that she brushes her cats on a table …
I believe that this display is in a Dutch museum: the Natural History Museum Rotterdam. It is unpleasant. It also over-simplifies the issues of domestic cat predation and as a result misleads. All-in-all not a clever display. The creators of this display probably had the intention of summarising the predation of birds by domestic cats. …
Museum display of stuffed tabby cat next to line of 34 stuffed birds is objectionable Read More »
A couple of Dutch academics, Arie Trouwborst and Han Somsen – the former is an associate professor and the latter a full professor – state that allowing cats to roam outside without supervision by their owner or another person is illegal under European rules for nature protection. That is a dramatic statement. And I firmly …
The National Geographic article originally published in the October 2019 issue of National Geographic magazine with the headline, “To save birds, should be kill off cats?” is poor for a couple of reasons even though it does try and strike a balance. I object, right away, to the phrase “kill off”. This phrase, in the …
National Geographic article “To save birds, should we kill off cats?” is poor Read More »
She also believes that cats are flippant, arrogant and a bit too proud. And you can’t train them. Oh, and she does not like hairless cats. These are the reasons why she doesn’t like cats. So let’s have a discussion about them. Mean Meanness is a lack of generosity or miserliness. How can a cat …
Woman does not like cats because they are really mean, arrogant and flippant Read More »
I think you can break the question down into two separate questions. In my experience, cat owners and people in general are far more concerned about domestic cats preying on birds than they are on mammals such as mice and voles or reptiles and insects. If the question is how can you stop my cat …
Tony Duckett, the conservation officer for Royal Parks in London, who is in charge of Regent Park’s rare birds, says that pet cats in the UK should not be allowed to roam freely because they kill 500,000 birds weekly. In Britain we say that the UK follows the USA on cultural trends so perhaps he …
Lock cats in the home in the UK says parks expert Read More »
I am sure that I’m going to give cat haters and ornithologists ammunition to criticise me and domestic cats. But I have an answer to that. My cat, Gabriel, is the only cat that I have shared my life with who has attacked and killed birds. My previous cats were not particularly interested in hunting. …
For years they have been at each other’s throats arguing about how many birds cats kill annually. Bird lovers say 4 billion birds are killed by cats each year in the USA, many of which are native species. Cat lovers like me say that the numbers are estimates based on local studies and extrapolated. Therefore …
It is said that Queen Elizabeth II is allergic to cats. It is also said that her staff at the Sandringham estate are killing accidentally or deliberately wandering outside domestic cats because they threaten young pheasants. Pheasants are shot on the estate for amusement. The Queen loves dogs and horses but apparently dislikes cats but …
Queen Elizabeth II bans cats from Sandringham estate Read More »
