[at-l] (no subject)

[stephensadams at hotmail.com (Steve Adams)]

Slightly more on topic - Cats.
Date: Sun, 12 Sep 2004 12:05:17 -0400
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Jim,

Reference your post, dated 9-12-04

You quoted a previous post, ?Americans keep an estimated 60 million cats as 
pets. Let's say each cat kills only one bird a year. That would mean that 
cats kill over 60 million birds (minimum) each year, more wildlife than any 
oil spill.?

You pointed out, ?There's a major flaw in the assumption above.?

?Let?s say ...? struck me as a very poor way to deal with any specific 
number.  You could just as easily say, ?Americans keep an estimated 60 
million cats as pets. Let's say none of their cats ever kills a bird. That 
would mean no birds are killed by house cats.?

I have lived with cats for years, usually with more than one at a time.  
They all were/are indoor cats.  One cat, Willie (for Shakespeare not 
Nelson), was large, heavy, slow, and declawed.  Willie rarely got outside.  
One spring Bluebirds built a nest perched precariously above the door of a 
storage shed about 100 feet from our house.

One day, all the babies left the nest individually.  None was ready.  Willie 
ran out our door and killed each one of them, one at a time.  It was 
amazing.  Willie knew when the babies fell (or were pushed) from the nest 
before either my wife or I, and he was able to artfully dodge our best 
efforts to guard against his departure.  I don?t believe any of the babies 
would have survived even without Willie?s intervention, but kill them he 
did.

We subsequently purchased Bluebird nesting houses which we?ve positioned 
about the place, and we clean them out annually.

Now, we typically have several Bluebirds summer-over here.  So, whose to 
say?  Maybe Willie caused more Bluebirds to survive, taken in the long run.

This is the only cat we have owned which we know killed a bird.  And, we 
have always had bird feeders (which have occasionally become bear feeders).

Steve

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