URGENT caring for fledgling sparrow - cat wants it dead!

moggymutt

The solution to if you love cats and you love birds is to support whichever of your local cat rescues actually has a huge push on neutering. The more neutering, the less cats, the better for both birds and cats. Neutering is the win, win situation for both cats and birds.

Budget_Gardener

Jemma130 wrote: »

I love birds and I love cats, what to do?!

As they said on Springwatch last night, research suggests cats could be taking at least 3 times the published figure of 55million birds a year. They are fine if they have audible things around their necks (check they don't get clogged up) and are kept in at night.

moggymutt

Budget_Gardener wrote: »

As they said on Springwatch last night, research suggests cats could be taking at least 3 times the published figure of 55million birds a year. They are fine if they have audible things around their necks (check they don't get clogged up) and are kept in at night.

I dont believe collars around necks are safe for cats, if a cat gets lost it can get terrible injuries if its foot get caught through the collar, or if its lost whilst young, as the cat grows, its neck can literally grow around the collar until the collar is so embedded that the collar has to be removed under anaesthetic.

Also, the feral cat population is sadly very large in many areas in towns and cities, even in my nearest town, which is tiny with only 2000 residents, in just one block of 4 rows of terraced houses forming a square shape, within that one enclosed area of gardens, from just a couple of strays, within a few years there were about 30 unneutered cats and kittens. Thankfully, a very helpful couple who lived there trapped them all for us, we tamed and rehomed the then neutered kittens, and they had the 8 or so by then neutered adults back. By putting themselves out for a week or two doing the trapping, they will have saved more birds lives than the people in the block who were actually putting food out for the birds, by humanely reducing the number of cats, the small colony left now will slowly die out with age.

Here, I am lucky that I can feed the birds on top of an old van well away from where the very large number of {neutered) feral cats feed, have up to 40 birds at a time feeding (mainly sparrows, chaffinch and tits), and have found evidence of only one bird killed so far this year.

It would be a brilliant campaign if bird lovers could offer time trapping urban colonies of cats for neutering. It would save so many bird lives.

Budget_Gardener

I'd agree that neutering is a major issue - not just for reducing the feral population but also for reducing the hunting instincts of the tame population. It certainly reduces their interest in going out and trying to mark out territories, where of course they run in to plenty of birds.
However, how are you planning on neutering all these strays? I'd gladly volunteer a bit of my time with a pair of bricks but I think others may object. Aren't vets expensive?

KxMx

Budget_Gardener wrote: »

It annoys me that people keep cats and don't confine them for the most part; they are killers and they know no boundaries so kill the wildlife in all the surrounding gardens and use those other gardens as their litter trays. People who have cats are inconsiderate if they let them roam freely.
The idea that they are 'naturally' going to eat birds is a false argument - if I kept a lion it would naturally eat your children, but that doesn't mean it's a reasonable thing to keep one. Bringing in an unnatural predator to an environment destroys the balance of nature. The numbers of most garden birds have taken staggering dives (song thrushes down by 90% in 30 years for example) and this is in large part down to the number of predators being brought into our gardens. If you keep a cat, make it a house cat or don't have one near other people.

Yep, not forgetting another top predator to birds, humans.

We concrete over gardens and pull down forests, all rich with insects to feed the birds, we pump chemicals into the air and pesticides into the water and earth. We chop down trees and other vegetation ideal for nesting. On a mass scale.

How many birds do we kill through our actions compared to cats then?

Even the RSPB say cats do not have a disastarous effect on birds.

These days cat collars are much safer than they have been, instead of the shoddy "safety elastic" collars there are quick release buckle ones, all with bells on.

I get not everyone likes cats, especially where small wildlife is concerned, but please find some facts instead of ranting!

LincolnshireYokel

Budget_Gardener wrote: »

It annoys me that people keep cats and don't confine them for the most part; they are killers and they know no boundaries so kill the wildlife in all the surrounding gardens and use those other gardens as their litter trays. People who have cats are inconsiderate if they let them roam freely.
The idea that they are 'naturally' going to eat birds is a false argument - if I kept a lion it would naturally eat your children, but that doesn't mean it's a reasonable thing to keep one. Bringing in an unnatural predator to an environment destroys the balance of nature. The numbers of most garden birds have taken staggering dives (song thrushes down by 90% in 30 years for example) and this is in large part down to the number of predators being brought into our gardens. If you keep a cat, make it a house cat or don't have one near other people.

Quite frankly, ive never read such a load of uninformed, uneducated rubbish in my life as this post, but im not inclined to have an argument about it. Your lack of understanding of the natural world beggars belief.

cootambear

KxMx wrote: »

Yep, not forgetting another top predator to birds, humans.

We concrete over gardens and pull down forests, all rich with insects to feed the birds, we pump chemicals into the air and pesticides into the water and earth. We chop down trees and other vegetation ideal for nesting. On a mass scale.

How many birds do we kill through our actions compared to cats then?

Even the RSPB say cats do not have a disastarous effect on birds.

These days cat collars are much safer than they have been, instead of the shoddy "safety elastic" collars there are quick release buckle ones, all with bells on.

I get not everyone likes cats, especially where small wildlife is concerned, but please find some facts instead of ranting!

seeing as 50% of the UK`s wildlife depends on or is found in gardens, I think you are way of the mark

The problem is that individual plant species like to take over a particular area if the conditions are right.

This leads to a reduction in habitats capable of supporting many diverse species of birds and mammals.

Gardens have so many different plant species in them that they can support a wide variety of fauna