Feral Cats Kill 480 Million Birds in the U.S. Each Year - Responsible for 33 Extinctions.
This is the headline at Wildlife News and you can read the whole story there, it's pretty interesting.We all know how loving our furry little felines are. But we also all know what relentless predators they are and that it doesn't matter how well they are fed, they will still kill if simply for the pleasure of it.
It turns out that millions of the birds killed are at bird feeders. This is a tragedy. Essentially baiting a trap.
When I had cats, they were constantly catching doves who would come to the feeders. The sad thing is, they would most often not kill the bird, but leave it so maimed that recovery was impossible. I was forced to kill the bird to end its misery. I would strangle them. I broke my heart each time one of those beautiful little birds died in my hands. I could literally feel its heart stop beating.
I decided to do something about it, and it worked. Here's a few tips from my experience.
- Place the bird feeder in an open place. Give the cats no where to hide and the birds a chance to escape.
- If you hang your feeder, be sure there is plenty of open space under it. The birds will land on the ground to pick the seeds dropped from above. They need at least an 8'-10' head start.
- If you must, fence in the area around or under the feeder. This only requires a small garden type wire fence 24"-36" high. It should be at least 8' in diameter. The cat must jump it which slows him down just enough for the bird to escape. I did this with two of my feeders and it worked very well.
My cat is cool, he likes being out at night and in the rain. The birds don't like either.
ReplyDeleteYour cat is cool Punch.
ReplyDeleteOne of my aunts had a cat that was a terror on song birds. Nearly feral the thing would catch a bird, and like you mention, only injury the bird and bring it to the front door of my aunt and uncle's house.
ReplyDeleteNot trying to be funny but I believe the cat was itself attacked and eaten by a gator. My uncle's house was right next wetlands with plenty of gators.
BB... what goes around comes around. Could have been a great horned owl as well.
ReplyDeleteSo you are saying humanity learned it's ways from felines? That's why I like dogs better. They protect a cat just eats. sleeps and kills.
ReplyDeleteIt would appear there's a direct link between cats and mankind.
ReplyDeleteI do my part; I don't feed the birds because of the stray cats running loose, so the cats don't have a chance to maim or kill a bird. My Fuzz is an indoor cat, he wouldn't know what do with a bird if he ever got one...LOL...
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