I don't have a cat . . .
. . . . but if I had one, what brand and type of cat food should I feed it?:@
Forum Discussion
I would say that doing the same thing that has been done for decades should not cntinue, because clearly it is not working. But that is not "nothing.". What has been done for decades is killing.
Certainly wildlife people should be looking at whether or not a reduced/aged cat population correlates to an increased bird populations. If it does not, then other factors are at play.
Many asssertions are made that cats are having a negative effect on bird populations. And yet, where I live now and where I lived last, are both areas with substantial feral and free roaming cat populations and both have robust and varied bird populations as well. The tree outside my bedroom explodes in sound every morning and the blackbirds have two nests per year in the blue spruce (cat proof as it is too nasty to climb) outside of my livingroom window. I have seen birds here that I have never seen before.
As a crazy cat woman, I do not want to see cats living as ferals. I would love to work with the bird people, say, on reducing and eventually eliminating that issue. And like a lot of cat people, I am not a fan of cats roaming freely outside even if they do have homes. And again, as is the case with most cat people, I think that we need a lot more spay and neuter and a much smaller cat population of wanted and well cared for cats.
You would think that those positions would create some sort of starting place to work with wildlife (bird) advocates. But you would be wrong. The only "solution" Audobon will consider is killing cats, in spite of decades of evidence that killing cats does not work. To the point of suggesting publicly in writing that people put out tylenol laced food to poison them.
So unfortunately, collaboration does not occur. Progress is being made as communities move from killing to TNR. But it is slow.
Certainly wildlife people should be looking at whether or not a reduced/aged cat population correlates to an increased bird populations. If it does not, then other factors are at play.
Many asssertions are made that cats are having a negative effect on bird populations. And yet, where I live now and where I lived last, are both areas with substantial feral and free roaming cat populations and both have robust and varied bird populations as well. The tree outside my bedroom explodes in sound every morning and the blackbirds have two nests per year in the blue spruce (cat proof as it is too nasty to climb) outside of my livingroom window. I have seen birds here that I have never seen before.
As a crazy cat woman, I do not want to see cats living as ferals. I would love to work with the bird people, say, on reducing and eventually eliminating that issue. And like a lot of cat people, I am not a fan of cats roaming freely outside even if they do have homes. And again, as is the case with most cat people, I think that we need a lot more spay and neuter and a much smaller cat population of wanted and well cared for cats.
You would think that those positions would create some sort of starting place to work with wildlife (bird) advocates. But you would be wrong. The only "solution" Audobon will consider is killing cats, in spite of decades of evidence that killing cats does not work. To the point of suggesting publicly in writing that people put out tylenol laced food to poison them.
So unfortunately, collaboration does not occur. Progress is being made as communities move from killing to TNR. But it is slow.
