Domestic Cats Threaten Migratory Songbird Populations in U.S.

Migratory songbirds, like all other species, fill an important niche in their respective ecosystems. Unfortunately, they are becoming less and less able to fill that niche, as their numbers have been dropping significantly for decades in the United States. Scientists have come to the conclusion that there are many reasons for this decline, such as urban sprawl, deforestation and the inevitable damage to these birds' habitat that comes with these things. However, there is another cause for this decline that has conservationists concerned. It is an invasive species that we are very familiar with, the domestic cat.

Domestic cats were originally bred in Egypt, where they were worshiped, rather irrationally. From there, the domestic cat made its way into Europe, via the Romans. This introduction of the domestic cat onto continents, where they are not found naturally, continued until there was hardly anywhere left where they had not become common place. They were introduced to the United States in the 1880's as a means of controlling rat infestations, which they were extraordinarily good at. However, domestic cat numbers are now way out of proportion.

Researchers estimate that there are currently between 60 and 100 million cats being kept as house pets in the United States. This may, or may not, include feral cats and strays. About 70% of those cats are outdoor/indoor cats or strictly outdoor cats. That means tens of millions of domestic cats are given the opportunity to kill songbirds, every day. All species of migratory songbirds are federally protected in the United States. That means that you cannot harm these birds, their eggs, or their nests, for any reason. Surely you abide by these laws, however, you may be inadvertently harming these animals by allowing your cat to harm them.

It is estimated that hundreds of millions of migratory songbirds are killed by domestic cats every year. A study conducted by Stanley Temple of the University of Wisconsin showed that domestic cats are responsible for the death of 19 million migratory songbirds a year, in Wisconsin alone. Being that domestic cats are an invasive species and not native to North America, they are not part of the natural food chain there. Not only are they killing birds that would have otherwise been safe from them, but they are doing so at such an alarming rate that they are actually taking food away from the animals that would naturally prey on migratory songbirds.

Domestic cats are not the number one cause of the decline in the population of songbirds in the United States, but they are obviously contributing grossly to it. There are only a few things we can do to slow this process down. It has been shown that declawing your pet or putting a bell on its collar doesn't help much. The best way to prevent your pet from killing songbirds is to keep it indoors. If you must let it outside, try to learn about the behavior of your areas migratory songbirds. You may be able to arrange your cat's forays into the wild when there is less likelihood that they will run into a songbird. Another very important thing to do is to have your pet spayed or neutered. The population of both feral domestic cats and domestic cats that are kept as pets must decline soon, for the sake of both the migratory songbirds and the cats.