My Cat Kills House Sparrows. Should I Let Her?
I just realized that I've been preventing my cat from killing the most abundant songbirds in North America:
I have always had mixed feelings about cats hunting, and always try to provide my cat with a bell. (I've never had an indoor cat... I know, I should be shut away... but I prefer the near-feral cat, the one that loves its home and its people, but who really is just barely a housecat.) In any case, house sparrows are actually a problem for many of the naturally occurring species of bird throughout the U.S. (especially bluebirds, it seems). So am I doing the local bird population any favor by preventing Swiper from killing them? I have never seen her attack any other kind of bird (though she sometimes will attack a very large dog, just for fun).
What about you? Do you let your cat kill birds? If so, what kind? And what else does your cat kill?
Listening to “The Phoenix” by Ellis from the album Everything That's Real on
House Sparrows Everywhere (Nature Watch)
Caroline Arnold
Fact Sheet: House Sparrow Control: House Sparrows are the most abundant songbirds in North America and the most widely distributed birds on the planet. House Sparrows are not actually sparrows, but are Old World Weaver Finches, a family of birds noted for their ingenious nest-building abilities.They are everywhere in the neighborhood, and have nested in the space below both of our air conditioners. And Swiper is very good at hunting them down, swatting them right out of the air at times.
I have always had mixed feelings about cats hunting, and always try to provide my cat with a bell. (I've never had an indoor cat... I know, I should be shut away... but I prefer the near-feral cat, the one that loves its home and its people, but who really is just barely a housecat.) In any case, house sparrows are actually a problem for many of the naturally occurring species of bird throughout the U.S. (especially bluebirds, it seems). So am I doing the local bird population any favor by preventing Swiper from killing them? I have never seen her attack any other kind of bird (though she sometimes will attack a very large dog, just for fun).
What about you? Do you let your cat kill birds? If so, what kind? And what else does your cat kill?
Listening to “The Phoenix” by Ellis from the album Everything That's Real on
Technorati Tags: cat, house, housesparrow, hunt, kill, bluebird, sparrow
1 Comments:
As I posted on one of your Flickr photos (as Roadhunter), I believe house sparrows need to be controlled.
However, I don't believe you need to let the cat do it. This will just hone her hunting skills, and reinforce the idea that birds are tasty, and she will surely not limit her hunting to sparrows.
I also think it's fine to be sensitive, and to prefer not to be party to the death of any animal if you choose not to. I, myself, have liberated sparrows at times when my sensitive side has overtaken my practical side.
In other words, I see no negative to you preventing her from doing this. If she occassionally nabs a house sparrow, though, I see no reason to regret it. I pray you don't come home to find her with a Cardinal in her maw. That has happened with former cats of mine, and it can be sickening.
Post a Comment
<< Home