Source: [url]http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/outdoor-cats-are-prolific-killers-study-finds?hpt=hp_bn16[/url]
[quote]
Cat owners often wonder about their pets' secret outdoor lives, but few are curious enough to actually follow them around the neighborhood. And thanks to a new study by the University of Georgia and National Geographic, that isn't necessary: Researchers attached video cameras to 60 house cats that are allowed outside, hoping to learn how free-roaming felines spend their free time.
The answer? About a third of pet cats kill time by killing wildlife.
That may not surprise cat owners who regularly find tiny corpses on their doorsteps, but the study suggests house cats kill even more prolifically than many people realize. The researchers found they dispatch about 2.1 wild animals for every week they spend outside, but bring home fewer than 25 percent of their kills. That means U.S. cats likely kill more than the previous estimate of 1 billion native birds and other animals every year — possibly as many as 4 billion.
"The results were certainly surprising, if not startling," says UGA researcher and lead author Kerrie Anne Loyd. "In Athens-Clarke County, we found that about 30 percent of the sampled cats were successful in capturing and killing prey, and that those cats averaged about one kill for every 17 hours outdoors, or 2.1 kills per week. It was also surprising to learn that cats only brought 23 percent of their kills back to a residence."
Working with National Geographic's Remote Imaging Department, Loyd and her colleagues attached lightweight video cameras (known as Crittercams, or "KittyCams" in this case) to 60 outdoor house cats in Athens, Ga. The cats' owners volunteered for the study by answering ads in local newspapers, and downloaded footage from the cameras at the end of each recording day. The study extended through all four seasons, and Loyd says the cats averaged five to six hours outside daily.
The cats killed a wide range of wild animals, including lizards, voles, chipmunks, birds, frogs and snakes (see the graph below). The study didn't include feral cats, but previous research suggests ownerless felines are at least as deadly as their more coddled cousins. A 2010 study by the University of Nebraska, for example, found that feral cats have driven 33 bird species to extinction worldwide, and that they prey more on native than non-native wildlife. In fact, since domesticated cats aren't native to North America, this leads some wildlife advocates to consider cats an invasive species themselves, on par with kudzu or Asian carp.
[img]http://www.mnn.com/sites/default/files/user-71/cats_graph_0.jpg[/img]
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Cats are the most amazing animals.
Wow, we need to get PETA on these bastards.
When my cat isn't killing wildlife he's humping female cats.
It's very annoying actually. People who owns cats in the city let them roam their yards and gardens, but the cats don't care whose property they mess around in. This has led to most of the (singing) birds being eaten and these yards of ours becoming very silent. I'd much rather prefer people kept their cats indoors when in the city.
My neighbors have an outdoor cat that spends more time in our yard than it does in their house. Every day when I get home she's always hiding in the bushes next to our bird feeder, waiting to pounce on some poor defenseless bird.
Sucks because my parents like watching the birds for some reason. Though on the plus side, they had to stop putting out the bird feeders at one point because squirrels kept getting into the feeders and breaking them. The cat must've had a change in appetite, because we found most of those squirrels dead in the woods around the house, and saw the cat jump out from the bushes and run away with a squirrel in her mouth one day.
my cat brought in a dead squirrel without a head a month ago
I was walking along the road once and I saw a cat dive out of a bush with a bird in it's mouth, drop it then stare at me menacingly as if to say "you're next if you don't get the fuck out of here." Cats are serious business.
my cat killed another cat and ate it's eyeball
it was fucking traumatizing to wake up in the morning, look out the window and see my own cat feasting on another cat
turns out he had rabies
we had to kill him
Seems like every other week I have to remove a dead chipmunk or mouse from our yard thanks to our cat.
[QUOTE=Ermac20;37168319]my cat brought in a dead squirrel without a head a month ago[/QUOTE]
Before she got married, my aunt used to live in Baltimore with two feral male alley cats. They would bring her home presents at 3am, presents being a half dead rat or bird screaming in pain leaving trails of blood in her apartment while it ran around.
