Released: May 23, 2005

Cats Still Wild at Heart

JUNCTION CITY, Kan. – Could Americans’ No. 1 pet – that sweet, purring kitty that curls up in your lap every evening and keeps you company when you’re sick – be a killer?

“Absolutely!” said Chuck Otte, natural resources agent with Kansas State University Research and Extension. “Rat control is why early European settlers brought cats into North America. Being a predator is what cats are practicing when they play. It’s their nature. They hunt. They pounce. They kill. Unfortunately, though, when they play outdoors, songbirds are one of their favorite preys.”

Cats will kill for fun, as well as food, he said. Researchers have found that whether a house cat gets a food subsidy from humans each day doesn’t seem to make much difference.

That’s why Otte is hoping cat owners will keep their pets indoors – at least through June. Late spring brings easy prey in the form of eggs, brooding adults, nestlings and fledglings.

“Spring is always when cats do the greatest harm to our songbird populations,” said Otte, who is an officer in the Kansas Ornithological Society. “As you might expect, summer is second – not only because migrating birds are here for the season but also because some species have a second brood.

“Anyway, keeping cats inside year-round wouldn’t be cruel. My cats have always been happy there, and any vet will tell you cats are healthier and will live longer if kept indoors.”

“Belling” cats isn’t a good compromise, he added. In general, a cat’s balance while stalking can keep a collar bell mute. Typically, collar bells sound only as cats jump and land on their prey.

University of Wisconsin ornithologist Stantley Temple probably has done the most in-field research on the bird-cat problem. He estimates that free-ranging domestic cats in rural Wisconsin are killing at least 39 million birds in the state each year. He has yet to count the suburban and urban losses.

“Those kinds of studies are why most estimates suggest cats are killing about 1 million birds every day in the United States. That’s far more devastating to birds than any oil spill we’ve ever experienced,” Otte said. “In fact, some experts believe that habitat loss and cats are the No. 1 and No. 2 reasons for the extinction of bird species worldwide.”

Feral cats – usually abandoned by a human – are the worst, he said, because they kill for food, as well as fun. Temple’s studies identified one feral cat that had killed more than 1,000 prey in a year.

“Experts believe free-roaming urban housecats are more likely to kill about 14 wildlife per year,” Otte said. “But, since the last U.S. Census found some 60 million pet cats – not counting our feral cats or many barn cats – that alone could add up to a loss of 840 million birds a year.”

He added that cats tend to kill two to three other kinds of prey for every bird, including rats, mice and voles.

“In a way, that’s a good thing, but it’s also harmful to wild predators. It reduces their available food,” Otte said. “It does it unfairly, too. Wildlife doesn’t get the housing, balanced diet and medical care that pets do. Yet, it can certainly catch cat diseases. Domestic cats have spread the feline leukemia virus to mountain lions and recently may have infected the endangered Florida panther with feline distemper.”

Beyond that, he said, North American birds still don’t seem to fear cats as they fear predators that always have been part of the continent’s food chain (foxes, coyotes bobcats etc.). Domestic cat numbers don’t decline as natural predators’ do when times are hard. Cats’ territory expands effortlessly with each new housing development. And, their entire history with humans in the United States credits them with being a loving pet and good rodent control.

Being a bird lover and cat fan, Otte said he would prefer that farmers use snakes, not cats, to limit rodent numbers around barns and other storage buildings – even though snakes eat eggs and birds, too. Being a realist, however, he also recommends feeding barn cats, so the mousers have less reason to hunt further afield.

“They’ll still have fun in the barn, yet not need to search for food in your wooded areas,” he said.

Otte also wishes Kansas had legislation to handle the problem of feral cats.

“It was controversial, but in public hearings Wisconsin residents recently backed a proposal to allow hunters to stalk and kill feral cats. Of course, that wasn’t and isn’t the only possible solution, as the Wisconsin legislature decided later. Even so, some naturalists there are now saying pet owners should treat the vote as a wake-up call. We all need to be more responsible about our feline friends,” he said.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Kathleen Ward
kward@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News