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Lions roaming the savannah are a staple of nature documentaries. But the millions of little lions that live in our homes and neighborhoods also lead fascinating lives. We know more about those lives now, because a two-year-long study used radio-transmitters to track cats at the southern edge of the cities of Champaign and Urbana in Illinois. It would have taken a dozen field researchers to collect the same data. The study is in the Journal of Wildlife Management. [Jeff Horn et al., "Home Range, Habitat Use, and Activity Patterns of Free-Roaming Domestic Cats"]
The entire kittie cohort included both housecats and feral cats, and ranged over almost 6,300 acres. One feral cat’s range topped out at 1,351 acres. New York’s Central Park covers 843 acres.
Owned cats with homes roamed way less than their feral counterparts. But they still averaged a range of just under five acres. The pets were highly active just 3 percent of the time, compared with 14 percent for the cats that need to find their own food. The work should shed light on protecting species that the cats hunt, and inform the efforts to stop the spread of feline contagious diseases.
—Steve Mirsky
[The above text is an exact transcript of this podcast.]
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15 Comments
Add CommentI don't own a pet.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI am familiar with the psychological benefits they bring, but they are a huge contributor to the devastation of fisheries, not to mention the destruction feral cats bring (per the article).
The investment Americans make in their pets every year far exceeds the per capita income of many human beings on the planet...
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/pf/06/peteconomics.asp
Fascinating.
It's a huge misnomer to call them "domestic" cats, since I would imagine ALL pet cats are "invader species", and didn't originate here...
Just like humans.
I don't have offspring either.
This just reinforces the notion that domestic cats shouldn't be let outside.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI encourage Scientific American readers to check out Nico Dauphiné and Robert J. Cooper's recent paper, "Impacts of Free-Ranging Domestic Cats (Felis Catus) on Birds in The United States: A Review of Recent Research with Conservation and Management Recommendations". ( http://www.pwrc.usgs.gov/pif/pubs/McAllenProc/articles/PIF09_Anthropogenic%20Impacts/Dauphine_1_PIF09.pdf )
I hope you'll agree with me that whatever thrill your pampered cats (you feed them, house them, and make sure they're in tip-top shape by taking them to the vet) get from roaming is more than overshadowed by the assertion that they contribute "to declines and extinctions of birds worldwide and are one of the most important drivers of global bird extinctions" (per the abstract).
I’ve yet to read the journal paper, but would like to point out that any references to the home ranges of domestic cats are of little use without knowing whether the cats were sterilized or not (I expect that the paper includes such categorization). Sterilized cats tend to have much smaller ranges, one of the benefits of the Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) approach to feral cat management.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFrankly, I’m skeptical of Steve Mirsky’s suggestion that “The work should shed light on protecting species that the cats hunt, and inform the efforts to stop the spread of feline contagious diseases.” More than likely, this research will simply fuel the shameless witch hunt against feral cats. (The phenomenon is pervasive enough that I was prompted to launch my blog Vox Felina (http://www.voxfelina.com), where I untangle some of the science surrounding the issue.)
Regarding Natosongs’ comment: Dauphine and Cooper’s paper is a classic in terms of its exaggerations, misrepresentations, and erroneous claims—typical, I’m afraid, of the of the “science” that’s often used to justify the eradication of feral cats (though proponents of such an approach, it must be said, have no plan—knowing, I suppose, that’s it’s simply unworkable.)
Finally, readers might be interested to know that Dauphine, who works at the Smithsonian’s Migratory Bird Center, was charged this week with attempted animal cruelty for allegedly poisoning cats in her neighborhood.
Peter J. Wolf
http://www.voxfelina.com
According to your final sentence you are doing the best you can possibly do for humanity at large. We all thank you.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisP.S. Save electricity and keep your computer turned off.
P.P.S. Malthus rules only in finite (planet-bound) environments.
When a peer-reviewed paper appears, written by authors whose livelihood and grants are supported by cat owners and or pro-cat industries, then I will pay attention to one-sided reports with no apposing view. Until then, meh. Not so much. Beware of one-sided, single-sourced, information. Always look for the opposing view. If one does not exist, the question is, "why not?"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow nice to see that the ecological disaster that cat-lovers has caused is getting even worse, not better.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThese invasive species have devastated the natural food-chain in my woods. All foxes, owls, and other predatory animals that depended on all the wildlife that cats destroyed (not ate) starved to death. After a 15 year effort of my own, including raising native mice and voles to repopulate just a couple of the species that their cats destroyed, and on advice of the local sheriff to shoot every one of them (collared or not), my woods have finally started to head back into a direction of natural balance. Including seeing wild-turkeys, grouse, and other ground-nesting birds again.
