Les hommes ont oublié cette vérité. Mais tu ne dois pas l'oublier, dit le renard. Tu deviens responsable pour toujours de ce que tu as apprivoisé.
Le Petit Prince, chap. 21

Wednesday 12 June 2013

Up to 31% of recoveries of banded birds killed by cats

Mead, C. J. (1982). Ringed birds killed by cats. Mammal Review, 12(4), 183-186.

Mead examined the fate of banded birds in Britain and discovered that for six species more than 25 percent of the recoveries were of birds caught by cats. He ascribed 31% of recoveries of ringed robins and dunnocks to cat predation, but believed that there was no evidence that cats affected the overall populations of these species. Catchability is very different in different species, depending on gregarious habits, terrestrial feeding, avoidance of potential hiding places, etc. but some cats are even able to catch aerial species.
He emphasised that birds in rural and suburban parts of Britain have co-existed with cats for hundreds of generations and may now be under less pressure from cats than they were in the past from assorted 'natural' predators.

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