Can we win for the cats, and help save birds as well? Yes, we can!

I am convinced of this. Even among all the naysayers and the multi-million-dollar environmental groups that oppose our work, I still think we are on the right path! The cats need defenders, they deserve to live, and they deserve to have someone fight for them. We are their only voice. And by sterilizing stray and feral cats, we are (and for decades have been) saving cats’ lives through nonlethal control, reducing the numbers of outdoors cats in a scientific and humane way, thus helping birds and wildlife as well.

Are cats hunters? Are cats carnivores? Do cats kill birds and wildlife? Do we, the TNR people, care about this?

A resounding YES to all of the above.

Cats do hunt---but this is a complex issue. Not all cats hunt. And most cats catch rodents not birds. They are built to be rodent specialists.  And yes, TNR people who support the cats do care about birds and other wildlife. I love all creatures. I rescue and save earthworms from the pavement during rainstorms and I rescue and relocate spiders to places where they will be safe. I only kill mosquitoes, flies and fleas. Nothing else.

The real issue, as wildlife biologist Roger Tabor put it, is whether prey populations can sustain the predation.

On continents, prey species have survived predation for centuries. In fact “The State of the Birds Report 2009” states: “The urban/suburban indicator, based on data for 114 native bird species, shows a steady, strong increase during the past 40 years…”

FOLKS, THIS HAS TO BE HIGHLIGHTED:  IT IS A MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT OF THE CAT PREDATION AND BIRDS-IN-DECLINE ISSUE.

 The truth is that most feral cats live in urban and suburban areas, and yet urban birds continue to increase. The truth is that in feral cats have a propensity to scavenge from human trash, plus of course when humans see them scavenging, they put out cat food. Plus the cat is a rodent specialist and even when he has to hunt to fend for himself, small mammals are much easier for him to catch.

Now, having been shown clearly that bird populations in urban areas have been increasing each and every year for 40 years, and for years before that urban birds population numbers remained the same, do the evironmental groups ever point this out?

Let me see: They extrapolate and exaggerate the numbers of birds killed by cats, and they do not make anything of the fact that urban bird populations are increasing, even though most of the “millions” of feral and outdoor strays live in urban environments?

I am thinking that perhaps they have another agenda? An anti-cat bias?

This is sad not only for cats but for birds as well.

Recent research by David I. King of the USDA Forest Service Northeastern Research Station and John H. Rappole of the Smithsonian Conservation and Research Center points scientists in a different direction in the search for the cause of bird declines. While many scientists worry about loss of breeding habitat, the evidence gathered by King and Rappole indicates that the blame may rest more with destruction of the tropical habitat where the birds spend winters.

In Tropic Cascades: Predators, Prey, and the Changing Dynamics of Nature, editors John Terborgh and James A. Estes show how numerous studies have highlighted the perverse consequences that can result from  “nuisance control”: the unleashing of even worse nuisances (i.e.mesopredators). For example control of raccoons in Florida to protect sea turtle eggs paradoxically resulted in increased predation on the eggs because another predator, the ghost crab, was released from control by raccoons.

And a poisoning program recently on an island in Alaska's Aleutian chain, intended to save native birds from introduced rats, has caused the death of more than 420 birds, including 46 Bald Eagles.

The rodenticide brodifacoum was applied and caused the death of Gulls who ate the bait, and then Bald Eagles died from eating the Gull carcasses.

This is not an isolated case. This has been happening in islands for many years.

According to Australian environmentalist Frankie Seymour, lethal control of “alien” animals does not work. She says: “Reducing a population of mislocated animals is a complete waste of time (and money) unless you are prepared to keep on reducing it—killing and killing and killing, generation after generation after generation. The moment you turn your back for a year or a season, the population will return to full occupation of all available niches.

“Lethal competitor animal control methods are about temporary concealment of problems. They exist to provide farmers with an on-going excuse for rural mismanagement, and governments with an enemy they can blame instead of addressing the real causes of environmental and ecological degradation.”             

 How can we really help birds? 

1) Reduce your paper and wood consumption-- use cloth bags for shopping

2) Reduce your oil consumption --start a carpool--ride your bike-- take mass transportation.

3) Reduce your beef consumption--especially fast food & processed beef to save rainforests.

4) Hold businesses accountable-- for practices that are socially or environmentally destructive.

5) Support sustainable farming--support The ‘Fair Trade’ movement

6) Buy “Bird-Friendly” (Shade-Grown) coffee, bananas, and chocolate-- grown under the canopy of trees instead of clear cutting.

7) Plant a garden for Birds--blackberries and wild cherries--dogwoods, spicebush, conifers, bayberry, hawthorns, crabapples, sunflowers

8) Rescue and TNR all those stray and feral cats in your neighborhood. Get your neighborhood involved in a Spay/Neuter Marathon to get homeowners’ cats fixed.

