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How to stop cats from exterminating wildlife?

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How to stop cats from exterminating wildlife?

#1

Post by adrienchauvet »

Cats, even well fed by their owners, have a tendency to hunt everything that moves once released outside their home. It's estimated that free-ranging domestic cats kill billions of birds and billions of mammals annually. (source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_predation_on_wildlife)

We need a worldwide solution to stop cats’ extermination of wildlife. Of course, most people won’t keep their cats inside, so we need something, maybe a device attached to the cat to make its hunting fail.

Do you have ideas to propose?

Edit: Bells work, but only partially.

Re: How to stop cats from exterminating wildlife?

#5

Post by mytailorisrich »

adrienchauvet wrote: post #3
throwaway-jim wrote: post #2

a bell?

It doesn't work, it even has the opposite effect: https://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/1617982/cat-news-resea...

The wording is not clear. I doubt that it has the 'opposite' effect. I think they mean that the ones with bells brought in the most catches with the suggestion being that the owners put bells on their cats because they bring a lot of catches in the first place, i.e. the best hunters get bells.

The opposite findings on the effect of bells: https://www.conservationevidence.com/actions/2332

Re: How to stop cats from exterminating wildlife?

#6

Post by PaulHoule »

I've got the opposite problem.

We have a food bowl in a room upstairs that gets a lot of indoor wildlife. (There were two times we had a river of ants moving through the room migrating from one place to another, then we never saw the ants again.)

Two months ago I saw a mouse climb into the cat bowl, grab a piece of kibble, then run into a whole between the floorboards and the wall. We have two housecats, one of which is highly aggressive to other cats, but despite numerous conversations (we show each other things all the time) I could not get the cats to recognize the opportunity here and had to use traps and institute a strict policy of putting the food back in storage when the cats were done feeding.

Re: How to stop cats from exterminating wildlife?

#7

Post by adrienchauvet »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #5
adrienchauvet wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't work, it even has the opposite effect: https://www.express.co.uk/news/nature/1617982/cat-news-resea...

The wording is not clear. I doubt that it has the 'opposite' effect. I think they mean that the ones with bells brought in the most catches with the suggestion being that the owners put bells on their cats because they bring a lot of catches in the first place, i.e. the best hunters get bells. The opposite findings on the effect of bells: https://www.conservationevidence.com/actions/2332

Interesting. It works partially though. If we could stop the hunt completely that would be optimal because there are so many cats.

Re: How to stop cats from exterminating wildlife?

#8

Post by adrienchauvet »

mytailorisrich wrote: post #4

Keep in mind that many of the mammals killed by cats are mice and rats that we want to kill anyway. I think a bell goes a long way, as already suggested.

Wild predators already have this job. By raising millions of cats in each countries, the pressure on wild rodents becomes huge. Without talking about wild birds whose populations are plummeting.

Re: How to stop cats from exterminating wildlife?

#9

Post by LinuxBender »

Cats are hard wired to hunt. It isn't their fault. The fault lies with the owners. People in cities can reduce the problem by getting their cat fixed unless their goal is to sell kittens. Having an indoor/outdoor cat is a choice but I believe it is an unhealthy and risky choice as the cat will pick up all manor of infestation which then has to be countered with chemicals that are not safe for the cat or the humans despite what the packaging says. Many people do not even bathe their pets on a regular interval. Worse yet, people trim the claws of their pets which gives them zero ability to defend themselves. If the indoor/outdoor cat is not fixed it will most certainly have kittens and they are hard wired to do this in a place not near bigger mammals like humans so there is a high probability these kittens will become feral cats that will have kittens and the cycle repeats and thus the problem you describe is exacerbated.

This is less of an issue in rural areas that have natural predators for cats. Once in a blue moon I see a cat hunting my chipmunks. I feed horses, deer, chipmunks and about 20 species of birds. Even then it is rare to see a cat here as they are hunted by coyotes, large owls, eagles and mountain lions. I just had 3 giant eagles in my driveway eating a deer that didn't look both ways before crossing the highway. Feral cats do not last long with them around. For that reason alone people in rural areas should keep their cats indoors or avoid getting a cat in the first place. It is not fair to put domesticated animals in the mix with bigger predators.

Re: How to stop cats from exterminating wildlife?

#10

Post by shagie »

throwaway-jim wrote: post #2

a bell?

For a bit, I put a bell on my cat. He's a house cat, I just wanted to hear where about he was going through the house.

Within a few days he had figured out how to walk around the house without causing the bell to ring. The only time I'd hear it make a noise is if he had late night zoomies and go running up and down the stairs.

Another consideration - imagine having a phone around your neck that beeped fairly loudly at an annoying frequency each time you moved. Its really annoying and hurts their ears (their hearing being more sensitive).

Bells on collars don't solve the problem and make it worse for all animals involved.

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