With the staggering number of cat pictures and videos on the internet, even a dog person can start to admit that cats are pretty adorable, though derpy at times. Cats certainly do have their own charm. It’s especially amusing to watch them pounce on strange small objects like toys and the infamous red dot of the laser pointer. Their reactions are due, in part, to the fact that they are natural predators, a trait that still lives within them despite generations of domestication.
Owners of outdoor cats have long been plagued by the appearance of deceased local wildlife on their front porch. Killing comes easily for cats. They move very quickly and quietly, have highly sensitive hearing, and are capable of seeing in the dark, something that many of their prey are simply not prepared for. While these small annoyances may seem harmless for one cat, the effects of many cats combined is enough to have a huge impact on the natural ecosystems. For years, scientists assumed that the total number of animal deaths caused by cats amounted to be about 500 million per year in the U.S.A. However, a recent study has shown that the number is actually much, much higher. In fact, it was found that cats are responsible for the deaths of about 1.4 to 3.7 billion birds and 6.9 to 20.7 billion mammals per year. With roughly 80 million domestic cats and 80 million stray and feral cats in America alone, the number isn’t too surprising after all. The majority of the kills are done by the stray/feral cats that eat animals like chipmunks and baby birds in order to survive. This makes a stray domestic cat an invasive species.
The cat problem is not only a problem in the Americas however. It has been found that cats have been responsible for 14% of animal extinctions in small contained environments such as islands. Their effect is also great in New Zealand and Australia. Cats (as well as rabbits and foxes) have been shown to annihilate ecosystems after having been released to the wild. Even wallabies have been killed by cats. Birds such as the wood warbler and the kingfisher have had their nests attacked by cats.
Fear for the safety of endangered birds and small mammals have caused lawmakers in parts of Australia to require cat owners to register, neuter, and microchip their feline friends. This helps in controlling the cat population and differentiating pets and strays. There is no such law in North America, but the population of strays can be controlled by the Trap-Neuter-Release technique practised by the humane societies. An average of about three kittens are born to every stray pairing and TNR technique helps in stopping the numbers from increasing exponentially. It may also help to keep cats indoors at night, reducing their kills by 50%.
In general, it is best to keep cats indoors most of the time, and to monitor their outdoor activities closely. The number of strays should also be reduced. We cannot guarantee that lost, wandering cats will come back home. Cats that are purposefully abandoned are another thing entirely. Even in a town like Waterloo we have way too many stray cats that were abandoned by students. This practice is both a disservice to the cat and to the environment. While many cat-lovers won’t like to see their pet portrayed as a finely-tuned killer, it can be agreed that it’s better for both local wildlife and the cats themselves if they all had homes.
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