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.

I’ve always had cats and dogs. We live very rurally though. They keep our mice population down nicely ( we have chickens so they attract rats and mice sadly). They are not that bothered with birds but I understand in urban areas it can be a problem. We have had dogs too, until recently. Our dog sadly got in to the neighbours chickens and killed the lot. Pet ownership is becoming a huge problem I think. Too many animals are kept as pets especially in built up areas. I will not own anymore dogs or cats after these have passed away. We are inundated by dogs round here and they cause massive problems locally with livestock and excrement and useless owners allowing them off lead.

Yes. The biggest problem imho is the concentration (and lack of neutering). If you have 2 cats per x area. Fine, some birds get killed, some frogs etc. But that's hos it is. However, have 8 for the same area and you have an issue. Same way like 50 deers, fine, 200 and there is a problem.

I also wonder how much some people spend on vet bills because the more cats, the more fights in here.

I'd start a cat travel agency if I was you.

Send the cats on holiday to Australia for a 3 weeks - a month.
They'll have a hell of a time, the farmers fighting the current mouse plague will get a helpful paw, and the local birds will be eaten by non-domestic animals instead.

Win win.

My cats have little natural instinct so I'm gonna continue letting them out into our garden. In the last 10 years we have had 2 mice caught. My boy cat catches leaves and brings them too us, I don't think the birds have much ti worry about. We have sparrows and tits nesting in our garden, the cats don't care. A bell can help but in my experience cats usually catch the easy kills such as weak birds or fledglings that are not quite ready.
You could encourage a seagull to nest on your roof, they dive bomb any animal that comes close, sadly they will also kill the other birds though.

I agree op outdoor cats are a pest.
There's plenty of evidence they are decimating bird populations as they are overbred, not to mention trespassing in neighbours gardens and peeing and pooing everywhere.
I don't go around letting my dog run loose in other people's gardens and expect the same of cats.

Birds have evolved to cope with predation by jays and magpies - but not that of cats. The issue isn't really whether or not cats have an overall effect on bird populations. Thats a red herring. They do have an effect on local populations.

When I moved here we had tits, thrushes and blackbirds. I've done my best to keep cats out of the garden but the local cat lovers won't keep their cats indoors during nesting season, and they've all gone.
My neighbour took her nesting box down after she watched a cat take all the fledglings out of the box one by one.

Oh no, how awful! My dog caught a pigeon recently, he was on the lead but we came around a corner and it was just there standing on the ground so he grabbed at. I yelled immediately for him to drop it and thank God the bird was able to fly off but he lost quite a few feathers and I felt terrible about it!

I have two cats, both belled. Can only catch a bird if it's on the ground. By the time they get anywhere close to a tree or bush the bird/squirrel is well away.

I can see birds nesting all around our garden, but the thing they have in common seems to be that they nest high up, thus out of reach for the cat although obviously less so for an incoming bird.

Nesting boxes, like bird tables, need to be free standing or hanging. You're asking for trouble if you fix a box to a fence or wall that the cat can simply walk along or climb surely?

The local cat population is high, but they are comfortably outnumbered by squirrels, foxes, jays and crows. This is a town.

@fashionablefennel

I'd start a cat travel agency if I was you.

Send the cats on holiday to Australia for a 3 weeks - a month.
They'll have a hell of a time, the farmers fighting the current mouse plague will get a helpful paw, and the local birds will be eaten by non-domestic animals instead.

Win win.

Love this

peeing and pooing everywhere.
I don't go around letting my dog run loose in other people's gardens and expect the same of cats.

Oh come on. Plenty of dog shit along public pavements, parks, beaches... cats are not the only nuisance and your less likely to be scraping cat poo of your kids trainers. Dogs make a filthy mess. And are over and irresponsibly bread too.

@BrilliantBetty

*peeing and pooing everywhere. I don't go around letting my dog run loose in other people's gardens and expect the same of cats.*

Oh come on. Plenty of dog shit along public pavements, parks, beaches... cats are not the only nuisance and your less likely to be scraping cat poo of your kids trainers. Dogs make a filthy mess. And are over and irresponsibly bread too.

