Killing Cats on Australian Island, to save birds, Backfires Big Time and Results in Devastation

Click post title to go to the story, about how feral cats were killed on an island reserve south of Australia, to save seabirds, only to have the same birds threatened as a result of a rabbit population explosion.

Reminds me somewhat of cat hating bird lovers in this area. Not only did the local bird lovers/cat haters want everybody to keep their own cats indoors, but they also wanted all outside cats then killed.

However, a huge salmonella outbreak subsequently killed thousands upon thousands of Oregon songbirds. The source of the salmonella? Bird feeders and rotting seed. Bird lovers killed birds by the score.

Bird feeding is extremely unhealthy for birds. They never learn proper forage methods, share and spread diseases and parasites, and all sorts of predators, including predatory birds, are attracted to the bird feeders. But many bird lovers like to blame most world woes on the cat.

Forget that cars kills scores of birds. Forget that in one night, around one radio tower in Wisconsin, the carcasses of hundreds upon hundreds of migrating birds were found, who had hit the wires in flight. Forget that skyscrapers and windows and planes kill scores of birds. Forget that almost every homeowner in America sprays their yard dead of insects and weeds, so there is nothing healthy for urban birds to eat.

Forget all that and blame the cat. It's so much easier than to blame ourselves.

I love birds. The work I do helps birds immensely. A lot of bird lovers love the work I do, too. The sane bird lovers, I call them, the nice ones, not the lunatics.