Killer Cats

Domestic cats kill billions of endangered songbirds each year. There is opposition to stopping them for the following reasons:

• Cats are doted on as pets and owners think cats should be free to kill birds because cats enjoy killing birds.
• Cats are not malicious. It is their nature to catch and eat birds, so we should let them.
• There are other ways birds are killed, such as windmills. Why pick on cats?
• Cats are not an invasive species. They are people.

My thinking is all these reasons are irrelevant. We have to do something to stop the loss of so many endangered birds which are important to agriculture for insect control. It is not about punishing cats, but protecting birds. Possible measures include:

• Dogs are not permitted to roam free killing wildlife, even if they have licences. The same rules should apply to cats.
• Use some kind of high tech collar for cats that warns birds of a pending attack. At the owner’s option, it might be smart enough not to warn mice.

~ Roedy (1948-02-04 age:70)