You’ve heard of cat burglars; how about cat murderers?
An article by Elizabeth Weise in Tuesday’s USA Today says quote, “The mouse carcass Kitty presents you with is just the tip of a very bloody iceberg.”
Weise goes on to tell how little cameras tied around a few house cats necks have recorded Kitty killing an average of two preys a week. Apparently, when Kitty is outside and on the loose he or she considers him/her self a menacing lion on the Serengeti or a Mafia hit-cat. Some wildlife people insist that predatory house cats are one of the major contributors to the decline in American bird populations. Bet those feathered friends won’t be tweeting each other anymore.
Camera’s revealed that the predatory house cats kill more than birds too. They kill lizards, snakes, frogs and whatever unsuspecting animal they come across. And interestingly, the cameras also revealed that the house cats brought home only about a quarter of what they killed - you know, that bloody, gutsy mess on your front stoop. The rest was eaten or just left to rot. Here’s a theory, if house cats are taken care of and fed well, why do they feel the urge to kill? Could a study on that be related to why people feel the need to kill?
Too bad those researchers didn’t study the kill ratios of barn cats. And what about feral cats (you know, strays)? I dare say every community has at least one colony of those. My oldest daughter and her friends take care of a huge colony of feral cats in California.
Here’s something for you cat lovers who have one or more house cats. If they don’t get to go outside once in awhile to give vent to their natural (killing) urges, what are they going to do? Sam and I have more than one friend who says their house cat wakes them up in the morning by treading on their face while they’re still in bed. Maybe the cat just wants you to get up and water it or feed it. Or, maybe like Sam, your cat just wants you to roll your lazy tush out of bed and pay attention to it.
But what if your loving, purring house cat was secretly wondering if you were too big to kill and drag outside to the front stoop? If you have two cats, one of them probably would be saying, “Too big. You can’t carry that outside. Besides, if you did, who would feed us afterward?”
It’s fun to watch a cat hunt. They can sit so still on a grassy swale waiting for a mouse to pop its head up. Have you ever watched them sneak up on a bird? It’s great entertainment. One time I heard a commotion out in our garage and went to investigate. My daughter’s cat had caught a bird and was playing with it, batting it around like some kind of feather-weight ping-pong ball. But when I opened the garage door, I startled the cat and he let go of the bird just long enough for it to fly up to the garage rafters. Boy was that cat ticked off at me! If looks could kill, I’d be dead.
I sure am grateful that Sam is a dog. He doesn’t seem to be into killing things. He likes to play chase with rabbits and birds - when I let him - but I don’t think he’d ever catch one. He barks too much during the chase.
Two bags of poop on people who didn’t seem to realize before the camera study that cats like to kill things. Too bad they don’t kill those stupid cat food commercials.
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