Killing and shooting feral cats??

LINCOLN, Neb. -- A report that recommends killing feral cats as a way to control the animals, including a primer on how to shoot a cat, is stirring emotions among bird and cat lovers.
The University of Nebraska at Lincoln's study found that neutering or spaying is ineffective at eliminating feral cat colonies, though useful in reducing colonies' expansion.
One official from the American Bird Conservancy calls the report "a must read" for communities with a feral cat problem.
But critics note the wild cats help control rodent populations, and say habitat destruction, herbicides and other issues are a bigger threat to birds.
They also question the report's finding that feral cats' killing of birds costs the U.S. $17 billion, when accounting for how much bird watchers, hunters and others spend on the hobbies.

From Louise Holton, Alley Cat Rescue : Feral cat TNR DOES work

First go to Vox Felina's webpages and read about how these so-called "studies" on cat predation are all flawed and exaggerated. Secondly, TNR DOES work. I have TNR'd many colonies during the last 20 years that no longer exist today. The cats all died eventually---some at 12 to 15 years old. (so much for "feral cats live short, miserable lives".)
The thing is they (the anti-cat folks) look at a couple of colonies who still have cats in them 15 or so years later, and say TNR does not work. The truth of this is the U S is a CONTINENT and we have no laws or even ways of implementing any laws to force people to sterilize their housecats. Nor can our animal control agencies keep up with people abandoning cats, so colonies will have a constant influx of new animals. But in every colony on a college campus, or any of the colonies the anti-cat people cite, the numbers are down from around 1,000 to even 2,000 cats to 500 or less.
Thing is: THEY will not listen. THEY have made up their minds that feral cats are Invasive, alien, exotic pests (even though cats have been living in the U.S. for over 500 years in a feral state) and have taken over as Mesopredators as we killed all the larger predators such as wolves and cougars.
Every study shows that even if cats rely solely on hunting, rodents are their main prey. A small number of cats become "bird specialists" but for the main part, actually feral cats live in cities and urban areas, and their main source of food is HUMAN GARBAGE.
ALSO....Only on small islands have they been able to eliminate feral cats, and some islands took 16 years (Marion Island) to do this, and other islands (Macquarie) became a disaster zone after they eliminated feral cats. So how in the heck do they plan to wipe out millions of cats on a Continent? And what will happen to our cruelty laws? So you are then allowed to go out and shoot any cat at will? What about pet cats??
I could write a book on this topic, but don't want to go on too much. Let's finish with a warning from Dr. John Terborgh in his book "Tropic Cascades": Dr Terborgh warned that eradication of cats alone on islands could result in a release in the rat populations and intensify bird declines. Now imagine the rat populations exploding on continental USA?
Dr Lilith in Australia found that protecting and restoring the habitats of declining native wildlife may be MORE IMPORTANT than simply controlling where pets can go. She said there was a popular perception that cats were the main problem in conserving small mammals, but vegetation and ground cover density appear to be a more important issue.

Cat Tales

I am starting to write a Weekly Blog for the first time! My name is Louise and I have been rescuing cats--stray and feral-- my whole life, although this past-time has escalated over the past 2 decades to becoming much of my life.

I am the co-founder of Alley Cat Allies and the Founder of Alley Cat Rescue. I work full-time for Alley Cat Rescue. We rescue stray, abandoned and owner-relinquished cats and provide them full medical care and find them new homes. ACR also promotes TNR-trap-neuter-return for feral cats. Providing feral cats with a better life is a mission for me, and we help people nationwide in the U.S. and internationally to find assistance for this compassionate work. Helping people who don't want the cat killed through our Cat Action Teams to give them the names of a low-cost vet clinic, where to find traps etc etc.

I have written many Fact Sheets on all aspects of helping feral cats and have also published an award-winning Feral Cat Hand Book, which I am in the process of updating.

ACR runs a weekly spay/neuter clinic for stray and feral cats at an animal clinic in the Brentwood/ Mount Rainer area of Maryland.

It has been a huge struggle to fight for feral cats. They are much-maligned and hated by many. Misinformation has been spread about cat predation, claims about bird predation are hugely exaggerated. Counties and towns want to hunt them and poison them. The so-called "experts" have done quite a job to the point where even otherwise sensible people start believing all the bad press.

They have become a scapegoat for the environmental movement ---blamed for the demise of wildlife and bird populations. I will be writing much more on this topic as I get going with this Blog!

For now this is my very first attempt. So I hope anyone who reads this will respond with their own stories and Cat Tales! I love all animals, so Cat Tales will not be the only topic discussed here.