Cats killing billions of animals in the US

[cronus]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21236690

Cats killing billions of animals in the US

Cats are one of the top threats to US wildlife, killing billions of animals each year, a study suggests.

The authors estimate they are responsible for the deaths of between 1.4 and 3.7 billion birds and 6.9-20.7 billion mammals annually.

Writing in Nature Communications, the scientists said stray and feral cats were the worst offenders.

However, they added that pet cats also played a role and that owners should do more to reduce their impact.

The authors concluded that more animals are dying at the claws of cats in the United States than in road accidents, collisions with buildings or poisonings.

The domestic cat's killer instinct of has been well documented on many islands around the world.

Felines accompanying their human companions have gone on to decimate local wildlife, and they have been blamed for the global extinction of 33 species.

But their impact on the mainland has been harder to chart.

To find out more, researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service carried out a review of studies that had previously looked at the predatory prowess of cats.

Their analysis revealed that the cat killings were much higher than previous studies had suggested: they found that they had killed more than four times as many birds as has been previously estimated.

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[Bella Fortuna]

DOING HIS PART EVERY CHANCE HE GETS

[hadespussercats]

DOING HIS PART EVERY CHANCE HE GETS

[Gawdzilla Sama]

No mice around here.

[mistermack]

Where are all those guns, when they could actually do some good?

Forget the Buffler, and the Passenger Pidgeons. Blast some of them pesky moggies. They look great on the wall, and my old granny used to make a rootn tootn catsmeat stew. Goes great with grits.

[SteveB]

You don't say..

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

[Jason]

Turns out cat farts are the prime source of methane gases in the world. Prepare for the great cat cull.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Turns out cat farts are the prime source of methane gases in the world. Prepare for the great cat cull.

There will be blood.

[SteveB]

The farts just keep you warm in a cold winters night.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

The farts just keep you warm in a cold winters night.

Ian runs his car on cat farts.

[hadespussercats]

Turns out cat farts are the prime source of methane gases in the world. Prepare for the great cat cull.

I have never heard my cat fart. I wonder if she does.

Maybe she waits til we leave the room.

[Coito ergo sum]

I had the best cat ever when I was a kid. He lived like 20 years, and for the first 15 was a great "mouser." Every spring the yard would be littered with mice, moles and birds. I saw him bag a Bluejay by sneaking up stealthily behind it and jumping it. He caught snakes, squirrels and anything else that moved. The most gentle thing in the world when it came to people, though.

[Seabass]

Hmmm. Merkin cats killing other animals. Why am I not surprised.

[Bella Fortuna]

Hmmm. Merkin cats killing other animals. Why am I not surprised.

Non-Merkin cats are all like

[SteveB]

I had the best cat ever when I was a kid. He lived like 20 years, and for the first 15 was a great "mouser." Every spring the yard would be littered with mice, moles and birds. I saw him bag a Bluejay by sneaking up stealthily behind it and jumping it. He caught snakes, squirrels and anything else that moved. The most gentle thing in the world when it came to people, though.

My mom swears our last cat, Tigger, lived for 25 years. We had to put her down because she couldn't retain water.