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Interesting thought (1 Viewer)

david2004

david2004

Well-known member
Over 70 million birds a year in the UK are KILLED by cats. Seeing as how many cats there are, it is not natural predation. Just think how many more birds we'd have (in theory) if the 70 million birds per year, were not killed!
 
oh no!!!!

not the Cats again!

birders - buy yerselves an air rifle or buddy up with one of our shooter friends for instant solutions and satisfaction all round......
 
Sharp intake of breath...

As much as I am frustrated by the number of Cat Kills, it is erroneous to believe that removing them would result in 70m extra birds per year... something would get many of them, probably starvation in many cases... a finite area can support only a finite population.
 
Just think also if you didn't have any of the people living on this planet we wouldn't have depleted fish stocks for sea birds, the massively degraded habitat caused by mining, oil exploration and cities could all revert back to useful habitat and there'd be no-one left to feed those damned introduced predators. I suggest all BF members commit suicide so as to lead an example to the people of the world - you know it makes sense.

On second thoughts I guess a few people should hang around to take care of the Kirtlands Warblers, Piping Plovers and Black-Capped Vireos apart from that I see no need for the human race - Luke ;)

Seriously though - I don't know why people aren't encouraged to keep the little dears indoors more - they are healthier that way and live longer.
 
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"Over 70 million birds a year in the UK are KILLED by cats."

As you are quoting figures, where does, and what accurate, not guesswork, research is this number based on??

"Seeing as how many cats there are, it is not natural predation."

Are you claiming that the above mentioned felines are robotic or man made. If so, they are still "natural" as a part of nature, man, has created them.

"Just think how many more birds we'd have (in theory) if the 70 million birds per year, were not killed!"

Just think what the numbers would actually be if it was not for guesswork. It's like vewing figures. A few hundered homes are monitored as to what television programs were wached on a daily basis. From this, they can calculate what I watch. It's bull effluent. I won't say s**t, as that is rude. How do they know if I watch TV, how do they know if I have Sky, freeview, satelite or whatever. I may never watch TV.

Ask the statisticans how many birds my cats have killed over the last 24 years. If they actually know the correct number, I will donate £100:00 to a charity.

As similarites with birds of prey, anything which is claimed to kill birds, be it racing Pigeons, oops sorry Steve, I have mentioned the unmentionables, or little cock Robin, exaggeration is the play of the day.

Malky, a lover of all things, including cat haters. Well, someone has to!!

Bring back the Brent Spar. There was accuracy, oops, sorry, please wait 'till I stop laughing, in reporting the supposed levels of pollutants.
Ahh, so called conservation, don't you just love it.
 
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interesting thought

tp20uk said:
Over 70 million birds a year in the UK are KILLED by cats. Seeing as how many cats there are, it is not natural predation. Just think how many more birds we'd have (in theory) if the 70 million birds per year, were not killed!
Click to expand...
if responsible cat owners put a bell on there collar a lot less birds would be killed
 
tp20uk said:
Over 70 million birds a year in the UK are KILLED by cats. Seeing as how many cats there are, it is not natural predation. Just think how many more birds we'd have (in theory) if the 70 million birds per year, were not killed!
Click to expand...

An interesting statistic - from whence does it originate?
 
How many birds would be killed if 2 million cats weren't killed on the roads each year. Well, I've got my figures from the same place as the 70million (imagination). Our neighbour's cat has a bell on and it's the best mouse/bird/ bat catcher in the district.
 
Sandra (Taylor) said:
How many birds would be killed if 2 million cats weren't killed on the roads each year. Well, I've got my figures from the same place as the 70million (imagination).
Click to expand...
To be fair, Sandra, I don't think the 70m figure is David's imagination. Even though he has not stated his source, I know that my 55m source was the RSPB.

I grant you there is a significant difference between the two figures, but that's not to say David pulled his out of thin air!


Sandra (Taylor) said:
Our neighbour's cat has a bell on and it's the best mouse/bird/ bat catcher in the district.
Click to expand...
Yes... I've heard it said before that a bell-collar doesn't necessarily reduce cat-kills, as birds do not associate a ringing bell with danger, any more than they do a car horn.
 
