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I have heard that cats murder so many birds... but just the shear math of it seems to make it likely a myth. I've watched cats outside, it takes them _forever_
by RobertRoberts 5y ago
I have heard that cats murder so many birds... but just the shear math of it seems to make it likely a myth. I've watched cats outside, it takes them _forever_ to kill even 1 bird, let alone 20 a day, or whatever the claim is.
They kill mice, squirrels, rabbits, ground stuff, etc... _way_ faster and more frequently.
- 0xB31B1B 5y agoSome guy put a camera on his cat for a week and put the vid on YouTube. The cat killed like 50 animals in a week.
- not-my-account 5y agolink?
- micromacrofoot 5y agothe claim is 20-40 a year, which is really low sounding to me… keep in mind these are animals that can survive on their own, does 1 bird a week really seem mythical to you [pdf] https://abcbirds.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Loss-et-al.-2013-Impact-of-free-ranging-domestic-cats-on-wildlife-in-U.S..pdf https://abcbirds.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Loss-et-al.-...
- RobertRoberts 5y agoFrom your link: > We estimate that cats in the contiguous United States annually kill between 1.4 and 3.7 billion birds (median ¼ 2.4 billion) (Fig. 1a), with ~69% of this mortality caused by un-owned cats. The predation estimate for un-owned cats was higher primarily due to predation rates by this group averaging three times greater than rates for owned cats. The range of estimate is staggering, and that it's un-owned cats are the primary issue. But it's not _only_ the numbers I take issue with, it's the conclusion people take with it and how they communicate it. "Cats are killing BILLIONS of birds! Keep your cat in, or don't even own one."
- Tiktaalik 5y agoDepends on the place, depends on the birds. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/cat-birds-australia/595048/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/cat-bird...