This is a hot topic, but I agree humans and loss of habitat are the main threat to birds.
As for keeping cats inside. I've had cats all my life and they have always been indoor/outdoor cats. All of them have lived to 16 to 17 years of age unless they've had some genetic problem like heart disease. My cats were all rescues and they lived outside before I had them, and they are totally miserable inside. It's really only the last couple decades that cats have been living indoors, but the invention of cat litter and urban sprawl have made us think all cats have the perfect life indoors, when in reality, cats are happier if they can live outdoors. They are programmed to hunt small animals....which is the best nutrition for them. They need to climb trees, stalk at night with their night vision, and be free. Cats were not made for sitting in a window sill, and a prison is a prison no matter how many cat toys and kitty kondos we buy for them. It's true that some outdoor cats have a shorter life expectancy, but this mostly depends on where they live. If they live in a safe area with little or no traffic then I feel they should be allowed to be outside. There are some cats who will never willingly settle for the indoor life. We live in the middle of the woods on a dead end road with no traffic and our cats are allowed to go outside. I rarely see them catch a bird, but they catch many mice & moles. I feel sad to see anything killed, but cats and dogs are predators and this is what they were designed to do. Lorrie > Sorry but that information is outdated or biased. The number one > killer of birds is humans due to habitat loss or construction for same. > > Humans: The Number One Threat to Birds > > http://www.alleycat.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=325 > > > > SomeWhere Sam _______________________________________________ Felvtalk mailing list Felvtalk@felineleukemia.org http://felineleukemia.org/mailman/listinfo/felvtalk_felineleukemia.org
