Cute Cuddly deadly kitties

29 Jan 2013 17:39 #1 by pacamom
I was surprised by the numbers. My cat always tries to escape out the door, but once he makes it, he is terrified and runs back in.

"In a report that scaled up local surveys and pilot studies to national dimensions, scientists from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that domestic cats in the United States — both the pet Fluffies that spend part of the day outdoors and the unnamed strays and ferals that never leave it — kill a median of 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals a year, most of them native mammals like shrews, chipmunks and voles rather than introduced pests like the Norway rat."


http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/scien ... ml?hp&_r=0

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

29 Jan 2013 18:12 #2 by Blazer Bob
I remember this story from years, maybe decades ago, there was a movement to bell out door cats for the very same reason.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

29 Jan 2013 18:24 #3 by FredHayek
But Voles are pests and rodents...

Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

29 Jan 2013 19:31 #4 by otisptoadwater
I'm not a cat fan but there are a couple of feral cats that have setup shop around my place and they do a good job of keeping down the vermin. They don't want anything to with me or the Wundermutt and that seems to be fine with all parties. I don't put any food or water out for them and they don't come around looking for anything other than what they can find on their own.

I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.

"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him; better take a closer look at the American Indian." - Henry Ford

Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges; When the Republic is at its most corrupt the laws are most numerous. - Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

29 Jan 2013 22:38 #5 by pacamom
Replied by pacamom on topic Cute Cuddly deadly kitties

Blazer Bob wrote: I remember this story from years, maybe decades ago, there was a movement to bell out door cats for the very same reason.


They reference a report that was submitted in Sep 2012 and just published this month. I am sure there have been lots of published articles about this. I just thought the numbers were incredible.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

30 Jan 2013 08:36 #6 by Rick
Replied by Rick on topic Cute Cuddly deadly kitties
Cats are evil... I got bit by one and my hand swelled up like a grapefruit :angry:

It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers−out of unorthodoxy

George Orwell

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

30 Jan 2013 09:25 #7 by pacamom
Replied by pacamom on topic Cute Cuddly deadly kitties

Rick wrote: Cats are evil... I got bit by one and my hand swelled up like a grapefruit :angry:



Tell me about it - I got bit right thru the knuckle. It was one of those "let me sit down, I am going to pass out moments".

But I still like cats - mine doesn't bite me.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

30 Jan 2013 10:56 #8 by Mtn Gramma
Two of our kittens ambush me, with malice aforethought, on a regular basis. I'm their wildlife substitute, as none of our cats go outside.

Our next-door neighbor has two indoor/outdoor cats that are phenomenal hunters. We haven't had mice in the garage for a couple of years, and they stalk the woodpile all summer keeping down the chipmunk population. I don't like them getting the birds that feed below the seed feeders, however.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

30 Jan 2013 18:39 #9 by otisptoadwater

Rick wrote: Cats are evil... I got bit by one and my hand swelled up like a grapefruit :angry:


I could be wrong but don't think you are supposed to pick cats up by the tail... :Whistle

I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.

"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him; better take a closer look at the American Indian." - Henry Ford

Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges; When the Republic is at its most corrupt the laws are most numerous. - Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

30 Jan 2013 22:26 #10 by pineinthegrass
Then again, if a cat gets out at night, that cat might find it's own deadly enemies out in the dark. Maybe even in the day, up here in the mountains.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

Time to create page: 0.134 seconds
Powered by Kunena Forum
sponsors
© My Mountain Town (new)
Google+