Cats killing all the baby birds

[paperdollar]

There are so many cats in the neighbourhood the baby birds don’t stand a chance. I don’t understand how people can’t take responsibility for their cats and keep them inside during nesting season (at the very least) to stop them butchering all the local wildlife. All that time and energy spent by birds tending to their nest and providing food for them to be killed without even having a chance. One cat in particular has been stalking mine and my 2 neighbours gardens and taken most of the baby birds that have come this year, this is the least we have ever seen. Despite shooing it, chasing it, using water pistols/jugs of water, dogs chasing it, lions poo, high up feeders, removing feeders etc. I have been to the owners door to ask her to keep it inside for a bit to give the birds a chance but she said it is an outdoor cat and it is “nature” and nothing she can do about it. It is nature for birds and other wildlife to prey on baby birds as a means of survival, not your overbred, overfed domesticated cats. One cat owner has 9 cats with a nest in her gutter, next door to that has 3 with a nest also. One of them has a feeding pole in her garden low to the ground, so my stopping feeding the birds means they will be going there to take their chances. I can’t believe foxes are put down for killing cats for survival but nothing can be done about this. It is making me ill to witness, these irresponsible owners are not animal lovers. I post at the end of my rope having just chased one with a screaming baby in it’s mouth and dropping it only once it stopped. I’m wondering if anyone else has ever suffered the same and found something to do about it.

@Meg87

I’m sorry your enjoyment of the birds in your garden is being taken away too and I hear you on attempting to care less for your own sanity.

I always look forward to nesting season and seeing the birds feeding their young but anytime I do see them now I’m on alert. The cat I mention has 2 bells on its collar which I think has made it even more skilled at catching birds, so I’m not sure if they’re helpful at all. It only works to alert me that it’s come into the garden.

I agree about the bigger birds. Some asked what am I going to do about all the rooks etc going for the fledglings but the rooks around here only pillage the sunflower seeds and scare the smaller birds away! It is not seagulls or rooks that I have seen, I have witnessed the same cat killing many times. Other cats at least have learned to stay away for a while after being squirted with water. The only solution seems to be either the owner cat proofing their garden or the person suffering their cat spending their time and money keeping it out.

It IS nature though. I'd not keep my cat inside for an entire season!

The WWF has listed the biggest threats to UK wildlife:

www.wwf.org.uk/updates/5-threats-uk-wildlife

They are agricultural intensification, plastics, river damage, climate change and pesticides. My guess is that the biggest threat to birds is habitat loss as per the above, including the destruction of the hedgrows and urbanisation. Then there is also the breeding and release of game birds like pheasants, red legged partridges, etc (iirc something like 30 million plus pheasants alone pa) with no thought of the impact on the food for native birds.

The British Trust for Ornithology has an article, in which its estimated the British public put out enough bird feed to support 193 million birds - which iirc, is more than cats kill?

Finally, as per the RSPB website, only a small number of cats have the 3D skills to catch birds. One of mine, a black and white cat has the idea that all he has to do is run across the lawn in full daylight and launch himself at a bird - they can see him on the grass some way off, and are well up in the air, by the time he gets to them. He hasn't caught a bird yet in 5 years!

[quote paperdollar]@Meg87

I’m sorry your enjoyment of the birds in your garden is being taken away too and I hear you on attempting to care less for your own sanity.

I always look forward to nesting season and seeing the birds feeding their young but anytime I do see them now I’m on alert. The cat I mention has 2 bells on its collar which I think has made it even more skilled at catching birds, so I’m not sure if they’re helpful at all. It only works to alert me that it’s come into the garden.

I agree about the bigger birds. Some asked what am I going to do about all the rooks etc going for the fledglings but the rooks around here only pillage the sunflower seeds and scare the smaller birds away! It is not seagulls or rooks that I have seen, I have witnessed the same cat killing many times. Other cats at least have learned to stay away for a while after being squirted with water. The only solution seems to be either the owner cat proofing their garden or the person suffering their cat spending their time and money keeping it out.[/quote]
Honestly OP. If it's upsetting you so much then I think you should cat proof your garden if you can afford to.

There's no way every cat owner is going to keep their cat in their garden and it will just keep stressing you out.

I would recommend rollers on top of your fence.

@Poorlykitten I think if you had left the chickens there, the fox would definitely come back for them. Could be that it was disturbed or couldn't carry them all. They tend to go on a frenzy due to the prey drive kicking in. Sorry for your chicken loss. We lost one the other day, I was gutted!

We have a semi feral rescue cat. He's an absolute menace to the local wildlife but there's nothing we can do to stop him. We can't keep him in, with children in and out all day and windows open its impossible. He's brought in frogs, rabbits, mice, a mole, a blackbird and he was caught a huge grouse once. I really don't know how to stop him.

Absolutely. I love cats but this is the reason I'd never have one.

