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.

@SchrodingersImmigrant exactly. Far too many people on this thread claiming their cats don't kill birds.

@looptheloopinahulahoop bollocks, I have seen two cats brutally murder birds for fun in the last few weeks alone.

@SchrodingersImmigrant you seem to really dislike cats but dogs are also a huge problem to wildlife. You can’t have a problem with one and not the other.

Yes, that's true. Just because you love your pet doesn't mean it's not a predator.

Domestic cats are part of the large cat family. You wouldn't expect large cats to stay in a small garden so why do you expect domestic cats to?
Again it's in their nature to roam and hunt.
However if you don't want cats in your garden you can cat proof your own garden.

@Kintsugi16

I agree OP and would never own a cat because of this. It’s different with wildlife as that’s the natural food chain.

I agree. I don't understand people that compare birds of prey or other wild animals with foxes. Wild animals take to eat. Cats just kill and are domesticated, vastly overbred and not a natural species for our country - just introduced and too many of them now

[quote BeastforLease]@SchrodingersImmigrant exactly. Far too many people on this thread claiming their cats don't kill birds.[/quote]
Yep, must be in denial - cats do kill.

Baby blackbirds in hedge next door and a bloody cat sitting waiting for them to attempt to fly so I am constantly squirting the cat. I am using scented liquid now to attempt to get it to bugger off. Maybe perfume will keep the horrid thing away.

Meanwhile in MN land that cat owner is sat there saying my pussy doesn't kill

@BarbarianMum

A lot of ignorance on this thread. There is nothing "natural" about the concentration of feline predators in urban areas. If people really want their cats to be part of nature then they need to stop feeding them so that they starve when the populations of their prey falls. Oh and no taking them to a vet if sick/injured.

Cats are pets and it's long past time that cat owners are told to stop them straying. Want a cat? Then keep one on your property.

Yep

Cats do vary, though. 1 of ours is an inveterate hunter (though prefers small rodents to birds, we've only had 2 bird incidents in 12 years), but the other is totally disinterested and will quite happily have birds land near or even on him without making a move.

@mrsorms that’s awful can you give the swallows access higher up so they arn’t so low to the ground?

[quote Poorlykitten]@SchrodingersImmigrant you seem to really dislike cats but dogs are also a huge problem to wildlife. You can’t have a problem with one and not the other.[/quote]
I dislike the cats who are actually affecting me. In general cats are fun.
And yes, I also dislike badly trained dogs.
Actually, it's not really the animals I have an issue with, but the owners. If people are not willing to prevent their pet causing issues to others and other animals, they shouldn't have them.

Errr no they don’t @mrstt89 the RSPB explicitly state cats kill around 27 million birds annually but a 100 million animals annually. Yes it’s nature, yes there are other factors but why contribute to the decline in our native species? Sorry but it’s so so shit that cat owners take no responsibility for their predators, ‘oh no but twinkles can’t stay inside they’re an outdoor cat’ Fuck off and take ownership of native wildlife. I’m happy to see new housing developments banning them.

@June2021 don’t be idiotic. Some cats kill, of course they do. Some cats are not interested. I’ve had both kinds. Just like some dogs have a higher prey drive than others , it massively varies. So yes, some people will own cats that don’t kill much, just as others ( like the poster before with the feral cats) will be more driven to kill. Cat proof your garden if need me. It’s not actually that difficult to do.

@IwillbeyourUtomyT , you have taken that out of context because it goes in to say.... ‘Despite the large numbers of birds killed by cats in gardens, there is no clear scientific evidence that such mortality is causing bird populations to decline. This may be surprising, but many millions of birds die naturally every year, mainly through starvation, disease or other forms of predation. There is evidence that cats tend to take weak or sickly birds.’

I feed the birds every day, all year round. clean feeders every three days, mealworms, suet, sunflower hearts, peanuts. I feed about 16 species, countless individuals.
I have three cats, they take mice and voles in the spring and autumn. Maybe 1 or 2 birds per year, it is sad but they have been bred for countless generations deliberately to hunt, they can’t help it.
I know cats are an ecological disaster but I love them, hopefully by feeding the birds that I do I make up a bit for their depredations, but that’s not why I do it.

YABU

Unless you're vegan

My cat is 12. And we recently put his 16 year old cat sister to sleep.

Had them both since kittens. Both outside daily.

Neither ever once caught a bird. Mice and voles occasionally but never a bird. They can't get up to the nests.

@Poorlykitten you’re right I quoted the figure. However, there is scientific research showing domesticated cats are responsible for reducing species diversity. They’ve been directly linked with species extinctions. There isn’t much research as often other anthropogenic factors contribute more to species decline like habitat loss, also people like cats so take it hard when they’re being investigated. In a normal predator prey cycle predators in the wild decline when there isn’t enough food, we’ve screwed that by feeding the predator so they can continue to hunt. How long before ‘common’ bird species are properly studied and we realise oh yeh fuck perhaps we should have kept cats inside?

Perhaps some of the cat owners here could have a go at simulating hunting through play and a higher protein diet to mitigate some of the hunting. Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean your cat doesn’t kill….

www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(20)31896-0

My cat is a nest raider, most of the birds he brings in he has removed from nests as they are still bald with closed eyes. Bells don’t make a difference as he just climbs the trees and takes them whether they can hear him or not. We still get rodents too and flying birds as well and a couple of pipistrel bats which we retrieved from him alive and took to the local animal sanctuary. We also take any living birds there too and they hand rear them.

*That was copied and pasted directly from their website. I'll post a link below. It sounds like it's way more complicated than cats simply killing 27 million birds a year. I fence my four cats in my garden because we live near a busy road, and one of them still managed to catch a bird last week. I love my cats to bits but I was still sad for the poor bird. ☹️

www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/gardening-for-wildlife/animal-deterrents/cats-and-garden-birds/are-cats-causing-bird-declines/*

It's from 1997. Since then cat numbers risen and bird numbers dropped considerably (for various reasons of course)

I’m not holding my cat hostage, for anyone, she rarely brings birds just mice home