EPJ - 1st Place

Gallery: EPA 2014Posted March 5, 20141,846 views9 comments

Leading Cause of Death

"Outdoor cats are the leading cause of death among both birds and mammals in the United States, according to a new study, killing 1.4 billion to 3.7 billion birds each year." - Washington Post article of January 31, 2013, "Outdoor cats kill between 1.4 billion and 3.7 billion birds a year, study says."

This is a problem I've thought about a great deal, being both a feline and avian aficionado. I've seen both sides of the coin: I've witnessed first-hand the damage cats do to wild animals, when I worked in wildlife rehab. But I've also helped out in a local feline TNR (trap-neuter-release) program. So I'm afraid I'll never personally come up with even the start of a solution to this problem; my contribution will likely be limited to capturing it in an image, which will hopefully stir emotions of others, and lead them to think about the issue as well.

Neighbor's cat Bootsie; Tufted Titmouse (deceased)
NW New Jersey, on March 5, 2014
Canon 7D
18-135mm @ 41mm
f 5
1/1000 s.
ISO 400

All comments about both the environmental issue and image are most welcome.

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by gary phillips on March 5, 2014 at 5:50 PM

Great shot , Rebecca. It is a hard thing to come to grip with. I guess our solution was to fatten up our cat so he's no longer a threat. We constantly are shooing our neighbors cat away from our bird feeders. Good job catching Bootsie in the act and thanks for sharing.

Registered on October 24, 2013, 185 Posts, 4136 Comments

Comment posted by Scott Fricke on March 5, 2014 at 11:35 PM

You certainly captured a powerful moment Rebecka! Like you, I'm haven't been able to resolve the issue. We have a cat that contributes to the stats you posted. We got her from a rescue planning to keep her indoors as we lived in an semi-wild area with lots of fox, coyote, and a few bobcats and mountain lions. But she immediately and incessantly started pawing at the doors and we had to let her out or she and us would have went crazy. She did clear out all the mice from inside the house which was good, but then started on the birds, snakes and lizards outside. One could argue the number of birds is also artificially high due to the huge number of feeders people put out that substantially increases the food supply above "natural" levels. I guess I looked at it that our cat wasn't the top of the food chain where we lived and she had to be wary of becoming prey herself.

Registered on January 19, 2007, 133 Posts, 1448 Comments

Comment posted by Carl Battreall on March 7, 2014 at 12:19 PM

Great action shot of a topic that people simply ignore.

Registered on August 29, 2007, 24 Posts, 222 Comments

Comment posted by David Haynes on March 14, 2014 at 12:41 AM

Congrats on the WP Rebecka.

Registered on February 20, 2010, 110 Posts, 1511 Comments

Comment posted by Yun Gao on March 14, 2014 at 6:44 PM

What a moment! You caught the cat’s angry expression wonderfully. Congrats on the WP!

Registered on September 11, 2012, 267 Posts, 1621 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on March 20, 2014 at 1:26 AM

I'm a cat-owner and lover, and also a bird lover. To my mind, the 2 should never meet - I'm a strong advocate for indoor-only cats. They are safer, live much longer and healthier, and our bird friends can also live happily OUTside.

Congrats on the WP, bringing up an important issue.

Sandy