Save the planet: Get rid of your cat

Save the planet: Get rid of your cat
Evidence is mounting that having a cat isn't very green: Along with humans, they are having a devastating impact on birds and marine life.
By Knute Berger
April 02, 2009

http://crosscut.com/2009/04/02/mossback/18925/
http://crosscut.com/2009/04/02/mossback/18925/print/

We're willing to tax plastic bags to save the planet, but are we willing to give up our pets? There's increasing evidence that our love of cats and dogs is having an adverse impact on the earth. Sure, pet owners experience joy and even the release of endorphins when they cuddle with Fluffy, but benign Fluffy is not.

A new report on the state of bird populations in the United States paints a grim picturefor the future diversity of bird species. The State of Birds survey indicates that fully one third of U.S. species are in decline. There are many pressures, most of them human, including habitat destruction. But the second biggest reason for the decline of birds: non-native species predation, which includes invasive critters, domestic animals, and house pets. Among pets, cats are the major threat. There are an estimated 77 million pet cats (pdf) in the U.S. (that doesn't count feral or stray populations which could more than double that number). Numbers vary but experts believe pet cats kill millions of birds in this country each year.

Urban cats are part of the problem in part because habitat fragmentation turns your yard from part of the larger wild system into an ecological island. Visiting birds are more isolated and vulnerable and can be more easily picked off by hunting cats who have the place staked out.

To read the full article: http://crosscut.com/2009/04/02/mossback/18925/