Cats Are Afraid Of Chickens & Object To Harmful Rumors About Killing Birds

If you listen to the wild talk about cats slaughtering billions of US animals, birds and mammals, let's set the record straight.  It just isn't true.   You can read more about this pack of lies under Cat Stuff, which is just below Dog Stuff.

You can easily read this cat's body language.  He is being very cautious of the 2 hens who are sharing a perch on the straw.  There is no question that cats will not only leave the hens alone, they don't even make an attempt to bother their chicks.

 

Cats are afraid of chickens. Make that domestic cats, even feral.

Country chickens are big and well fed, they eat all of our organic and garden produce trimmings. No waste.

There is nobody more protective than a hen, who is ready to rip the face off of any cat that might show any interest in her chicks. I've never seen more than a slightly curious cat looking at the chicks. Most move away from mama!

Mama chicken will ruffles those feathers and fly feet and claws first at any cat showing too close of an interest! That goes for dogs who are too curious too. Oddly enough, she'll become very comfortable with her humans around and make nice cooing sounds of contentment.

There's a whole lot of inter species communication taking place here on a daily basis.  Stuff you won't hear or see if you sit inside a concrete box or cubicle.

The feral cat population tends to be kept somewhat in check by the owls, hawks, eagles, dogs and bigger cougar type kitties. They have a very rough life. Some are easy to make friends with and others will never get close enough for you to touch them. We have our own cats, that started out as youngsters who were born in our barn. Their mama must not have been very smart, she walked into the forest one day and never came back, leaving behind her little ones.

They had no choice but to get to know us. What we didn't realize was that cats can begin breeding very young. So these few kittens very quickly turned into a mass of 21 total cats & kittens. That's how we met the President of the Feral Cat Coalition, a vet who performs low cost spay and neuter or trap and release programs in her area. There may be free spay and neuter programs for feral cats, check it out.

We spent one New Years day helping shave, inject and pass and wash surgical instruments while she neutered all of “our cats.” We were able to find employment for all but 7 of them who truly became our employed cats. They are well fed, but what country feline doesn't appreciate nice fresh mouse? They do a great job keeping the rural field mouse population greatly diminished, and even the snow doesn't slow them down!

Guest cats do periodically show up and they aren't spayed or neutered, they are looking for potential mates and frequently find them among themselves. If you have a place where they can bed down, they may move in. They don't hurt anyone, some move on to other neighbors, some stay with you but don't become friendly and they also keep the mouse population in short supply.

They are always there for the groceries and deserve kitty food for doing a good job working for you!

Eventually everyone learns to get along great and you can see cats and chickens wandering around together or drinking from the same bowl at the same time. Everyone learns their respectful boundaries and there is eventual peace in the animal kingdom. Cats also do not hunt or stalk birds. I've never

seem them kill a bird. I'm quite sure that if there were an injured bird, nature would take it's course.

Humans Are The Main Threat To Environment - NOT Cats

Leading biologists, climate scientists, and environmental watchdogs all agree—humans’ own impact on the environment is without a doubt the number one cause of species loss.

Habitat destruction, fragmentation, and modification caused by human-led activities (i.e., industrial and residential development, logging, crop farming, livestock grazing, mining, road and dam building, and pesticide use) have taken an extreme toll on threatened and endangered wildlife populations at an alarming rate. With breeding grounds devastated and access to food and other resources diminishing, it’s no wonder that we’ve seen such a decline in species diversity.

Yet we still see—in the press, in non-peer-reviewed publications, and in public policy—people blaming wildlife decline on cats. Sidestepping the issue of human destruction to focus on trivial but sensational issues, such as the so-called ‘cat versus bird’ debate, only diverts attention away from the enormous and far more dangerous impact of humans.

The Danger of Development

A 2010 report from the scientific fellowship The Royal Society concludes that “never before has a single species driven such profound changes to the habitats, composition and climate of the planet…”¹ The report also ominously states that “there are very strong indications that the current rate of species extinctions far exceeds anything in the fossil record.” The message is clear: humans are having an unprecedented impact on the planet—and species are going extinct at an unprecedented rate.

In America alone, the fast-growing population and even faster development of land is wiping out habitats like never before. Between 1990 and 2000, the US population grew by 33 million people, the greatest increase the country has ever seen. Population growth from 2000 to 2010 added another 27 million people.² Experts predict that this rapid population growth will continue, adding another 23 million people each decade for the next 30 years.³ That’s 69 million people more in the United States.

Worse, America’s demand for resources is outpacing our already troublesome population growth. According to the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) almost one-sixth of the land developed over the entire history of our country occurred in a ten-year period, from 1982 to 1992.⁴ And while our population grew by less than 50% from 1960 to 1990, the amount of developed land in all US metropolitan areas more than doubled.⁵ Researchers at Brookings Institution predict that by the year 2030, half of the buildings in which we live, work, and shop will have been built after the year 2000.⁶
 
Our rapid expansion—and even faster use of resources—has destroyed or disconnected vital wildlife habitat. Since Europeans first settled the continent, 27 ecosystem types have already declined by as much as 98%.⁷ Most of the species who call these ecosystems home are not adaptable to the human landscape that is left them. If our current development and population growth continue unchecked, the serious loss of animal species will continue for decades to come—unless we do something now to address the human threat.

The Human Impact on Birds

Opponents of Trap-Neuter-Return, the sound and effective approach for feral cat colonies, often blame cats for bird species decline, but humans are by far the biggest threat to bird species. The exponential population growth and vast expansion discussed above has left little land untouched by human development, modification, fragmentation, and pollution.

And so millions of bird deaths occur every year due to human activities—nearly 100 million from colliding with windows, 80 million from collisions with automobiles, and about 70 million from exposure to pesticides.⁸ Our own government tracks how many animals (birds included) it kills—over 4 million in 2009 alone.⁹
 
In a 2000 report by the World Conservation Union surveying 1,173 threatened bird species, habitat loss was the most important threat, affecting 83% of the bird species sampled. As the World Watch Institute put it (emphasis added):

"…[P]eople have always modified natural landscapes in the course of finding food, obtaining shelter, and meeting other requirements of daily life. What makes present-day human alteration of habitat the number-one problem for birds and other creatures is its unprecedented scale and intensity.^10"

Cats are a Natural Part of the Landscape

Cats have always been part of the natural environment—they have lived outdoors for over 10,000 years. While they have adapted to the changes people brought about in the environment, their biological instincts and interactions with their surroundings have not changed.

What has changed in the last 10,000 years is how people have impacted the environment. Our unrestrained use of natural resources has damaged the crucial habitats and resources species need to survive.

Instead of pointing a finger at cats, we must take a hard look at what we can do to change the way we impact our world and the animals we share it with. We have the ability to conserve our natural places, minimize our impact on wildlife habitat, and build responsibly. To make a difference, we must align our attention and resources to offset the biggest offender in habitat destruction and species decline—ourselves.

NOTE:  We support feeding/watering feral cats, there are often local resources to provide humane traps and free, or low cost, spay neuter services.  We're horrified when we hear people "parrot" off the absurdly false figures of the billions of US birds killed by feral & house cats. 

That's simply is not true.

We live rurally and co habitat nicely with Ferals.   In the last 20 years I may have seen a couple of birds that could be attributed to cat kills.   Although I did not see the cat kill the bird, just the remains, the bird could have died from other causes.  I know that cats reduce the mouse population substantially, for which I'm grateful.  

When people spout off the ridiculous kill figures attributed to cats, please help gently educate them.

Don't see mice?  Thank a cat!