I read this article from New York Times about cats are bird's enemy #1 . Besides the "duh" factor, what caught my eye is the article's statement that "they are regarded as an invasive species and have few natural enemies to check their numbers". The author made it seem like our environment will be in danger unless we eliminated all the (EVIL!) cats in the wild and keep all our pet cats indoors only. Is that true or hysteria?
It may seem like cats are an invasive species because:
1) They are introduced by humans.
2) They eat all kinds of small animals, including birds, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and insects.
3) A female cat can have up to 5 litters per year with an average of 3 kittens per litter, which means cat population can explode unless there's other factors to keep the population in check.
However, let's not forget why the cats were introduced in the first place. Cats were first domesticated to serve as pest controls to keep other invasive species (ie, rats) in check! In the US, they are still used for this purpose in many farms. Research also confirms that 64% of the cat's prey were other introduced invasive species. During a 2009 study in a World Heritage Site Macquarie Island, they found that removing the cats as "invasive species" caused more than $24 Million of environmental damage as the other invasive species that the scientists were not aware of took over the island after the cats are gone and cause much more devastation.
So what does it all mean? Cats might have an environmental impact (by killing local birds), but the solution is not as simple as just removing them. A good understanding on the exact role cats play in the current environment is key to determine what course of action is best. A combination of methods such as "Spay-neuter-release" for feral cat population management and encouraging cat owners to keep their cat indoors need to be considered and evaluated. What we don't want to do is to spend a lot of money on cat removal, only to find ourselves with worse environmental damage after the cats are gone.
What do you think? Are cats nothing but evil to our environment?
3 comments:
So sad to think of cats as evil (though I have met a few evil ones!). Never was a cat lover until we found our 2 sweet kittys at the shelter. We keep them indoors only. Maybe more responsible owners would help with the over population?
Trisha, I agree with you! Being a cat rescuer myself I definitely think that having more responsible owners is key.
what a thought provoking post! I am allergic to cats so I have not really thought about this before. I am came over on the homefront blog hop!
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