No animals that *should* be predators of cats will even go near them. Due to the varying coloring patterns bred into these cats (by selective breeding, a form of genetic engineering), wildlife perceives these bold patterns as warning signs for toxicity or having olfactory defense mechanisms. It would take eons of adaptation before native species put them on their preferred prey list, but ONLY if they didn't get sick from all the potentially deadly diseases that cats now carry too. Wildlife not eating cats might be the only thing that's saving wildlife from even faster mass-destruction by cats at this point. Cats have no more right to be out in nature than a genetically engineered insect that, if released into nature, will destroy all life.
Which part of the name "HOUSE-CATS" do all these people fail to comprehend?
I hope your next study is that of cat-lovers' motives and behaviors. You can then confirm what I've already come to know:
Territorial Behavior By Expendable Proxy
I have come to the firm conclusion that all cat-lovers that let their invasive-species roam free, and those that want feral cats to invade public property, are only using cats as a proxy for their own territorial behavior. Like youth that will disrespectfully use loud music to stake-out territory. If they can have one of their cats destroy another's yard and the owner not have any recourse, the cat-owner owns that territory. It's time stop them and their "cute kitty" excuse for usurping and stealing others' property. If they want territory they can buy it. Instead they're putting (and sacrificing) live animals in the path of their goals. They only want your yard or forest while making all other life suffer. Bottom line--they want to control you and your property. It's why they don't care if their cat nor anything else is harmed by their goals and lack of values.
hey give the cats a break......why do we have this obsession with.....controlling all that moves besides ourselves.......check out 'Mutual Aid And Co-Operation'...works out in the end.....relax now n' then....science says it's good for you.....n'also states it helps you live that bit longer...... smiling helps also.......wishes by the bag-full....and here's a bag of luck ...for the year that's in it....all the way from the north-west of Ireland.....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy TNR and Cat Advocates Even Exist ...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis#Behavioral_changes
It has been found that Toxoplasma gondii parasite is capable of changing the brains of whatever organism it infests. In mice, they lose the fear of cats and are even attracted to cat-urine. Making the asexual portion of the Toxoplasma gondii life-cycle faster to complete in order to replicate more quickly into its sexual reproduction phase in all host cats. This loss of fear and apprehension manifesting itself in humans in a similar manner, even when common-sense tells them they should depend on that sense of fear or doubt for their own survival.
Here are other ways that this parasite have been known to alter the thinking patterns of humans: http://wildlifeprofessional.org/blog/?p=3929
I strongly suspect that it might even be responsible for all cat-lovers' wholly contradictory behavior of putting cats, all other animals, and even all humans in harm's-way through their adamant insistence of promoting TNR programs, just to ensure the survival and spread of more Toxoplasma gondii parasites throughout the food-chain and in more humans. They are, in effect, being controlled against all reason and common-sense by the very parasite that is reproducing in their cats.
The stuff that sci-fi used to be made of come to reality. Real-life "pod-people". They can't think nor reason beyond the need of ensuring the survival of Toxoplasma gondii. It won't let them.
LOL! So cat lovers have become the equivalent of modern era toxo-cat Stepford Wives!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow can it be that all cat lovers and all supporters of TNR are infected with Toxoplasmosis, when according to the NHANES (1999 – 2004), the prevalence of T. gondii infection has fallen from 14.1% to 9.0% (NHANES III, 1988 – 1994) of the US-born population aged 12-49 years old over the past decade? (Jones et al. 2007, see below).
http://www.ajtmh.org/content/77/3/405.full.pdf By researchers at Division of Parasitic Diseases, National Center for Zoonotic, Vectorborne, and Enteric Diseases, CCID, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia; Division of Health and Nutrition Examination Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hyattsville, Maryland
To address Lauri_G's evasive side-stepping ignorance: while T. gondii has gone down in general, 60% or more of all feral-cat caretakers are now infected with it.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHowever, this doesn't address the main problem. That trapping and/or sterilizing is a failed concept, from DAY ONE.
