{"id":22923,"date":"2013-01-29T16:57:34","date_gmt":"2013-01-29T21:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/watchwomanonthewall\/?p=22923"},"modified":"2013-01-29T16:59:45","modified_gmt":"2013-01-29T21:59:45","slug":"cats-kill-billions-15-percent-of-bird-population-destroyed-each-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2013\/01\/cats-kill-billions-15-percent-of-bird-population-destroyed-each-year.html","title":{"rendered":"Cats Kill Billions; 15 Percent Of Bird Population Destroyed Each Year"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Cats have been named among the top 100 worst invasive species by the Invasive Species Specialist Group, alongside such unsavory creatures as the common malaria mosquito and the gypsy moth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/a>Cats kill billions<\/a> of animals every year in the U.S., mostly birds and small mammals<\/a> like mice and chipmunks. A new study published in the journal Nature<\/a> on Tuesday revealed that cats kill billions<\/a> of small animals every year. Titled “The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States,” the study found that the cats that kill billions each year are mostly feral, and that these un-owned animals kill 1.4-3.7 billion birds and 6.9-20.7 billion mammals annually.<\/p>\n

“Our findings suggest that free-ranging cats cause substantially greater wildlife mortality than previously thought and are likely the single greatest source of anthropogenic mortality for US birds and mammals,” states the study<\/a>.<\/p>\n

People tend to have a cuddly view of house cats, but the felines are actually a bit of an ecological nightmare.<\/strong><\/p>\n

They have been named among the top 100 worst invasive species<\/a> by the Invasive Species Specialist Group, alongside such unsavory creatures as the common malaria mosquito<\/a> and the gypsy moth<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Cats kill billions of small animals every year, and account for 14 percent<\/a> of modern bird, amphibian and mammal island extinctions. Once cats get onto a small island, usually accompanied by sailors, history has shown that they wreak havoc on native species.<\/p>\n

Although cats kill billions of small mammals every year, the research showed that a lot of what they kill are animals considered to be pests, such as mice, rats and non-native bird species. The study points out that it is unowned cats that kill billions, owned cats kill around a third of what unowned cats do. Each of those unowned cats – and the team estimates between 30 million and 80 million of them live in the United States – kills between 23 and 46 birds a year, and between 129 and 338 small mammals, according to researcher Pete Marra<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Researchers also suggested ways to stop the cats from killing billions of animals each year. First and foremost, they recommend having indoor\/outdoor housecats spayed and neutered as a preventative method for keeping the number of feral cats down. Some countries, like New Zealand<\/a>, are considering a ban on cats<\/a><\/strong>. \u00a0There is a flipside to the fact that cats kill billions. If you removed cats from the ecosystem, what happens next?<\/p>\n

“It may be in some cases that cats may also be keeping other species that may negatively impact bird and other small mammal populations in check,” Bruce Kornreich, a veterinarian at Cornell University<\/a>‘s Feline Health Center, told LiveScience.<\/a><\/p>\n

By iScienceTimes Staff<\/em> | January 29, 2013 3:40 PM EST<\/p>\n

Read More: http:\/\/www.isciencetimes.com\/articles\/4446\/20130129\/cats-kill-billions-15-percent-bird-population.htm<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cats kill billions of animals every year in the U.S., mostly birds and small mammals like mice and chipmunks. A new study published in the journal Nature on Tuesday revealed that cats kill billions of small animals every year. Titled “The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States,” the study found…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":403,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4872,2269,428,5634,2493,2906,5176],"tags":[6896,6893,6897,6887,6894,6895,6891,6888,6889,6900,6890,6899,6898,6892],"class_list":["post-22923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-amazing-stories","category-animals","category-health-medicine","category-human-interest-story","category-pets-and-animals","category-science-2","category-shocking","tag-100-worst-invasive-species","tag-anothropogenic-mortality","tag-cats-casue-mammal-island-extinctions","tag-cats-kill-billions-of-animals","tag-cuddly-view-of-house-cats","tag-ecological-nightmare","tag-feral-cats","tag-kill-birds","tag-kill-chipmunks","tag-kill-mice","tag-kill-small-animals","tag-new-zealand-considers-ban-on-cats","tag-spay-and-neuter-cats","tag-un-owned-cats"],"yoast_head":"\nCats Kill Billions; 15 Percent Of Bird Population Destroyed Each Year - Watchwoman on the Wall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/watchwomanonthewall\/2013\/01\/cats-kill-billions-15-percent-of-bird-population-destroyed-each-year.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cats Kill Billions; 15 Percent Of Bird Population Destroyed Each Year - Watchwoman on the Wall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cats kill billions of animals every year in the U.S., mostly birds and small mammals like mice and chipmunks. A new study published in the journal Nature on Tuesday revealed that cats kill billions of small animals every year. 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