http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wil...ird-study.html
'Killer cats' to be tagged for bird study
Domestic cats are to be tagged by scientists in a bid to discover how damaging they are to urban bird populations.
Researchers at the University of Reading believe family pets could be responsible for killing up to 10,000 small animals annually per square kilometre in urban areas, significantly affecting some urban bird species.
The scientists looked at the hunting and feeding habits of 200 cats and their owners in nine, one kilometre squared areas around Reading, Berkshire, collecting the birds and small animals they brought home – estimated in a previous study to be 30 per cent of those they killed.
Taking into account other causes of bird population declines, including habitat destruction and changes in land use, they estimated that the average cat kills approximately 16 animals a year.
In Reading, the numbers of cats per square kilometre range is as many as 626, killing an estimated 10,000 prey animals each year. Nationally, they concluded that Britain's cats kill 92 million animals a year, 27 million of which are birds.
They kill more in spring and summer, because of the prevalence of young birds, and the species most affected are blackbirds, robins and sparrows, as well as wood mice, bank voles and shrews.
Rebecca Dulieu, a PhD student in Environmental Biology who led the study, now plans to use GPS tracking devices to determine the area over which a single cat is roaming and, hence, potentially affecting wildlife in a local area.
She said: "In Britain, we have an estimated nine million pet cats, most of which live in urban areas. Given their extremely high densities it could be the case that cats are significantly affecting bird populations in these areas.
"For example, house sparrow numbers in urban areas have declined by 60 per cent since the 1980s, most likely due to changes in urban habitats, but this is also one of the species most commonly killed by cats."
"For the first time, pet cats will be fitted with data loggers attached to a harness which will log their every movement and allow us to identify actions which have distinctive signatures such as eating, drinking and hunting. Correlating these data with the actual prey returned will give us a good idea of predation rates in urban areas."
'Killer cats' to be tagged for bird study
Domestic cats are to be tagged by scientists in a bid to discover how damaging they are to urban bird populations.
Researchers at the University of Reading believe family pets could be responsible for killing up to 10,000 small animals annually per square kilometre in urban areas, significantly affecting some urban bird species.
The scientists looked at the hunting and feeding habits of 200 cats and their owners in nine, one kilometre squared areas around Reading, Berkshire, collecting the birds and small animals they brought home – estimated in a previous study to be 30 per cent of those they killed.
Taking into account other causes of bird population declines, including habitat destruction and changes in land use, they estimated that the average cat kills approximately 16 animals a year.
In Reading, the numbers of cats per square kilometre range is as many as 626, killing an estimated 10,000 prey animals each year. Nationally, they concluded that Britain's cats kill 92 million animals a year, 27 million of which are birds.
They kill more in spring and summer, because of the prevalence of young birds, and the species most affected are blackbirds, robins and sparrows, as well as wood mice, bank voles and shrews.
Rebecca Dulieu, a PhD student in Environmental Biology who led the study, now plans to use GPS tracking devices to determine the area over which a single cat is roaming and, hence, potentially affecting wildlife in a local area.
She said: "In Britain, we have an estimated nine million pet cats, most of which live in urban areas. Given their extremely high densities it could be the case that cats are significantly affecting bird populations in these areas.
"For example, house sparrow numbers in urban areas have declined by 60 per cent since the 1980s, most likely due to changes in urban habitats, but this is also one of the species most commonly killed by cats."
"For the first time, pet cats will be fitted with data loggers attached to a harness which will log their every movement and allow us to identify actions which have distinctive signatures such as eating, drinking and hunting. Correlating these data with the actual prey returned will give us a good idea of predation rates in urban areas."
Comment