Remember that wonderful cartoon starring Tweety Pie, the happy little birdie who was relentlessly stalked by the hapless, scheming cat, Sylvester? Well, it turns out that little Tweety might have been right. According to an article in today's New York Times titled: "Tweety Was Right: Cats Are a Bird's No. 1 Enemy", cats, (both feral and house cats) kill more little birdies than initially thought. "The American Bird Conservancy estimates that up to 500 million birds are killed each year by cats-about half by pets and half by feral felines." Read the full article here: www.nytimes.com/2011/03/21/science/21birds.html?scp=1&sq=Tweety%20was%20Right&st=cse
My housemate, Bella, has asked that she be allowed to respond to what she sees as a clear case of "cat bashing" in this article. So I cede the stage to Ms. Bella-take it away!
Well, let me begin by saying that I am horrified by this article and the obviously skewed statistics it contains. Let me rebut a few of their contentions one by one:
1. I, for one, do not leave the house-ever! That's why they call me a "house cat". Now, I understand that some cats do live both indoors and outdoors, coming and going as they please. But from what I've read, humans have become more aware of the diseases and other dangers lurking outdoors and tend to keep their beloved felines always behind the looking glass, so to speak. I have no desire to go outside-why should I when I have both acomplete sucker for a lovely human and a goofy wonderful dog to keep me entertained?
2. Notice that the article cites the number of birds killed by these alleged "house cats", a whopping 500 million, but not the total number of cats that are doing all of this killing. I think it's probably just a handful of rotten apples giving the rest of us a bad name!
3. Most cats I know, particularly those lucky enough to have some sort of home, sleep about 20 hours a day. The rest of the time, we're grooming ourselves and torturing our human and four-legged companions. Duh! When would we have time to hunt birds?
4. And finally, listen to the insulting diatribe that closes this article: "Household cats were introduced to North America by European colonists; they are regarded as an invasive species and have few natural enemies to check their numbers. They are like gypsy moths and kudzu-they cause major ecological disruption." Invasive species? Major ecological disruption? I beg your pardon!
I'm exhausted from being insulted like this-a nap is clearly in order.
What do you all think? Do you keep your cats only indoors, or let them come and go as they please?
My housemate, Bella, has asked that she be allowed to respond to what she sees as a clear case of "cat bashing" in this article. So I cede the stage to Ms. Bella-take it away!
1. I, for one, do not leave the house-ever! That's why they call me a "house cat". Now, I understand that some cats do live both indoors and outdoors, coming and going as they please. But from what I've read, humans have become more aware of the diseases and other dangers lurking outdoors and tend to keep their beloved felines always behind the looking glass, so to speak. I have no desire to go outside-why should I when I have both a
2. Notice that the article cites the number of birds killed by these alleged "house cats", a whopping 500 million, but not the total number of cats that are doing all of this killing. I think it's probably just a handful of rotten apples giving the rest of us a bad name!
3. Most cats I know, particularly those lucky enough to have some sort of home, sleep about 20 hours a day. The rest of the time, we're grooming ourselves and torturing our human and four-legged companions. Duh! When would we have time to hunt birds?
4. And finally, listen to the insulting diatribe that closes this article: "Household cats were introduced to North America by European colonists; they are regarded as an invasive species and have few natural enemies to check their numbers. They are like gypsy moths and kudzu-they cause major ecological disruption." Invasive species? Major ecological disruption? I beg your pardon!
I'm exhausted from being insulted like this-a nap is clearly in order.
What do you all think? Do you keep your cats only indoors, or let them come and go as they please?
8 comments:
Oh, sheesh. My cats are indoor, but I used to have a couple who split their time both in and out. I did everything I could to prevent them from getting the birds, from bells/tags on the collars to restricting bird baths, feeders etc. (These things can set the poor birds up as a cat's meal.) In the last 15 years, we've never known one of our cats to kill a bird.
Mice and voles/moles, on the other hand, are a different story. They have not traditionally fared well.
I'd love to know what the rodent population would look like without the domestic cat around (in a controlled study, obviously).
Bocci and Bella
I don't have a kitteh(I wish I did , but Daddi is tewwibully lewgic) I happen to think that was most skewed and insulting. Most of the kitties I know awe just like you. Living the good life in indoow comfowt , sneeping, playing eating sneeping and entewtaining theiw family.
I'm so sowwy you wewe so insulted Bella
Hope youw nap makes you feel bettew
smoochie kisses
ASTA
Well Bella, if you had been at my house on Friday, you could have caught your own bird! We had one in the house! I was stuck in the bedroom with my mom while my grandpa went after it, we definitely could have used a cat! Stop by my blog and read the story!
Woof!
Kirby
If I had a khytty, it would be indoors - and maybe in my tummy -
Seriously, we know this is a real issue - and Mom gets angry and sad when she sees Butterskhotch snag 'em -
Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
I Tell ya Bella.....Gram says ya look just like a kitty the had years ago named Spike. He was an indoors/outdoors cat who used ta bring his freshly exterminated friends ta the sliding glass door so Gram 'n Pap could see what he was upta and reward 'em lavishly.
If he ever was locked indoor for any period of time he would bellow loudly in an attempt to tell the Peepers exactly how much he hated ta be cooped up.
But if yer Peepers feel ya should be an indoors cat 'n yer comfortable bein' one, then that's how ya should live....
Dewey Dewster here....
Love those pictures - cute cats!
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Casual Dish
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