Look what the cat dragged in. Lurking within Fluffy’s fuzzy exterior lurks the heart of the planet’s most prolific — and capable — predator with the heart of a killer.According to a new study by Auburn University published in Nature Communications, free ranging house cats — genus Felis Catus — are responsible for 9% of all bird deaths and 6% of all mammals in the world. .Of the 2,084 species consumed by the domesticated tabby, 17% of those are recognized as being of ‘conservation concern’ by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.While cats are sometimes seen as consuming only common species or pests, such as rats, the authors discovered that cats are eating a diverse range of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and insects of all sizes and abundances.In the US alone that translates into 3.7 billion birds per year and as many as 20.7 billion small animals and rodents.The North American Bird Conservation Initiative concluded in 2013 that breeding bird populations in Canada have dropped by 12% since 1970 with some species seeing drops of more than 60%..“Cats have long been known as predators, but this research illustrates that cats are not just eating a small set of species or are only problems on islands. Rather, cats are eating species in all the ecosystems of the world in which they are found,” state the study authors.The self-funded research study, conducted over 20 years, was co-authored by scientists including Kylee Dunham, a former CFWE graduate student now employed at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and international ecologists from France and Australia.The goal is to better inform development of policies and management strategies to “mitigate the broader ecological impacts” of house cats, especially free-ranging ones.Canadians own about 8.5 million cats and estimates suggest there could be as many as 4.2 million feral felines..Impacts from the fuzzy mass murderers are mainly confined to local municipalities and towns yet unlike dogs there are no consistent regulations for keeping them. Alberta communities have a patchwork of regulations regarding cats. In Edmonton all cats — and dogs — six months or older must have a valid licence and tags, including pets kept indoors. In Calgary, cats are required to be confined to an owner’s property.The town of Ponoka allows a maximum of five cats and dogs permitted in a household while Red Deer, which adopted its bylaw in 2022, has fines of for allowing a cat to run at large. According Section 3: “No owner shall allow or permit his cat to run at large. No owner shall allow or permit his cat to damage public property or the property of any other person.”The National Companion Animal Coalition strongly suggests municipalities can address problems by introducing bylaws which discourage breeding and require cats to be licensed and permanently identified.While communities have long had dog bylaws, historically, cats have been allowed to be unsupervised because of a belief that cats are independent and need to explore outdoors. “We think of cats as being able to ‘look after themselves’ more than other pets. This ignores the fact that cats have been domestic pets for thousands of years and do not belong in the wild,” according to the Stewardship Centre of BC and Nature Canada.
