If you have a cat you have to stop it scaring and eating birds

Yep. There is a reason cat rescues don't advocate them

It’s really not cat hating to say that they shouldn’t be attacking birds. I love cats. I wouldn’t allow them outside. They chase toy mice inside though

House sparrows are also an invasive species so are cats ok to kill them.

It begs the question how long does an animal have to live in a country before it’s not regarded as invasive?

I had to rescue my cat from the garden as she was being bullied by magpies.

Me neither, but the fact so many of them just shrug and say "it's a cat, what do you expect" just proves my point. Cats in towns have a detrimental effect on bird life and they shit everywhere. Owners don't think this is their problem. Some owners, if you prefer.

Or get their leg caught in the collar.

Hors d'oeuvres.

I'm ready for my pasting.

My biggest hunter is a long haired maine coon cross. So the bell doesn't really jingle if he keeps it on (which he doesnt) anyway, as it gets stuck in his fur

Oh here we go again, more cat hating on MN 🙄

I don't have a cat at the moment but will be adopting in the New Year. My new cat will not be wearing a collar of any sort, let alone one with a bell on it, I don't intend to drive it mad.

My garden is cat proofed so the cat won't be getting into the neighbours' gardens so the haters can't complain about that and I do nothing to encourage birds in. However birds will most probably land in the garden at some point but there's not a lot I can do about that.

Biggest issue is neighbours cats pooping in my garden! I hate it and ruins the garden.

Those that get cats don’t care where it goes or what it does. They’re not going to do anything but make bizarre jokes on threads about how hilarious their contribution to decimating the local wildlife is. My dogs have been trained to protect the wildlife in this garden. No cats allowed.

The RSPB need to get real and stop tip toeing around the issue of cats. They have a massive impact. Encouraging people to provide habitats and food for birds when it’s near impossible to do so with cats about. I see them stalking all the nests in my neighbourhood for weeks during fledgling season. It’s devastating.

Bell collars, haha. They easily learn to move without jingling the bell. Back when I used them, the little madam thought it was a service bell and would enter the room and ring it to get my attention for food or petting.

OP, your big mistake here was being so didactic. If you'd said 'If you have a cat, please try to keep it inside as much as possible when young are fledging to stop the learner-fliers getting caught'. Telling people what they HAVE to do is never going to go down well.

Unless you are, like, the King or Prime Minister or something, and then you can just bring in some laws.

The UK’s largest bird charity, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), is not particularly concerned about the impact of cats on the British mainland. Instead it focuses on what it says is driving UK bird declines: global warming, intensive agriculture and expanding towns and cities leading to habitat and food loss. “While we know that cats do kill large numbers of birds in UK gardens, there’s no evidence this is affecting decline in the same way that these other issues are,” said a spokesperson.
A big reason why they are less worried is the evidence that cats primarily take “the doomed surplus”: weak or injured birds likely to die anyway.

I have had a cat strangle itself with a collar on so nope.

plus I watched in horror my mums cat catch a bird with a collar on with bell made no difference.

I now have an old gentleman cat that doesn’t go outside now, he’s part feral well was now he lords it over the big dogs and we are his slaves. I also have a floof cat who can’t ever go outside as she’s stupid and larger birds would see her as prey.

old gentleman watches the birds and the odd Squirrel from the window and then just cleans himself. I’m sure the squirrel is taunting him but he seems to not care

Thank you.

I get the issue with birds but without the domestic cat population I dead to think how many rats they’d be.

They get stuck in trees and hung

Cats can and do catch fledgelings out of nests.
They catch native Wildlife in Australia and reach enormous sizes-
It's not at all ''just the old and the sick''. That's complete nonsense.

Cats are efficient predators.

Cats don’t usually catch birds from feeders.

(Regularly restocked and cleaned) feeders provide food to birds during the lean weeks or the cold when food is hard to come by. This means more birds survive the winter and breeding season than would without access to feeders.

RSPB advice is that it’s fine to have bird feeders up high. Keep them away from easy hiding places for cats like hedges, clean them regularly to reduce risk of spreading disease and restock with seasonally appropriate food.

IMm an active member of the RSPB and a cat owner. It’s not hard to be both, whatever the OP thinks.

Are you as interested in people who don’t stop their dogs killing other dogs, cats, other small animals, children and adults or is it just cats you have a problem with and want to be goady about?

I live in the country. I have a farm cat who hunts rodentia…rats, mice, occasional baby bunny or weasel. I wouldn’t have a vegetable or fruit harvest without her doing her thing

We also have nesting house martins…she’s learned they are almost impossible to catch and baby bunnies are much tastier. She’s microchipped, but no collar, I would not declaw her, she’s spayed and she’s mostly outside, but strolls in sometimes to sit in front of the woodstove and sleep. She has a nice bed in the conservatory she sleeps in, good wet food, and is taken to the vet annually for a check and vaccinated. I let her be a cat and do her job.

Mine said they gave no fucks. But tbf they only kill mice and pigeons and they aren’t really birds. Just rats with wings

Totally agree. Keep your cats in.

I bet most of the posters here talking about the poor birdies are more than happy to tuck into a roast chicken that had a far worse life than a wild bird caught by a cat....

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