NPR ran a nice little piece on feral cats, and a volunteer organization that does catch, neuter, and release. But then the inner bird lover in the reporter surfaced, and she went on about predation of birds by cats. She claimed that cats kill 2.5 billion birds every year and isn't that horrible. I had to wonder where she got her numbers from. Did someone go about interviewing cats? Then she claimed that the house cat was an invasive species, not native to the western hemisphere and the poor birds had no natural defenses. She forgot about the native bobcats, a little bigger and faster and meaner than a house cat. Besides, any bird dumb enough to let a cat get so close it can pounce before the bird can get airborne, is probably better off as cat food.
On their side, cats totally understand humans, and make themselves so friendly, so cuddly, and so attractive that most humans go ga-ga and feed them, pet them, and shelter them. Birds don't compete in this league. So there are gonna be plenty of cat lovers looking out for cats.
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