Russell Rogers wrote:

> One more sad fact. The Stephen's Island Wren, in New Zealand,
> was driven to EXTINCTION by the lighthouse keepers cat.
>
> One cat = extinct species
>
> We should at least thank to lighthouse keeper for at least
> saving a few of the birds for science. If he had not, we
> would know nothing of the Stephen's Island Wren. How many
> birds did disapper in such a way? I guess we will never know.

Surely it could have been,

One Lighthouse Keeper = extinct species

Sorry, Russell couldn't resist it.


Reading this thread has been immensely interesting.

The scale of the carnage, sorry there is no other way to put it, is
breathtaking. The figure of 20 million birds killed in the UK has been backed
up by other studies. Whether studies in back gardens in suburban England can
be extended to the entire country and still be representative/accurate is open
to debate. I suspect the same extrapolation is being performed for the US -
so the figures are likely to be an overestimate - given the data available on
numbers of kills per cat.

However some questions must be asked:

What species are being taken - if it's House Sparrows and Starlings, is this OK ?
What about rodent control in urban areas, namely rats. Are cats fulfilling a
useful role ?
What natural predators have been replaced by cats. OK cat numbers are
probably huge in comparison but what was the predator pressure on birds before
the arrival of humans ?

Feral cats are in my opinion the biggest problem, particularly when it comes
to island species as Russell illustrates. A Sooty Tern colony of 6 million
pairs, on Christmas Island I think, fledged only 6 young, in a year. Cats got
ALL the rest.

Look at what is happening to marsupial populations in Australia. Several are
on the edge of extinction due to cats.

Rant, rant, rave, rave.


Cats are undisputedly are problem, but what about (in no particular order):

Duck Hunting
Real estate development (wetlands especially)
Road Kills
Pollution
Pesticides (intensive farming)

Oh, if you are going to Europe, stay away from Mediterranean countries. The
annual kill, from hunting migrant birds, from Sparrows through to Imperial
Eagles is around 300 million. All this for sport. At least cats tend to eat
their kills.


Stuart MacKay