Chris Mead from the British Trust for Ornithology and one of the contributors to aTodaydebate heard this week on whether or not a‘cat cull’is needed writes:
I am a cat lover BUT the carnage in our countryside of both birds and small mammals – at almost 300,000,000 deaths a year – is an insult to our conservation credentials. If we had real wild cats still stalking the whole of our countryside in Britain there would only be a few tens of thousands rather than the 9,000,000 moggies we now have.
Personally I do not think that licensing will work – after all we dropped dog licensing some years ago – but we need to be more responsible about the cats we own. Neutering all but cats we want to breed from in all cases is the first step we should take.
Trying to use scare tactics like bells (two is much better than one) or electronic devices on a properly fitted collar (with elasticated insert in case it gets caught) will also save wilkdlife. Keeping the cat in at night if possible and keeping it content and well fed are both good ideas.
If you have problems with other people’s cats it is not acceptable to harm them. Scaring using high-pitched noise generators (above Human audible range) will work – provided the cat is not white and deaf! Getting your own cat that will exclude others from the garden – its territory – or dog is a good idea. Otherwise high-powered water pistols (the fighter approach) or water filled freezer bags – lobbed from the kitchen door or bedroom window (the bomber approach) will work wonders without harming the cat.
However the biggest problem is not owned cats but the unseen hordes of feral cats that roam the towns and countryside making their own living from whatever they can catch. It is not their fault that they catch a rare bird, a dormouse or a bat but they should not be there to do it!
It may seem terrible but I would advocate their eradication mostly through trapping and humane destruction – collars, tattoos or microchips would identify those with loving owners. However, out in the depths of the countryside it might mean that some had to be shot – for the good of the real wildlife.
And finally the declines of our birds are not being driven by cat predation – habitat loss is much more important – but the losses to cats are not acceptable. Particularly when many of our gardens are managed to benefit the birds and we could be luring them to their premature death.
Join killer cat Bumble on her nocturnal patrol
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For more information on cat scaring methods see:
