In defence of cats

Most cats are hunters if given the chance but recent media articles are calling them cuddly killers who are decimating wildlife and causing carnage to the wild bird population.  An article in one of our popular newspapers says that cats are an ecological nightmare and kill approx. 2.4 billion birds every year – in the U.K. alone.  An American author has called for cats to be kept indoors and only allowed out on a lead.  He is pressing for all feral cats to be culled.  There seem to be a lot of people who don’t like cats out there!

It’s a lop sided argument though.  Cats have been around for thousands of years and yet the bird population and wildlife have survived pretty well.  When cats were culled a few centuries ago it led to the Black Plague because the rat population increased and was out of hand.

Our cats here in the sanctuary do occasionally catch a bird but it’s not often, they are too well fed and lazy.  Mostly they are mousers and we see them coming back up the fields with rodents in their mouths.  Like most farms we’d be overrun by mice if we didn’t have cats.

Garden birds have evolved to produce more chicks than they used to do, being fed makes a difference.  The head of the RSPB, Jeff Knott, has said that there isn’t a conservation problem from cats.  In the U.K. and rest of Europe cats have been part of our ecosystem for centuries and wildlife has adapted to it.

It ‘s not all cats who are good hunters, a lot of them are useless at catching birds.   A kitten has to be taught to hunt by his mother, this doesn’t happen nowadays because we feed the cats and they mostly give birth in the house.   If a bird is injured or sick then a cat will have it, but the rest just fly away.

The 2016 State of Nature Report which was compiled by more than 50 organisations says that cats aren’t even in the top 10 of predators causing wildlife decline.  What causes most damage?  It’s us, the humans with habitat loss and pesticides the biggest problems.

Of course we should all do everything possible to stop our cats killing birds and there are simple strategies that work – a bell on the collar makes it difficult for cats to creep up on their prey.   Feed your cat well before letting him out, then a laze in the sun will be more attractive than chasing around   Site the bird feeders high and make them less easy to access.  Keep your cat in overnight, birds are hungriest in the early morning and take risks for food, make sure your cat is still curled up in his basket during the dawn chorus   If we don’t have cats then we will surely have rats!