Friendly felines are really natural born killers: US study

Such cats are a leading cause of deaths of birds and small mammals in the United States, with pet and ownerless cats blamed for killing up to 3.7 billion birds and as many as 20.7 billion other animals each year, government scientists said in a study released on Tuesday.

Ownerless cats, including barn cats, strays and feral colonies, are behind the vast majority of bird and mammal deaths, according to the study, “The impact of free-ranging cats on wildlife in the United States,” published Tuesday in the online journal Nature Communications.

The study is the first to compile and systematically analyze rates of cat predation. It suggests cats cause “substantially greater wildlife mortality than previously thought,” and are likely the single greatest source of mortality linked to human settlement for U.S. birds and mammals.

The findings by researchers with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service show the bulk of birds killed by cats in the United States — excluding Alaska and Hawaii — were native species such as robins, finches and chickadees.

Cats largely prey on non-native mice and rats in densely populated urban areas where native wildlife is scarce, the research shows.

By contrast, cats in suburban and rural areas kill mostly native mice, shrews, voles, squirrels and rabbits, according to the study authored by Peter Marra and Scott Loss of the Smithsonian and Tom Will of the Fish and Wildlife Service's Division of Migratory Birds.

Domestic cats, introduced globally by humans, are considered among the 100 worst nonnative invasive species in the world yet control of the creatures has not been widely addressed by local, state and federal governments, the study shows.

SHARE CLOSE
Blogger		Google+
Live Journal		Plurk
Stumble Upon

Tweet

	PREVIOUS ARTICLE
	Japan-Canada research locates human brain's addiction spots

NEXT ARTICLE
Humble US coin from 1913 expected to rake in millions

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email

Submit