How to stop your cat killing birds
Bright collars, more playtime and a change in your pet’s diet can help halt the UK’s alarming drop in avian numbers. By Tomé Morrissy-Swan
The battle between cat owners and wildlife lovers is eternal. Humans love pet cats, cats love killing birds, humans love birds. It’s a neverending cycle.
While feline populations have boomed (there are around 10 million in the UK), so songbirds have declined, with numbers down 50 per cent in 50 years. Cats, by no means the sole problem – climate change, habitat loss, modern farming – nonetheless kill millions of birds and other wildlife each year.
For years, the solution was controversial: keep your cats indoors. However, research has found some simpler answers. According to a team of scientists at the University of Exeter, playing with cats for five to 10 minutes per day and feeding them a diet rich in meat protein (as opposed to non-meat protein that boosts cheaper food), satiates their predatory desires.
“I’m really excited about the research,” enthuses George Bradley, spokesperson for the charity SongBird Survival, which has funded the study. “Anything that’s going to help is important. If one factor is cats killing birds, then that’s also one building block of the solution.”
Researchers followed more than 300 pet cats, studying their behaviour before and after their diet was altered or playtime introduced. After playing for the same length of time as the average hunt, the cats were less likely to kill mammals, though not birds. This, the scientists believe, was because the playing was mostly done at night; cats usually hunt birds in the morning.
After introducing the new premium diets, however, both mammal and bird hunts declined. Additionally, when cats were made to wear brightly coloured collars, bird kills fell by 42 per cent.
Telegraph columnist Pete Wedderburn, aka Pete the Vet, says it’s important to encourage cats to exhibit natural behaviours such as jumping, running, chasing and grabbing. Indeed, owners are responsible for ensuring cats’ needs are met under the Animal Welfare Act.
“Owners definitely need to ensure pet cats engage in hunting-like activities,” says Wedderburn. “That does not necessarily mean they need to let them hunt. They can mimic hunting, by using toys such as wands and feathers, laser lights, electronic mice, to ensure their pets engage in hunting-type behaviours without harming any other animals.” He argues, however, that a complete end to hunting could lead to a surge in wildlife populations, including rats and mice.
Bradley, who owns two cats, keeps them both indoors in order to protect birds. She plays with them every day, mimicking hunting with a string attached to a bamboo rod, which she pulls around the house. Afterwards, like the researchers, she provides them with a “kill toy”, in her case a scrunched up ball of foil, providing the satisfaction researchers found they needed.
A complete end to hunting could lead to a surge in the rat and mice populations