Cats and Birds - the RSPB 'truth'.

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K

kes

Well-Known Member
For those who may be interested here are 3 scholarly articles setting out the lethal nature of cats and the consequences for wildlife.
The RSPB reference (last and obvious) suggests these birds were 'probably' the weakest and would die in a hard winter. They dont mention all the other wild things that cats kill.



https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5004/cf68e0fe16c6fceb6c39c0df0fa2cf186206.pdf

The Moral Cost of Cats

https://www.mammal.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Domestic-Cat-Predation-on-Wildlife.pdf





Cats and Birds | Are Cats Causing Bird Declines? - The RSPB

Below is the latest comment by Mr Avery on why WJ is bringing the challenge;

“There is reasonable evidence that these birds could be having an impact. People forget that pheasants go around gobbling up adders, lizards and all sorts of invertebrates. All these dead pheasants [from shooting and roadkill] are feeding foxes, carrion crows and others, which go on to eat other, rarer species.


So having your cake and eating it is essentially a part of WJ see underlined above. Phesants are not the main culprits for the italicised comments - cats are - see above

Also, non of these released birds are apparently eaten or go into the food chain. WL are liars, pure and simple.
 
We have a chicken farm across the road from us from which there seems to be a never ending stream of semi-feral moggies coming into our garden and little wood. I can think of about half a dozen different ones that I have seen in the last few weeks alone. They presumably have them to keep the 'vermin' down, but we have dormice and I can't help wondering how many of these they kill a year along with all the songbirds which are under enough pressure from the Magpies, Crows and Squirrels without throwing cats into the mix as well. Virtually every songbird nest I find ends up being predated before the youngsters fledge.

For the RSPB to say cats don't predate on birds like skylarks is ludicrous - the cats opposite us are always hunting in and around the fields in the local vicinity and we do have skylarks in those same fields so there is more than a strong possibility they will be predating them.

Any suggestions as to legal methods of discouraging these moggies from our property would be welcomed - our big dog doesn't seem to deter them much and while lead poisoning at 1000fps plus would certainly work, it might just not be legal!
 
Talk about the elephant in the room. I’ve often wondered what the total number of things killed by cats was likely to be. That last U.K. study seems pretty robust.

We have 2 cats, without them we would be over run with mice every winter. They do take the odd bird, maybe 3 or 4 a year, I hate it when they do. A coupe of weeks ago I was up a ladder building a barrier to stop them getting a nest of house martins after one of the cats climbed up the side of the house!

This kind of information needs spreading far and wide.
 
mealiejimmy said:
We operate a 100 metre rule - any cat seen more than 100 metres from an occupied dwelling is deemed to be feral and is liable to be shot

Cheers

Bruce
Click to expand...
That is likely to land you in trouble, domestic moggies will roam way further than that. Plus I’d be ****ed off if someone was shooting within 100m of my house, unless it was someone I knew.
 
The fourth Horseman said:
Cage trap em! More than half mile from home they are feral in my book.
Click to expand...

how do you get them to tell you where they live?? offer them a plate of "whiskers" :rofl:

I remember lamping foxes the old way with a battery lamp man and the shooter, "there's one" says the lamp man,
looking through the scope I see a well fed ginger tomcat, "its a cat" I said,
"shoot it anyway its feral", says the lamp man.
"it's doing bloody well for itself then, it's got a full belly and a diamante collar"
 
FISH BOY said:
Strategically placed mint plants seem to keep cats out of our garden now.
Click to expand...
odd? Cats love mint, honeysuckle and catnip.
Cats steer clear of strong citrus scents
Cats dislike the smell of rue, lavender and pennyroyal, Coleus canina and lemon thyme
 
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Our ex neighbours, who were passionate anti hunting LACS members, owned four cats which, of course, proved what great animal 'lovers' they were.
Presumably they justified the terror and destruction their cats caused the local songbird, small mammal (including Dormice and Pippestrelle bats), reptile and amphibian populations, by the pleasure they got from keeping them.
Whether or not cats impact significantly on national populations of wildlife I do not know. That they do locally I have no doubt and the fact that we have no legally effective way of dealing with them when in our garden is, to say the least, frustrating. Perhaps, as they have a detrimental effect on our enjoyment of our private property, the owners could be charged with causing a nuisance. But then, as these people have no responsibility in law for the actions of their pets, that'd be a non starter. What to do..........?
Of course, as far as the RSPB are concerned, they depend on cat owning 'animal lovers' for a significant part of their membership income. Perish the thought that they would condemn cat ownership.
 
Slightly off topic but - My father was a very keen gardener, He especially loved his flower garden and as such he hated cats "scratching and squatting" in his flower garden. He was also a dab hand with a catapult. Unless you were to see it for yourself you really can not imagine how high a cat will jump when a moth ball shot from a home made catapult connects with the said cat's back side!
Yes I know it might be frowned on or even illegal but I don't mind printing this now, the authorities can do whatever they like about it, he's been dead for over 20 years now!
 
Crepuscular Charlie said:
Our ex neighbours, who were passionate anti hunting LACS members, owned four cats which, of course, proved what great animal 'lovers' they were.
Presumably they justified the terror and destruction their cats caused the local songbird, small mammal (including Dormice and Pippestrelle bats), reptile and amphibian populations, by the pleasure they got from keeping them.
Whether or not cats impact significantly on national populations of wildlife I do not know. That they do locally I have no doubt and the fact that we have no legally effective way of dealing with them when in our garden is, to say the least, frustrating. Perhaps, as they have a detrimental effect on our enjoyment of our private property, the owners could be charged with causing a nuisance. But then, as these people have no responsibility in law for the actions of their pets, that'd be a non starter. What to do..........?
Of course, as far as the RSPB are concerned, they depend on cat owning 'animal lovers' for a significant part of their membership income. Perish the thought that they would condemn cat ownership.
Click to expand...

My old fella would flatten anyone (cat that is) that entered our garden, that is if it managed to get through the Manor woods at the back of our cottage
Pigs used to readily dispose of anything.
 
The fourth Horseman said:
My old fella would flatten anyone (cat that is) that entered our garden, that is if it managed to get through the Manor woods at the back of our cottage
Pigs used to readily dispose of anything.
Click to expand...

:rofl: hey "bricktop" was your dad,, how'bout that.;)
You need at least sixteen pigs to finish the job in one sitting, so be wary of any man who keeps a pig farm. They will go through a body that weighs 200 pounds in about eight minutes. That means that a single pig can consume two pounds of uncooked flesh every minute. Hence the expression, "as greedy as a pig."
 
I remember lamping foxes the old way with a battery lamp man and the shooter, "there's one" says the lamp man,
looking through the scope I see a well fed ginger tomcat, "its a cat" I said,
"shoot it anyway its feral", says the lamp man.
"it's doing bloody well for itself then, it's got a full belly and a diamante collar"
Click to expand...

I'm just glad I wasn't drinking a cup of tea when I read that. It would have been all over my keyboard. A classic! :tiphat:
 
riddick said:
odd? Cats love mint, honeysuckle and catnip.
Cats steer clear of strong citrus scents
Cats dislike the smell of rue, lavender and pennyroyal, Coleus canina and lemon thyme
Click to expand...

Lol pretty sure its mint and the neighbours cats havent crapped under my kids trampoline since.

Must admit the Mrs was in charge of that operation, but it has seemed to work. I assumed it was anything with a strong smell that worked. Lol personally I hate the smell of lavender :lol:
 
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