Sunday, December 17, 2006

A cat enabler's myth: "Cats control harmful rodents."

"Cats control harmful rodents." This is another myth created by the trap, neuter, abandon feral and roaming cat enablers. Why do the harmful house mice thrive in the presence of cats while the native mice and birds vanish? That's easily explained. The house mice evolved in other countries in the presence of cats!

Dr. Cole Hawkins conducted a study of two grassland parks in the East Bay Regional Park District in California--one with no cats and one where over 20 cats were being fed daily. The study found that there were almost twice as many birds in the park without cats as in the park with cats. California Thrasher and California Quail, two common ground-dwelling birds, were always seen in the park without cats but were never seen in the park with cats. In addition, over 85 percent of the native deer and harvest mice trapped were in the park without cats, whereas over 75 percent of the house mice (an exotic pest) trapped were in the park with cats.
https://www.denix.osd.mil/denix/Public/ES-Programs/Conservation/Legacy/SafeCats/faq_commanders.html

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am SO glad youu left a post at my blog this afternoon.. I agree with every single post you've written.. as I've seen just ONE feral cat on our property kill no less than 5 birds, 3 chipmunks, and a flying squirrel before it was 'removed'. They're smart and do NOT belong out there. When will people wake up?!! Cats do NOT belong outdoors.. and those that let them roam are simply too lazy to be responsible. This subject has long been one of my rants because too many think that their cat is only doing what comes natural.. at the expense of so many wild animals. It's morally and ethically wrong and owners should be bound by laws like dog owners are.. or fined-heavily.
You're spreadding a good message here.. will link to you b4 I forget..
keep up the good work, your words need to be read.. over and over again!
And thanks for the good thoughts.. they mean alot :)

Bird Advocate said...

Thank you, Cindy. You're a Doll! I appreciate your support for our campaign, and a campaign it is, to ahed light on the destruction the spay, neuter abandon and roaming cat enablers cause!

Anonymous said...

Once again an excellent post on this problem. As a dog AND cat owner I am super responsible to make sure they do not get loose, if anything for their own safety. Luckily our property is well guarded by our three dogs so we do not have a cat problem. (They tolerate our cat but to not like outsider cats).

I think massive fines would be a good start to get people to keep their cats inside. As for places like farms where numerous cats roam freely - put up owl boxes, especially for Barn Owls (if in your area) as they are one of the top rodent control mechanisms out there. Nothing quite as effective as a silent bird with razor talons dropping down on a rodent in the dark!

Bird Advocate said...

Thank you, Birdfreak.
Your suggestion about attracting owls to barns is well taken. I used to have a barnyard in the territory of a young red tailed hawk.
He scared the pants off my domestic birds and kept them close to their coops. He may have dined on a few, but I didn't have to worry about stray cats and rats!