"I know that my 55m source was the RSPB."

That may be so, but that figure is still a multiple of a guesstimation. It is not an accurate figure.
We have had 2 young Blackbirds, both fledged, died with us over the last 3 weeks. We are surrounded by cats, but they did not kill the birds, YET, if they had taken the dead birds into their respective homes, as cats normally do, then they would have recieved the blame, and possibly been added to the statistical games conservationists seem to play, when the ends seem to suit the means.
Back to the basis of the guestimation game again!!!!!

Regards

Malky.
 
alcedo.atthis said:
"I know that my 55m source was the RSPB."

That may be so, but that figure is still a multiple of a guesstimation. It is not an accurate figure.
We have had 2 young Blackbirds, both fledged, died with us over the last 3 weeks. We are surrounded by cats, but they did not kill the birds, YET, if they had taken the dead birds into their respective homes, as cats normally do, then they would have recieved the blame, and possibly been added to the statistical games conservationists seem to play, when the ends seem to suit the means.
Back to the basis of the guestimation game again!!!!!

Regards

Malky.
Click to expand...
Of course it's guestimation, Malky... I know that at well as you do... and even then, well "there are lies, damned lies and statistics"! You take one side's guestimate and you take the other side's guestimate, and the true figure is somewhere in the middle.

Hey... I've made my opinions clear elsewhere... don't like cats - and not because they take birds, although that doesn't endear them to me.

Just trying to be the ref here!
 
"Hey... I've made my opinions clear elsewhere... don't like cats - and not because they take birds, although that doesn't endear them to me."

Birdman, I can live with that with no problems. That's your choice, and I respect it.

What annoys me, is the numbers generated by certain bodies, for use in their own political ends.
It is stated by statisticians that 11 species of insects are made extinct by motorised methods of transport, cars, trains, busses, lorries, aeroplanes etc each year. Every conservation body, and the personel who works for them utilises motorised transport in one way or another each year.
What about the annual extinction of the 11 species.
A slight contradiction of the term "Conservation body".
But to claim that they were involved, would that be politically correct??

Regards

Malky.
 
Birds, and other species are killed by many different factors, not just cats. Personally I don't dislike cats (although I am not a great cat lover - I prefer dogs), they are beautiful animals. However, although I am not going to make any wild statements here, I do know they kill a fair few songbirds, however as someone rightly states above, much can be done to reduce the cat toll by keeping them indoors and adequately fed. Again however, feeding them will not always prevent them killing, especially when they present you with a "gift" - as my nan's cat used to do when I was a kid.

I lodge with a mate who owns a cat - she is kept indoors most of the time.
 
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I'm in a dilemma I like cats and I like birds, I like Sparrowhawks and I like Sparrows, I don't know what to think.

Mick
 
An interesting argument was made by one cat owner I know......that most cat owners also feed the birds........the "extra" birds which survive because of this is probably greater than those taken by cats within that environment.
So therefore hopefully there is no actual net loss to the populations within gardens?
Not sure if that justifies it in any way but I can see her point.

JP
 
wot?
more cod science?
here? on BF?

I can't believe it!

any estimates will to some degree be in error but the number is still very large. I don't have an opinion on this though. More worried about the birds disappearing due to loss of forest and habitat in more pressing areas.
 
thank you to the people that didn't accuse me of lying/making it up etc etc. I read it on a website. Maybe I'm just a gullible teenager and believed soemthing that's a load of cr*p, but I thought I'd post it to see what other people thought. I didn't expect so many rude replies. I can't find the site that I found this on at the moment, but it also states it on a website selling cat collars. this sounds rubbish as they are trying to make a sale, but the original website was a quality birding site.

here's one of the places i found it - http://www.edirectory.co.uk/pf/pages/moreinfoa.asp?pe=BEDJBDGQ_+Bird+Saver+Cat+Collar&cid=880
 
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