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

My cat is a black cat as well 🧙‍♀️ and as a child I always wanted to be a witch

I have two cats who are currently under supervision outdoors as they're fairly young as yet, and I'm worried about the roads. They're definitely in training though - they like to spend hours with their faces glued to the windows, bird-watching.

Our last cat was rubbish at birds which made me feel better. We evidently have a very healthy local population of bank voles in our semi-rural area, as that's mostly what he brought back (not all that often). He also killed the house mice that live in a little colony under the patio (and I think his presence in the house was the main reason they stayed there and didn't come inside!). He had, I think, two baby rabbits from the field at the back of the garden in the whole nine years we had the dumb beast. I don't think that's too bad.

Putting bells on cats isn't proven to work (i.e. it doesn't necessarily warn birds) and must be a total nightmare for cats to have continually jingling just next to their ears. Far better to keep an eye on them when they're outdoors if you're able to, and if you have a big bastard hunter, then maybe modify its outdoor life a bit. Not letting them out during the dark/twilight hours is sensible. Consider keeping them in during fledging season if you can see a bird's nest nearby. Cats deserve an outdoors life, it's natural for them.

I'm so glad that mine chose to be indoors! They were all used to being outdoors prior to going into rescue. I think they had their fill of it.

That's like comparing a sparrow to a golden eagle.

This is why my cats are indoor cats, as well as the fact that they're far more likely to end up hurt or killed if they're allowed out! People would soon complain if everyone who owned a dog, just let them out on their own every day!

I'll just have a chat to my cat and see if I can possibly reason with him.
I'll let you know how I get on. 😂

Nature raw in tooth and claw.

Cats are predators.

As are birds of prey. I was tempted to have a chat only yesterday with a hovering sparrow hawk. Birds are smart though, they all go quiet when there's a predator. A magpie will happily kill a nest.

So are dogs. On the last two walks my friend's dog, at astonishing speed, killed a rabbit and a bloody squirrel that was a seriously unaware of the species.

Could you provide the research for that?

Sorry…history moment (not sure why)

but did you know that still to this day, cats are known to be the pets of witches because when when the pest arrived, it was mostly through rats. Of course, people owning a cat were safe coz the cat were killing them. Turned out a lot of them were women (older women and cats were already a thing), boom : witches own cats.

Crazy.
There is no story where a woman survives and she isn’t a witch to kill 🧙

I hate that people poo, fgs stop eating and give fresh air a chance. Can they not train themselves to not need to poo?

See also the first syllable of wildlife.

I’d be more wary an alligator find my cat OR a giant tarentula bites it.

I don’t have any thoughts that comes when I think of Australia which isn’t about punching kangooroos, stuff with fengs, teeth or creepy just creepy. Apart of that, yeah, leave the cat out 🐈‍⬛🐊🐊🕸️🕷️🥵

It's the natural order of things.

Cats are predators.

Mine kills rats, is that an issue? It is his kill of choice we live rurally and then are a pest.

on a more serious note we have always worked hard to reduce our cats impact on the local environment. He does not get let out until later in the morning and gets called in early evening. These are the times that birds are more focused on gathering food and less on predictors.

What’s on tonight with cat eating birds?

As always. First comment. Nail on head.

Ah yes, Australia, famous for its high standards in animal welfare 🙄

Hmm. I know that’s what they say but neighbour’s cat got every songbird chick from nest in DGP’s garden. We have a cat cos DD randomly rescued one but I wouldn’t want one otherwise.

could you imagine how stress full it would be if someone put a collar round your neck and every time you moved or walked the bell tinkled in your ears , bell collars are very stress full to cats as their hearing is much more sensitive then ours

Well it was about as pointless as the article you shared about a country that's already been discussed

Wow. Thanks for that insight.

About the Australian ban - Again, cats ARE native to Britain - the Scottish Wildcat felis sylvestris is native and interbreeds readily with feral domestic cats. The Australian approach is due to cats being non-native and the marsupials being completely unequipped to handle them. Totally different.

No matter how domesticated, animals are still predatory. You are asking them to go against their nature.

The UK isn't Australia

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13602777/amp/cat-ban-perth-wa.html

You’ll be interested to learn that many councils in Australia have made outdoor cat owning illegal. Most people have a cat run or “catio” made to allow them outside space without free reign to kill wildlife.