If I asked you to think of an environmental threat offhand, I imagine you might list any number of risks: water pollution, deforestation, carbon emissions or perhaps plastic waste. What I imagine you wouldn’t mention, however, are domestic cats. But as it turns out, the fluffy, clumsy, theatrical little beasts that have colonized our hearts and social media feeds have also colonized the outdoor environments into which we release them — and they are wreaking considerable havoc on native wildlife populations.
For some, this may sound surprising or a bit hyperbolic. It certainly seemed that way to me. As a cat owner myself — and someone who has tried to make a pleasant wildlife habitat out of my family garden — I’m familiar with the sometimes inexplicable amount of violence my three sweet kitties enact on the birds, reptiles and small mammals around my house. However, I appreciate that they catch rats and gophers, and what usually disturbs me about their hunting activities isn’t so much them catching animals but rather their habit of bringing home every mouse or songbird they’ve mortally wounded, eager that I be a part of their murderous joy. I’ve never seriously considered that my cats had a significant impact on wildlife populations, especially in the suburban spaces in which I’ve lived.
When I became aware of my pets’ environmental pawprint, if you will, my first question was:
OK, but how much damage do cats really do?
As it turns out, they do a lot of damage. There are more than 60 million domestic cats in the United States alone and tens of millions of feral ones on top of that — and, from a conservation perspective, cats are considered a non-native invasive species. One estimate places the number of birds killed by cats in the United States at up to four billion annually, and sadly, most of these birds are native species. The same researchers estimate that cats also kill up to 22.3 billion small mammals and millions of reptiles and amphibians each year. On islands, cats have been implicated in 14% of the extinctions listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List (and 58% of total vertebrate extinctions).
To put these numbers into perspective, consider that cats cause more bird and small-vertebrate deaths in the United States than any other direct human intervention, including chemicals and cars. When they aren’t hunting, cats disturb animal environments, compete with native predators and introduce and transfer diseases.
In a 2017 study, authors Scott R Loss and Peter P Marra wrote, “The domestic cat is among the most ubiquitous and environmentally damaging invasive predators on Earth.”
Yeah, that’s pretty bad.
So, what can cat owners do?
There are several things cat owners can do to help keep our wildlife safe. Here are some things to consider.
Bells and collars
Research has suggested that outfitting your cat with bells or colorful collars like Birdsbesafe helps reduce the number of animals that cats catch. However, to be frank, this hasn’t been my experience. My cats are all belled and wear colorful, reflective collars, and they’ve still brought plenty of birds and gophers home.
Consider age and agility
Every cat I’ve had has been a furry terror when they were young, but they’ve mellowed out within a few years. As outdoor cats, they caught more animals by far in those first few years than they do now in their middle and old age. So, taking extra preventative measures for younger cats might be one small way to mitigate harm.
Fences
I’ve heard from some cat owners that high mesh fences (or even electric fences) can constrain cats’ hunting grounds. Like collars, this may help restrict cats to certain habitats, but cats are still great at finding ways out of fenced places.
Curfews
Many people with outdoor cats bring their cats in at dusk and don’t let them out again until mid-morning. In part, this helps prevent your cats from becoming meals themselves. It also prevents them from hunting at times when wildlife is especially active and their hunting urges are strongest.
Keeping your cat indoors
Ultimately, keeping your cat inside is the only sure way to keep them from harming your local ecosystem. Cat owners may be more reluctant to do this than other interventions, especially considering the common belief among owners and vets that going outside is essential for cats’ health. However, cats adapt well to indoor life. Plus, the potential benefits of outdoor life are balanced by costs — outdoor cats face a much higher risk of animal attacks, traffic accidents, parasites and infectious diseases.
Alter and adopt
Cats with homes and owners aren’t the only ones causing environmental harm. The problem that cats pose is more systemic. The majority of wildlife deaths are caused by stray cats, and programs that spay or neuter before releasing feral cats have been ineffective in reducing populations in the long run. I don’t support euthanizing stray populations to address this problem, but adopting stray cats from animal shelters is another great way to help reduce cat proliferation overall.
As odd as it may seem, remembering that our cuddly housepets represent legitimate threats to our ecosystems also allows us to take environmental action in our own lives. For those who don’t own cats or don’t particularly enjoy feline company, you can pass this knowledge along to the cat people in your life. For cat owners such as myself, or those planning to get a cat in the future, we can take these concrete steps to prevent our furry friends from becoming environmental menaces.
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