{"id":14533,"date":"2013-01-31T05:50:52","date_gmt":"2013-01-31T10:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=14533"},"modified":"2013-01-31T08:08:33","modified_gmt":"2013-01-31T13:08:33","slug":"those-cute-fluffy-killing-machines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/01\/those-cute-fluffy-killing-machines\/","title":{"rendered":"Those cute, fluffy killing machines"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I like cats.\u00a0 I like dogs too, but I appreciate cats.\u00a0 But those cool, purring, graceful creatures are formidable killers.\u00a0 One estimate is that cats kill as many as one out of ten birds.\u00a0 From ABC:<\/p>\n

Cats are responsible for the deaths of 1.4 to 3.7 billion birds and 6.9 to 20.7 billion mammals every year, according to research conducted by the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.<\/p>\n

The study, published on Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, highlighted the impact that both un-owned cats and owned cats have on wildlife populations in the United States.<\/p>\n

Feral, un-owned cats are responsible for the majority of deaths, and the study found previous wildlife mortality estimates to be far too low. It remained to be seen what large-scale impacts the killing sprees have on wildlife populations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to know,\u201d Dr. Peter Marra, research scientist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and co-author of the study, told ABC News. \u201cWe think there are 15 to 20 billion adult land birds in the U.S. If we are suggesting 2.3 billion are killed annually, that means 1 in 10 birds are taken by cats every year.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nvia Cats Kill Billions of Animals Annually, Study Finds \u2013 ABC News<\/a>.\n

This does NOT, however, mean that we should get rid of cats.\u00a0 There is a movement in New Zealand <\/a>to make the country \u201ccat free.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I like cats.\u00a0 I like dogs too, but I appreciate cats.\u00a0 But those cool, purring, graceful creatures are formidable killers.\u00a0 One estimate is that cats kill as many as one out of ten birds.\u00a0 From ABC: Cats are responsible for the deaths of 1.4 to 3.7 billion birds and 6.9 to 20.7 billion mammals every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[2433],"class_list":["post-14533","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nature","tag-cats"],"yoast_head":"\nThose cute, fluffy killing machines<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I like cats.\u00a0 I like dogs too, but I appreciate cats.\u00a0 But those cool, purring, graceful creatures are formidable killers.\u00a0 One estimate is that cats kill\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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