[QUOTE=yazrak;37168391]my cat killed another cat and ate it's eyeball
it was fucking traumatizing to wake up in the morning, look out the window and see my own cat feasting on another cat
turns out he had rabies
we had to kill him[/QUOTE]
Dude...
Some outdoor cats are fucking annoying shits, going around ruining stuff and making a bunch of noise. I really hope some of them would get hit by cars, its you're own damn fault as an owner letting your stupid cat wander the city.
[QUOTE=FalconKrunch;37167926]When my cat isn't killing wildlife he's humping female cats.[/QUOTE]
GET YOUR CAT AWAY FROM BELLA!
[QUOTE=yazrak;37168391]my cat killed another cat and ate it's eyeball
it was fucking traumatizing to wake up in the morning, look out the window and see my own cat feasting on another cat
turns out he had rabies
we had to kill him[/QUOTE]
what the hell is this
do cats even have mental disorders?
[QUOTE=Cypher_09;37171888]what the hell is this
do cats even have mental disorders?[/QUOTE]
All animals can.
[QUOTE=just-a-boy;37168143]It's very annoying actually. People who owns cats in the city let them roam their yards and gardens, but the cats don't care whose property they mess around in. This has led to most of the (singing) birds being eaten and these yards of ours becoming very silent. I'd much rather prefer people kept their cats indoors when in the city.[/QUOTE]
I never let my cat out alone because of the amount of dangers in the city
[QUOTE=yazrak;37168391]my cat killed another cat and ate it's eyeball
it was fucking traumatizing to wake up in the morning, look out the window and see my own cat feasting on another cat
turns out he had rabies
we had to kill him[/QUOTE]
metal
[QUOTE=Cypher_09;37172154]Fascinating.[/QUOTE]
Cockatiels have been known to develop depression when an owner dies.
My girlfriend lives out in the country, and her cat is an outside cat. It's probably one of the most well behaved cats I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. I don't like cats, but that thing is awesome. It reminds me of a tiger or something just because it's so damn muscly and its paws are massive.
It's pretty interesting if a cat lives mostly sitting on his ass at home and eating food off the floor level, they get jumpy even at the sight of a mouse and they can get fat.
Although I'm not sure how most people raise their cats, maybe if you let them outdoor a lot they also naturally get to do some game hunting.
Jesus christ you can't get away with not knowing anything on here without being proclaimed "dumb"
Get off your high horses people, it's getting way out of hand; I've been here for 7 years and holy hell the community spirit has changed.
We're supposed to help each other learn, not condemn others for not knowing so.
[QUOTE=Cypher_09;37172730]Jesus christ you can't get away with not knowing anything on here without being proclaimed "dumb"
Get off your high horses people, it's getting way out of hand; I've been here for 7 years and holy hell the community spirit has changed.
We're supposed to help each other learn, not condemn others for not knowing so.[/QUOTE]
People do love that dumb rating.
[QUOTE=Scot;37172828]People do love that dumb rating.[/QUOTE]
I set a motion for it to be removed in the Ask Us About The Forums thread but then I got showered by dumbs believe it or not :v
The neighborhood I live in used to have little to no wildlife.
3 years after my cat died, you can look out a window at any point in time and you have a 60% chance of seeing at least one rabbit.
[QUOTE=Thlis;37174484]The neighborhood I live in used to have little to no wildlife.
3 years after my cat died, you can look out a window at any point in time and you have a 60% chance of seeing at least one rabbit.[/QUOTE]
I have two cats... I wonder what they kill and eat at night in my house?
My cats have been bringing snakes into my house all summer.
Cats always try to get into my yard but my dog doesn't let that shit fly.
I had a cat that once dragged home an entire fucking Family size Papa Murphys pizza. I have no idea where he got it from, but we hadn't had pizza in a few weeks. :v:
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