How many birds do cats kill? Stanley Temple and John Coleman at the
University of Wisconsin have estimated that the 1.4 to 2 million
free-roaming cats in rural Wisconsin kill between 7.8 and 219 million
birds each year. Cat densities exceed the typical combined densities of
all native predators.

Peter Churcher and John Lawton at the University of York estimated that
cats kill at least 20 million birds per year in Britain.

Look up George H. Harrison's 1992 National Wildlife article "Is there a
killer in your house", volume 30 number 6. Also, Churcher and Lawton in
Natural History, August 1989: "Beware of well-fed felines." C&L published
their study in the Journal of Zoology, London in 1987 (vol 212, pages
439-455). The Temple/Coleman research is unpublished as yet.

My personal two cents: Most cats are killers, not predators, as they are
generally well fed by their owners and are not out there surviving the
rigors of life in a _natural_ world.

Scott Richardson
Olympia
richasar at dfw.wa.gov