Study illustrates why outdoor cats lead shorter lives
Cats are always trying to convince us that they are ninjas, cold-hearted killers who deserve our respect and awe. Don't tell your cat - their ego doesn't need the boost - but a new study shows that it is probably true.
Dubbed "KittyCam," this project is a collaboration between National Geographic and the University of Georgia. Researchers chose 60 free-roaming outdoor house cats in the town of Athens, Georgia, and fitted them with cameras. They sent the cats out to live their lives, then studied the results.
Bird lovers and ecologists have long known that cats are a major threat to wildlife. Still, many owners are shocked to learn that 44 percent of free roaming cats hunt and kill on a daily basis. On average, these hunters will kill a surprising number of animals - approximately two animals per week. Most of the kills were birds, but the cats also killed a fair number of lizards - facts their owners would never suspect, because the cats invariably left the dead lizards at the kill site, rather than bringing them home.
Owners were also surprised to see the variety of risky behaviors their cats engaged in when not covered by a watchful eye. The cats scrapped with each other, fought with possums, explored the storm drains, dashed across busy streets, drank sewer water, and ate a variety of unpleasant items including road kill, worms, stick insects and some random Chex mix left on a stump (for reasons unknown).
This no doubt helps explain the statistic that outdoor ranging cats have an average lifespan of only 3-5 years, while indoor-only cats live an average of 12-15 years.
The KittyCam producers were shocked at the number of birds that were killed on camera. Cats kill an estimated 500 million birds every year in North America (wind turbines, which are often rejected on the basis of the number of birds they kill, only kill an average of 440,000 per year).
Many of these deaths previously went unrecorded. The researchers found that the cats only brought home about a quarter of the animals they killed. The cats ate 30 percent of the animals on the spot, and left 49 percent of their kills where they fell. In other words, take the number of dead animals Fluffy brings home and multiply it by 4 to get the true picture of the numbers involved.
If you have an outdoor cat and want to help prevent it from slaughtering the local bird and reptile population, the researchers recommend this Cat Bib as a preventative measure. Unlike bells (which the cat quickly learns to silence), the bib acts as a physical protection, preventing your cat from grabbing its prey, while leaving the cat free to pursue all its other cat-ly activities.