Catnav Tracks Bird Kills
The Telegraph reports that domestic cats are to be tagged Satnav style in an attempt to discover how damaging they are to urban bird populations. With up to 626 cats per square kilometre, researchers conclude that as an urban cat kills 16 animals a year that equates to 92 million animals a year, 27 million of which are birds. Using GPS tracking tags on cats it is hoped that researchers will have more information about cats hunting habits.
We mentioned previously about using a bird box plate to try and keep out predators – though I doubt that cats manage to get inside a bird box. If you know otherwise please do leave a comment.
2 comments
Not being a cat lover myself, it is not the cat that is the cause of so many song birds being killed in the garden, but other birds such as, magpies and sparrowhawks.
The new presenter of Springwatch Chris Packham was in the paper last week claiming the pet cats were responsible for huge numbers of bird kills …but isn’t that what cats do? And yes, as you say, the more aggressive garden birds kill others too.
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