STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK - The issue is one of interest to many local animal lovers, and they don’t all agree or, it seems, love the same types of animals.
A recent study reveals numbers far exceeding any previous figures for birds and small mammals killed by free-ranging felines. In this file photo, volunteers feed cats in Cape May. Government officials say Feral cat colonies on Cape May are eating the Piping Plover, a threatened and protected species of shore bird. (AP Photo/David Gard) (David Gard)
Supporting his view is a recent study that revealed between 1.4 to 3.7 billion birds lose their lives to cats each and every year in the United States. They’ve also found that between 6.9 to 20.7 billion small mammals succumb to the predators.
numbers which “far exceed any previous figures for cat killings.”
The authors of the study, researchers from Smithsonian’s Migratory Bird Center and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Center, call for policy makers and the general public to be aware of the large magnitude of wildlife mortality caused by these free-ranging felines.
Wollney, a doctoral biology student at CUNY, posted a link on Facebook to an article in Smithsonian magazine which reported the study. The post was met with both support and criticism.
Responses included supporting trap–neuter-release (TNR) programs to reduce the control the feline population and not blaming the cats for the actions of humans who’ve abandoned them. The success of these programs is debated by both sides.
Feeding the cats would seem to keep them from preying on birds; however this is not what some of the evidence shows according to Wollney. As the study documented, well taken care of domestic cats are part of the problem, also, because they hunt even though they are not hungry. And according to studies, so do feral cats.
Everyone knows cats eat mice and rats. However, in a place such as Staten Island, and even more rural places, unowned cats also eat other small mammals such as squirrels, rabbits, shrews and voles which play an important role in the balance of nature, argues Wollney who is concentrating on ecology and evolutionary biology in his studies.
“Over the years, many people have fought hard to save parks on the island so that native wildlife would have a place to live…. now, we have legions of people who think that cats belong in our parks where the cats kill the native wildlife those parks were intended to help… Let’s honor the hard work and dedication it took to save these location by supporting the wildlife and deal with this huge issues of a terrible invasive, feral species…,” posted Wollney.
We here at The Best Cat Page feel that what needs to be “culled” is the contempt and hated people have for cats. And while we’re at it, we should exterminate the ignorance of cat haters who would use their political and educational credentials to, for lack of a better term, eradicate whatever they don’t like - under the guise of “conservation.”