It's not nature in any way. Yes, it's their natural instinct, but they are domesticated, not a native species and are certainly not in any way a part of the natural 'food chain'.

Domestic cats have been responsible for a huge number of extinctions globally.

They are a real threat to nature in some areas.

I would love one though, if I lived in a house large enough for it to stay indoors and have a big fenced in courtyard

I wonder if dogs started going around killing all the ducks/swans at the ponds (or even the cats!) would people say "oh it's just nature"?

@Tomatobear

I wonder if dogs started going around killing all the ducks/swans at the ponds (or even the cats!) would people say "oh it's just nature"?

It certainly didn't with the poor seal...

If it makes you feel better my boy does eat everything he catches.

Like literally the whole thing minus the weird green organ which he leaves at the bottom of the stairs.

All the people saying 'its nature', like @cadburyegg, or like @titchy talking about birds of prey - unlike our (often threatened) native birds of prey, cats are not native to this country, and nor would they ever exist in nature in the scale we have around our cities now.

Agree it's absolutely bs that so many people were understandably horrified by the offleash dog attacking a baby seal but are unfazed by the massive damage done to native wildlife by feral and free roaming cats. It's so sad, especially when it's on top of the harm already being caused by gradual destruction of their habitat, changing climate and even urban light pollution.l

It doesn't need to be all or nothing either. Even keeping cats in at their main hunting times at dawn and dusk can make a big difference. Many don't like a bell, but anything that can help a bird or a baby vole is a good thing.

It's not nature in any way. Yes, it's their natural instinct, but they are domesticated, not a native species and are certainly not in any way a part of the natural 'food chain'.

Man has encouraged cats to hang around grain stores for millennia, precisely for their ability to catch rats and mice in view of their high prey drive, even when full! It’s no use, complaining now about that same high prey drive!

@Tomatobear

I wonder if dogs started going around killing all the ducks/swans at the ponds (or even the cats!) would people say "oh it's just nature"?

@Tomatobear Most dogs wouldn't stand a chance against a swan. Dogs do kill a lot of wildlife as well as livestock.

@Whatthechicken While I understand you were trying to make your point, please don’t promote the myth that hedgehogs eat slugs and snails. They only eat them when they are starving as slugs give them lungworm.
Their natural diet is made up of insects such as caterpillars and beetles, sadly in shorter supply as people don’t leave enough wild spaces in their gardens.
This is why it’s so important to supplement their diet with cat or dog food and dishes of water.

Cats trying to exercise their inner hunter,which is in their nature for thousands of years.
Did you really expect cats to suddenly change and start catching leaves? Besides,it's huge exaggeration that they kill all the birds, it's just not possible.

@Tomatobear dogs do kill birds and all sorts of wildlife, as well as sheep and other livestock. I think you need to do your research.

Dogs off leads here do kill birds and ruin ground nester.

I'm afraid it is nature. That's why birds have a lot of young - it's expected that most won't make it out into the big wide world on their own
If the cats don't get them, other predators will.

It should be incumbent on citizens who own cats or kittens (COCKs for short) to confine them to their property, not for normal people to proof their own gardens.

It's also nature when rats try to nest in buildings...

I assume (logical assumption here) that cats were mentione with right to roam because at that time they benefited society. We did not have pest control like this, nor did we have that rodent proof containers for food and houses in general. Plus hygiene got better and even rubbish removal is generally working in our favour there.

Furthermore, many people argue MANY of the cats don't even kill anything anymore.

No reason to keep the right to roam then, is there.

Also, just an fyi, there can still be nuisance, and owners are expected to take reasonable steps to prevent their cat from causing damage.

Yabu for starting another cat hating thread. The RSPB consistently maintains that there is no evidence of cats causing any significant decline in the song bird population.

^This. I have a cat. He has a massive loud bell on his collar to give the birds more of a chance. He still catches (and eats) one occasionally. All kinds of things kill birds and small mammals OP.

@SchrodingersImmigrant isn’t it more to do with cats natures? They are outdoor creatures really it’s unfair to keep them locked up indoors really. They should be ‘roaming’ free. Even though they are counted as ‘domesticated’ they are independent animals and not even that reliant on us for anything really, except when they feel like it.

[quote Poorlykitten]@SchrodingersImmigrant isn’t it more to do with cats natures? They are outdoor creatures really it’s unfair to keep them locked up indoors really. They should be ‘roaming’ free. Even though they are counted as ‘domesticated’ they are independent animals and not even that reliant on us for anything really, except when they feel like it.[/quote]
It crossed my mind but then I thought "When have people actually given really a weight to that (just look at all other domesticated animals) so I voted for historical usefulness.

Or cats doing what they have always done and ensalved the rulers and made them give them extras. I mean, just look at ancientEgypt, why not UK. 🐈

I tried to find it but it doesn't look like my native country has any mention of this. I wonder how many more do now