by Linh Nguyen Have you ever thought that a small, cute and cuddly animal as cat might be a dangerous factor for the environment? A recent study found that cats are one of the top predators to US birds and mammals. A cat in a cat coffee shop in Tampere, Finland (Linh Nguyen, 2015) Americans spend $7 billion annually to feed cats and other few billion dollars in cat veterinary, cat toys, cat houses or cat clothes. Cats are more and more famous today because their videos have millions of views on social media. But they are found to be “cuddly killers” since 1.4 - 3.7 billion birds and 6.9 - 20.7 billion mammals are killed by cats every year. In the book Cat Wars: The Devastating Consequences of a Cuddly Killer by Peter P. Marra and Chris Santella, free-ranging domestic cats are mentioned as an environmental threat. In 2013, Marra and other researchers found that 4 billion birds, 822 million reptiles, 22 billion small mammals and 299 million amphibians in the U.S. were killed by cats in a single year. According to a 2011 review of 120 islands, cats led to the decrease in species diversity of songbirds (approximately 123 species), seabirds, parrots, iguanas (around 25 species), penguins, lizards, snakes, turtles, snakes and 27 species of small mammals such as lemurs and bats. After that, in another study, a team of researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) and the US Fish and Wildlife Service found that the amount of deaths caused by cats was more than 4 times higher than the figure in the previous study. Not only the stray, feral cats but also the pet cats caused a huge amount of deaths of birds (especially American Robin), mice, shrews, voles, squirrels and rabbits. Cat owners should not allow their cats to loaf around the neighborhood, not only for protecting other species, but also help their kitties to live longer. The biggest problem is managing more than 80 million unowned cats in the U.S. Many animal welfare organizations such as The Washington Humane Society suggest to use trap-neuter-return programs (TNR). In TNR programs, stray or feral cats are vaccinated, spayed and found home. If there is no home for them, they will be returned to the area which they came from. In the other hand, conservationists say that these programs might make it worse because they are a reason for people to abandon their cats to these programs colonies in which wild animals are often fed by volunteers. According to Dr. Fenwick of the bird conservancy, there are more than 500 TNR provinces in Austin alone and the number of free roaming cats keeps increasing. Even pet cats are extremely adjusted to the hunt, for example, they can’t help but chase when they see moving things. It may be better to put more effort into animal adoption, said Dr. Fenwick. Home can be found for almost healthy cats. "Cats don't need to wander hundred of miles to be happy", he said. Cat owners should control their pets more (for example, keeping their cats indoor) to reduce the effect . It’s also an alert for governments, organizations and scientists to the decline of various species caused by cat hunting instinct. ReferencesAngier N. 2013. That Cuddly Kitty Is Deadlier Than You Think. Published 29/09/2013. Read 27/11/2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/science/that-cuddly-kitty-of-yours-is-a-killer.html.
Loss R. S., Will T., Marra P. P. 2013. The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States. Published 29/01/2013. Read 10/11/2016. http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380 Marra P. P. & Satella C. 2016. The Killer Cats Are Winning! Published 29/09/2016. Read 10/11/2016. http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2016/09/29/killer-cats-are-winning/ Morelle R. 2013. Cats killing billions of animals in the US. Published 29/01/2013. Read 10/11/2016. http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-21236690. |
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May 2019
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