Birds and Cats
WSO has joined the American Humane Association, the Humane Society of the United States, and the American Bird Conservancy in an effort to protect both wildlife and domestic cats by getting cat owners to keep their pet cats indoors. At the July 1998 meeting of the WSO Board of Directors, the Board agreed to spend up to $600 to promote the Cats Indoors! campaign. Since that time, 1750 of the Keeping Cats Indoors Isn't Just for the Birds! brochures have been obtained from the American Bird Conservancy, and another 750 are ordered.
The mailing list of the small animal clinics in the state was obtained from the Wisconsin Veterinary Medical Association and a letter, along with a brochure, was sent to about 230 clinics asking them to give the brochures to their cat-owner clients. As of 20 October 1998, 15 clinics had requested and received brochures (usually 100).
If you wish to help spread the word that keeping cats indoors is good for both cats, birds, and wildlife, or to obtain a brochure, please contact Bill Mueller, WSO Conservation Chair, 414-643-7279 / iltlawas@earthlink.net.
For further information about the research behind the campaign, please contact Dr. Stan Temple, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 608-263-6827.
Feral and free-ranging domestic cats are exotic species to North America.
Exotic species are recognized as one of the most widespread and serious threats
to the integrity of native wildlife populations and natural ecosystems. Exotic
species present special challenges for wildlife managers because their negative
impacts are poorly understood by the general public, many exotic species have
become such an accepted component of the environment that many people regard them
as "natural," some exotic species have advocacy groups that promote their continued
presence, and few policies and laws deal directly with their control. Perhaps
no issue has captured more of the challenges for contemporary wildlife management
than the impacts of feral or free-ranging human companion or domestic animals.
The domestic cat is the companion animal that recently has attracted the most
attention for its impact on wildlife species.
Domestic cats originated from an ancestral wild species, the European and
African wild cat (Felis silvestris). The domestic cat (Felis catus) is now considered
a separate species. The estimated numbers of pet cats in urban and rural regions
of the United States have grown from 30 million in 1970 to nearly 65 million 2000.
Reliable estimates of the present total cat population are not available. Nationwide,
approximately 30% of households have cats. In rural areas, approximately 60% of
households have cats.
The impact of domestic cats on wildlife is difficult to quantify. However,
a growing body of literature strongly suggests that domestic cats are a significant
factor in the mortality of small mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Because
free-ranging cats often receive food from humans, they can reach population levels
that may create areas of abnormally high predation rates on wildlife. When the
wildlife prey is a threatened or endangered species, the result may be extirpation
or extinction. Effects of cat predation are most pronounced in island settings
(both actual islands and island of habitat), where prey populations are already
low or stressed by other factors, or in natural areas where cat colonies are established.
Competition with native predators, disease implications for wildlife populations,
and pet owners' attitudes toward wildlife and wildlife management also are important
issues.
Extensive popular debate over absolute numbers or types of prey taken is not
productive. The number of cats is undeniably large. Even if conservative estimates
of prey taken are considered, the number of prey animals killed is immense. Feeding
cats does not deter them from killing wildlife as they do not always eat what
they kill. Humans introduced cats to North America and they must be responsible
for the control and removal of cats that prey on wildlife.
The policy of The Wildlife Society in regard to feral and free-ranging domestic
cats is to:
- Strongly support and encourage the humane elimination of feral cat colonies.
- Support the passage and enforcement of local and state ordinances prohibiting
the public feeding of feral cats, especially on public lands, and releasing of
unwanted pet or feral cats into the wild.
- Strongly support educational programs and materials that call for all pet
cats to be kept indoors, in outdoor enclosures, or on a leash.
- Support programs to educate and encourage pet owners to neuter or spay their
cats, and encourage all pet adoption programs to require potential owners to spay
or neuter their pet.
- Support the development and dissemination of sound, helpful information on
what individual cat owners can do to minimize predation by free-ranging cats.
- Pledge to work with the conservation and animal welfare communities to educate
the public about the negative impact of free-ranging and feral cats on native
wildlife, including birds, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and endangered
species.
- Support educational efforts to encourage the agricultural community to keep
farm cat numbers at low, manageable levels and use alternative, environmentally
safe rodent control methods.
- Encourage researchers to develop better information on the impacts of feral
and free-ranging cats on native wildlife populations.
- Recognize that cats as pets have a long association with humans, and that
responsible cat owners are to be encouraged to continue caring for the animals
under their control.
- Oppose the passage of any local or state ordinances that legalize the maintenance
of "managed" (trap/neuter/release) free-ranging cat colonies.
|
