ArcaMax

Dogs are man's best friends, but cats have a target on their backs. The latest to take aim was Richard Conniff in a New York Times op-ed piece March 21 headlined, "The Evil of the Outdoor Cat."

So, now cats are evil. Sounds like the Middle Ages, when many people feared cats as consorts of Satan and killed them by the thousands. Cats were even blamed for the Black Plague in Europe. Sadly, outbreaks only grew worse until scientists finally figured out that fleas from rats were the plague carriers, and that cats could help to diminish the disease by controlling rat populations.

Unfair condemnation of cats has gone on for centuries, although it's pretty startling when someone like Conniff, an accomplished author who writes about wildlife for Smithsonian, National Geographic and other prominent magazines, maligns them.

His complaint has nothing to do with that purring machine that snuggles in your bed at night. Conniff maintains that he likes cats. It's pet indoor-outdoor cats and feral cats that bother him, and trap-neuter-return (TNR) programs to control feral cat populations.

Conniff writes about how his cat, Lucky, would lurk near a bird feeder, and how guilty he felt when Lucky caught birds. Lucky died in 2008, and Conniff says that's when he had an epiphany that cats could or should be kept indoors, pretty much calling himself a pioneer. Of course, animal welfare groups and pet advocates, including myself, have been endorsing this idea for over 20 years.

In the NY Times piece, Conniff says he has a "sense of alarm about the dramatic decline of wildlife, especially bird populations," due to cats. He goes on to quote data from the National Audubon Society.

I'll comment on that data, but first let me implore anyone reading this column to use common sense. Of course, cats do kill birds, but studies repeatedly demonstrate that cats kill the easiest readily available prey -- most often, small rodents. Also, as fast and cunning as cats are, they can't fly.

I don't doubt the accuracy of the data Conniff collected regarding the precipitous decline of songbird numbers, with some species barely surviving.

However, consider this fact: There have always been feral cats. No data suggests there's an appreciable increase in the number of feral cats commensurate with the sharp decline in songbird numbers. In fact, we know far more cat owners in the U.S. now keep their cats inside than in the past.

Might there be other explanations -- aside from cats -- for the plight of songbirds? Habitat destruction and light and air pollution are principal explanations. Many songbirds migrate, so even if their habitats in America are stable, that may not be the case in Central or South America, or Mexico.

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