Would you keep your cat indoors during the bird nesting season.

[Alastair]

But the native wildcat would have had a distribution something like feral cats today, ie not very many about. Surely it's easy enough for cat owners to put a bell on the collar of their pampered moggies to protect native birds?

[the_rudeboy]

All cats (except working cats) should have to wear a collar with a bell so they can't go round killing wildlife.

The wildlife near us must be deaf. Despite wearing bells my moggies occasionally bring me a gift.

[Alastair]

It's not a "gift", it's destruction of British wild life.

 

People who think it's cute that their pet cats bring them dead wildlife make me want to puke.

[olorin]

But the native wildcat would have had a distribution something like feral cats today, ie not very many about. Surely it's easy enough for cat owners to put a bell on the collar of their pampered moggies to protect native birds?

 

I rather think that the feral cat population could easily be as big as the captive population- there are an awful lot about catching an awful lot of rodents. ..

[the_rudeboy]

It's not a "gift", it's destruction of British wild life.

 

People who think it's cute that their pet cats bring them dead wildlife make me want to puke.

It's a gift in their eyes. Nobody mentioned it being cute. Get ya head out ya @rse.

[meshuga]

It's arguable whether or not the domestic cat, let alone the sheer number of them, is entirely 'what nature intended'. In the past month I've had to clean up the half-eaten carcasses of 3 pigeons from the garden (and I don't even have a cat). However, isn't it the case that grey squirrels are just as much a danger to nesting birds as they raid the nests for eggs?

 

The numbers of pigeons aren't what nature intended either, they are there because of people, like a rat with wings, spreading disease from above And yes I believe you are correct about the squirrels.

 

More birds are killed on our roads every year than by cats. I hope the chap petitioning a while ago on the BBC (see OP), will agree to stop using his car....

[laurajill]

What it all boils down to is nature. I try to discourage my cats from killing birds/mice but sometimes it's impossible.

On a number of occassions I have nursed mice/birds back to health or taken them to vets.

It is a pain I agree, but unless we start to walk cats around on leads there's not alot we can do.

[the_rudeboy]

More birds are killed on our roads every year than by cats. I hope the chap petitioning a while ago on the BBC (see OP), will agree to stop using his car....

I imagine people hard landscaping their gardens has a more detrimental effect on wildlife than cats do. Edited May 8, 2009 by the_rudeboy

[snail]

sorry but no i wouldn't keep my cat in even thought we did have a worrying thing happen once b4 when she got into a nest, she picked up 4 baby birds 1 by 1 with out injury and brought them to the front door for me, so we had to take them to a bird sanctuary

feel for the birds but its just not that easy to keep a cat in and i wont use cat trays

[discovery]

Definitely not and I would not put a collar on my cats with bells on either.

 

This is not to say I don't like it when they go 'birdie' hunting. It does upset me when I see them stalking a nest.

 

A couple of months ago our youngest cat brought in a dead 'budgie'. The poor thing was still warm so had only recently died. I do not know how my cat got to have a dead budgie in his jaws (you don't normally see budgies flying around in the street so I assume my cat had wandered into someone's house) but I can tell you I was expecting some angry parent knocking on my door with a distraught child. I waited all day for that knock but it never came....

 

My cat brought it in as a present for me .. Yes I was upset and concerned as to who the bird had belonged to but there wasn't anything I could do.