A friend recently showed me his puppy. While we were discussing how to train dogs, he mentioned that he wanted his puppy to do some “opportunistic hunting” when it grows up. For a dog that probably means cats and maybe a slow wild animal.
Outdoor cats without bells on their collars probably need to be culled. The authors of “Cat Wars” claim cats have been implicated in the decline and extinction of some 175 different species. Any small mammal, bird, or reptile seems to be vulnerable to an attack by a cat.
A cat owner may ask, ‘What impact can my little cat be having?’ Well, every snowflake in an avalanche will plead not guilty to causing harm.
Cats are putting up some big numbers. When combined, cats’ cumulative damage to other animals is staggering. One researcher claims the number of animals killed by house cats in North American in a year is between 6.3 and 22.3 billion(!) mammals, between 1.3 and 4 billion(!) birds, between 95 and 299 million amphibians, and between 258 and 822 million reptiles. It’s an avalanche!
Think about those numbers. Even if those numbers are way off, even by half, the death toll from cats is unacceptable. Please put a bell around your cat’s neck before it goes out into the world.