There are now 150M feral-cats in the USA alone, 86M pet-cats (60M of those still allowed to destroy wildlife), human population of the USA 310M. 2 cats for every 3 humans, from infant to senior. NOBODY WANTS THE EXCESS. Cats have an exponentially increasing reproduction rate of x^5.4, YEARLY. An average litter of 5 every 5-6 months, breeding as early as 6-months old. This means 2 cats can become 42 in ONLY ONE YEAR. Have NONE OF YOU even done the simple math?
You CANNOT trap them fast enough to come anywhere near to slowing the problem now. This major ecological, human-health, animal-welfare, and financial disaster is FAR beyond that. Thanks to all TNR promoters and cat advocates. Not to mention the amazingly stupid and ignorant law-makers that have backed them. They ALL need to lose their positions in office because of this. Apparently none of them have even been to high-school.
CATS MUST BE DESTROYED ON-SIGHT. There is NO OTHER WAY this problem can be slowed down now. Avoid using poisons, that once entered into the food-chain, will destroy more than cats. Use guns. It's the quickest, least costly, and most humane method. One moment they are happily stalking some helpless wildlife to maim and cruelly torture again, the next the cat is dead, not even knowing what happened. (Speaking from 1st-hand experience.) Bury or incinerate all carcasses to stop their deadly diseases spreading further to more wildlife and humans. It's our only hope of trying to catch up to this MAJOR disaster that all cat-lovers have created for all of humanity and all of nature. They should all be serving life-sentences in prisons for what they've done to all.
Here's another Fun-Fact that trap-advocates fail to realize, in their infinite ignorance of how animal-behavior and evolution works.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThose cats that have learned to avoid and evade all trapping methods are the next generation to survive. Ever hear the old adage, "If you invent a better mousetrap nature will just invent a better mouse."?
So now, thanks to the supreme stupidity and ignorance of trap-advocates, we have a race of freely roaming cats in all countrysides of every continent which are passing on their "how to survive" behavior to all their offspring, both genetically and behaviorally. Now the next phase of millions of feral-cats won't even be able to be trapped. This is just how amazingly stupid trap-advocates are. You thought 150,000,000 feral cats was bad? In colloquial terms, "You ain't seen nuthin' yet!"
There's a reason the phrase "hunted to extinction" is so well-known in all cultures across all lands. It is the ONLY method that is faster than a species can breed and adapt to.
Please ignore my previous calculations, I was doing that off the top of my head whilst typing (having taught myself calc in high-school). The true breeding rate is N X 5/2. (Avg. 5 per litter, ~1/2 of the population females. Every 4-6 months, breeding as early as 5-6 months.) Be sure to apply that simple function as an iteration, as all previous generations of cats are still breeding.) When done properly 150M cats become 1,462,500,000 (yes, nearly 1.5 BILLION) cats in only one year's time, even if they each live to only 1 year old.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMoral of the Story:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI wasted 15 YEARS of my life arguing with demented cat-lovers. During which THEIR CATS DESTROYED ALL WILDLIFE ON MY LAND.
It wasn't until I STOPPED arguing and did what needed to be done -- SHOOT ALL CATS -- that my land, all the wildlife on my land, and my life itself started to return to normal. I no longer have to go out twice a day on cat-patrol to shoot more cats nor waste more time and energy burying them to protect wildlife from the diseases they carry.
I hope the rest of you learn from this lesson. You can argue with the Toxoplasmosis parasites in the cat-lovers' brains until you are blue in the face and your whole planet is destroyed by their cats, but it'll never get rid of the cats that have destroyed your life and all wildlife.
JUST DO WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE -- DESTROY THEM.
Only later, AFTER your land and life are 100% free of cats, can you have fun educating the ineducable. Use the time you got back from their cats taking over your life to share the best ways to destroy all cats. (Without harming any other wildlife nor humans.) Then if you want, make YOUR life THEIR problem. Just as they made THEIR cats YOUR problem for all these many years. It's only fair! Because that's what it's really all about, it's not about cats at all. THEY ONLY WANT TO CONTROL YOUR LIFE WITH THEIR CATS. You put a stop to that immediately BY DESTROYING THEIR CATS. And there's not ONE THING they can do about it if you do it right. They'll no longer have any part of your life.
I do agree with you! Cats are sweet animals...let them live in peace. They deserve to live as much as other species!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYOU ARE TOO AGGRESSIVE!
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