But more likely scraping it off my gloves if they botehr to bury it. Hence why I now buy boxes of latex gloves. I prefere poo on shoes (which doesn't happen to me anyway luckily I swerve bug it is annoying)

Let’s send the cats over to Australia to fight the mouse plague. See, they would be extremely useful there!

@Thelnebriati

Birds have evolved to cope with predation by jays and magpies - but not that of cats. The issue isn't really whether or not cats have an overall effect on bird populations. Thats a red herring. They do have an effect on local populations.

When I moved here we had tits, thrushes and blackbirds. I've done my best to keep cats out of the garden but the local cat lovers won't keep their cats indoors during nesting season, and they've all gone.
My neighbour took her nesting box down after she watched a cat take all the fledglings out of the box one by one.

But many birds have evolved to cope with predation by cats:what you describe cats doing is exactly what jays and magpies (not to mention crows) will do.

We had bluetits in a nest box last year; it was terribly sad to see a big crow constantly landing nearby and waiting. As the babies peeked out for a first flight, it just snatched each one. A cat could never have climbed to where the nest box was.

I don't let my cat outside, but that's less to do with birds and more to do with significantly shorter lifespan in outdoor cats. Means a bit more work for me enriching her life with play and such, but it's totally worth it to me.

Still traumatised after losing my 1yo pair of kittens a couple of months apart, promised I would never again have outdoor cats.

Our cat is staying indoors during the nesting season. It can be done but you have to play with them and research toys. Use cardboard boxes, newspaper and paper bags, no need to spend money on plastic tat which they don't use!

They are much more strict about this in Australia.

@Kakiweewee my 17 outdoor cat had a very enriching life. I got a rescue kitten last year, who I kept in for the first 8 months of his life. He ate some cotton, which balled up inside his intestines. Three operations later and £2000 in vets fees, he died from complications. I thought I was doing the right thing protecting him by keeping him in. Turns out that’s not safe either.

@DaftVader42

Cat owners - please consider a bird be safe ruff that goes over the normal collar. They are amazing and stopped my cat catching any birds. Doesn’t work for rabbits / mice etc. But means the birds see her.

They are expensive for what is a tube of material. Would take 5 mins to make on a sewing machine. So simple but so effective.

Thank you for this, ours have bright collars, bells, high protein diets, not allowed out at dusk or dawn but are currently on house arrest after a baby bird killing spree in the space of half an hour. If they don't work, ours will continue to stay inside until all the fledgelings are less at risk.

YABU - I suppose that the other wildlife in your neighbourhood (jays, rooks, gulls, rats, foxes etc.) are all strictly vegetarian.

Anybody watch spring watch last night? No cats around - apart from the cute Scottish wildcats they showed. 44% of young birds lost to predation - one major culprit - rats. Cats keep the rat population down. It's complex.

Look at Australia, massive mouse plague problem because cats all trapped indoors.😉

Circle of life.

I have cats to keep birds away. I have a slight phobia of them.
I let them chase the birds away

We used to have a small, controlled colony of feral/semi-feral cats at my brother's farm. They are voracious hunters and will hunt just about anything. Yesterday, one of them was patrolling the hedgerows waiting for rabbits, but she would take a bird if she got the chance. Mice and voles are killed, shrews also, but they are not eaten. Later in the season, frogs are hunted and killed but never eaten. They just hunt and kill. They love it! They are cats.

Most of the time, we leave the cats to it because the animals upon which they prey have their own way of surviving as a population (if not as individuals). My only objection is that two of the cats catch swallows. They lurk just where the birds swoop into the shed where they are nesting, and then pounce. We do chase the cats away when they start lurking there, and they wait for us to go and then lurk again.

Cats hunt and kill. That's the origin of their relationship with humans. They are probably one of the most efficient killing machines with respect to small animals and birds, in the natural world. We love them for this and often marvel at the skills they have.

Yes they will kill birds, and if we shoo them away, they will come back, when we are not looking. However, one thing that may keep the cats out of your garden and away from the birds is the scent of another cat. It might sound disgusting, but if you have some used cat litter, sprinkle it around the garden. It might just work.