Cats Protection

Sir, Following the publication of your article ‘Can anything be done to curb the cat?’ (Saturday, September 26 by Jim Cassels), our charity has received correspondence from a number of readers who asked us to respond.

While Cats Protection recognises that cats are naturally predatory animals, it should also be noted that research by the RSPB has not shown that cats are the primary cause of decline in any bird of conservation concern in the UK, which include the house sparrow and the song thrush.

Some bird species that have undergone serious population decline - such as skylarks, tree sparrows and corn buntings - rarely encounter cats, so it is difficult to attribute the drop to felines. Similarly the blue tit, which is second in the list of most frequently killed garden birds, is actually increasing in numbers in the UK.

Various research has cited many other factors for bird loss which include mismanagement and loss of traditional wildlife habitat, global warming and climate change, decline in native flora and the increased use of pesticides and fertilisers in modern farming practices.

Furthermore, cats tend to kill weak and sickly birds, so it is not clear whether cat predation replaces other forms of death, or is in addition to natural death.

It should also not be forgotten that the specialist hunting skills that cats have evolved were favoured by man and led to their domestication in the first place, as a result of protection of precious grain stores.

Cats Protection agrees with the RSPB advice to keep cats indoors when prey species are at their most active, especially at dawn and dusk.

We would also like to highlight the importance of neutering as neutered cats tend to stay closer to home as well as reducing the num- ber of unwanted cats needing homes in the future.

Cats Protection National Cat Centre, Haywards Heath