On Fri, 4 Jun 1999, Rahne Kirkham wrote:


[snip..]

> Does anyone have the exact statistics on the amount of bird predation by
> domestic cats? I am a cat lover although I am a firm believer in keeping
> them indoors.

a couple of years ago, we underwent what came to be known
as "the Dreaded Cat Thread".. it got very heated...and then
even more heated when some Tweets revealed their cats go
outdoors. In the course of that extended discourse, which,
for some was not unlike a root canal, a number of info
sources popped up.. one, I recall, was a guy in Pullman
who was a Tweet (maybe still is) who worked for Wazoo
Extension and actually had copies of studies done on cat
predation... Michigan comes to mind. the numbers were
awesome,as the teens might say...

the continuing question seems to be whether it's "normal"
for cats to be kept in doors..which, of course, can't be
answered without dealing with the question as to whether
it's "normal" to keep a cat in the first place..in any
case, it was good news/bad news..the good news was that
some of us said we'd keep out cat indoors as a result of
the cat predation information..the bad news is some of
us continue to let cats roam the neighborhoods.



>
> An old-fashioned way to protect the birds is to ask neighbors to bell their
> cats. Of course, they shouldn't allow their cats to trepass but trying to
> get people to keep their cats indoors is almost impossible.

bells have no effect that anyone can discern..except to make
the bellers feel they are "doing their part"..

and you're right...convincing people to keep their cats indoors
is difficult..even my sister-in-law who's married to a field
biologist said she was keeping her cat indoors for 2 weeks as
punishment for wiping out a hummingbird nest..and one adult..
but the cat roams at will now.. sigh-hhhhhh

I don't know the answer..I guess each of us will have to figure
it out for ourselves given our special situations.. I received an
e-mail from an avid birder who has no pets on his place..
he "removes" about a cat a week from his property here in Olympia..
his reward was last week when he found a ruffed grouse and chicks
on his place..a first for him..he was pleased..and will continue
removing cats..

Tom