The American Bird Conservancy (http://www.abcbirds.org/) runs a campaign called "Cats Indoors!" http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/...ats/index.html
Most of us support indoor-only pet cats, and this aspect of their campaign does not bother me in the least.
What does bother me is their active campaign to attack TNR programs in whole, not just in habitats where there are endangered ecosystems/species. In this aspect of their campaign, they use misinformation as their weapon.
Specifically, they state, "Scientists estimate that free-roaming cats kill hundreds of millions of birds, small mammals, reptiles and amphibians each year."
In their informational they cite only cat predation studies that indicate the worst possible scenarios. One study in particular, "The Wisconsin Study" took things a step further - the "scientists" extrapolated data in a non-scientific manner from a very small study, and published an article referencing their own work (making it appear as if there was a basis for the information). This work has done more damage than any other, with the extrapolation indicating that free-roaming cats may kill as many as 217 million birds in Wisconsin alone.
In fact, in an article, “The Accused,†(The Sonoma County Independent, March 3-16, 1994), author Jeff Elliot quoted Dr. Temple. "Dr. Stanley Temple, co-author of this frequently quoted work, seemed exasperated when asked again to rehash his findings. ‘The media has had a field day with this since we started,â€[emoji]8482[/emoji] he sighed. ‘Those figures were from our proposal. They aren't actual data; that was just our projection to show how bad it might be.â€[emoji]8482[/emoji] â€
The numbers published and so frequently referenced "aren't actual data."
Obviously the issue of cat predation is not cut and dry. In fact, a member of TCS, Dr. Christie O'Keefe wrote an excellent unbiased article reviewing the body of studies available at the time - more information is available, here: http://www.straypetadvocacy.org/html/cat_predation.html
The American Bird Conservancy has an annual budget in excess of $6M.
Alley Cat Allies has an annual budget of approximately $4M.
The American Bird Conservancy runs/co-ordinates the Bird Conservation Alliance. The membership is extensive and includes ornithological and Audobon societies all over the U.S. Many of these societies are really well funded. In fact, one filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles requiring them to review the environmental impact of establishing a TNR program. It took years, but a precedent-setting decision was recently made - and that was to halt approval of the program for an environmental review. I'm not sure this is a bad thing, quite frankly - but I am worried that the basis of such a review would not be unbiased.
Further, many State Fish & Wildlife agencies list feral cats as an "invasive" or "nuisance" species. Some, like California, provide links to references. Again, only negative studies on the impact of cat predation are provided.
While I agree with the basic premise that there is no point in arguing actual numbers of how many birds cats kill, the facts of the matter are that feral cats do not generally present an environmental danger, nor do they generally present a health risk to humans.
What is at the heart of the matter is - what is the science used? I do know that the "science" used in determining the impact of cats on birds has been exaggerated by these organizations. I am not familiar with some of the other environmental impact studies that ABC/Bird organizations are using, but they attack the "science" used by Alley Cat Allies and cat lovers as not being valid.
The anti-feral-cat bird organizations are now campaigning to public officials in environmental programs and public health programs. People involved in the anti-feral cat campaigns - and perhaps, more importantly - people in the Federal and State agencies need to be presented "the other side" of the science that they are taking as "fact."
I need help doing this on a number of fronts.
The most basic is finding the people and how to contact them via e-mail. An example? The membership list of the Bird Conservation Alliance is public: http://www.birdconservationalliance....ut/memlist.cfm To find the contact information, each organization needs to be clicked on to go to the website - that then needs to be searched to locate the appropriate contact information.
State Departments are not too difficult to locate through web searches, and they generally have contact information. But it is also time consuming work.
I also need help conducting the research - and reviewing the research these people are using. For instance, some of the cat predation studies are conducted by examining the excrement of feral cats. This can provide misleading results when extrapolated to animals feral cats are killing - cats are opportunistic carnivores, and will eat already dead animals.
If anyone wants to help, please let me know!!!!!
Thank you!
Most of us support indoor-only pet cats, and this aspect of their campaign does not bother me in the least.
What does bother me is their active campaign to attack TNR programs in whole, not just in habitats where there are endangered ecosystems/species. In this aspect of their campaign, they use misinformation as their weapon.
Specifically, they state, "Scientists estimate that free-roaming cats kill hundreds of millions of birds, small mammals, reptiles and amphibians each year."
In their informational they cite only cat predation studies that indicate the worst possible scenarios. One study in particular, "The Wisconsin Study" took things a step further - the "scientists" extrapolated data in a non-scientific manner from a very small study, and published an article referencing their own work (making it appear as if there was a basis for the information). This work has done more damage than any other, with the extrapolation indicating that free-roaming cats may kill as many as 217 million birds in Wisconsin alone.
In fact, in an article, “The Accused,†(The Sonoma County Independent, March 3-16, 1994), author Jeff Elliot quoted Dr. Temple. "Dr. Stanley Temple, co-author of this frequently quoted work, seemed exasperated when asked again to rehash his findings. ‘The media has had a field day with this since we started,â€[emoji]8482[/emoji] he sighed. ‘Those figures were from our proposal. They aren't actual data; that was just our projection to show how bad it might be.â€[emoji]8482[/emoji] â€
The numbers published and so frequently referenced "aren't actual data."
Obviously the issue of cat predation is not cut and dry. In fact, a member of TCS, Dr. Christie O'Keefe wrote an excellent unbiased article reviewing the body of studies available at the time - more information is available, here: http://www.straypetadvocacy.org/html/cat_predation.html
The American Bird Conservancy has an annual budget in excess of $6M.
Alley Cat Allies has an annual budget of approximately $4M.
The American Bird Conservancy runs/co-ordinates the Bird Conservation Alliance. The membership is extensive and includes ornithological and Audobon societies all over the U.S. Many of these societies are really well funded. In fact, one filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles requiring them to review the environmental impact of establishing a TNR program. It took years, but a precedent-setting decision was recently made - and that was to halt approval of the program for an environmental review. I'm not sure this is a bad thing, quite frankly - but I am worried that the basis of such a review would not be unbiased.
Further, many State Fish & Wildlife agencies list feral cats as an "invasive" or "nuisance" species. Some, like California, provide links to references. Again, only negative studies on the impact of cat predation are provided.
While I agree with the basic premise that there is no point in arguing actual numbers of how many birds cats kill, the facts of the matter are that feral cats do not generally present an environmental danger, nor do they generally present a health risk to humans.
What is at the heart of the matter is - what is the science used? I do know that the "science" used in determining the impact of cats on birds has been exaggerated by these organizations. I am not familiar with some of the other environmental impact studies that ABC/Bird organizations are using, but they attack the "science" used by Alley Cat Allies and cat lovers as not being valid.
The anti-feral-cat bird organizations are now campaigning to public officials in environmental programs and public health programs. People involved in the anti-feral cat campaigns - and perhaps, more importantly - people in the Federal and State agencies need to be presented "the other side" of the science that they are taking as "fact."
I need help doing this on a number of fronts.
The most basic is finding the people and how to contact them via e-mail. An example? The membership list of the Bird Conservation Alliance is public: http://www.birdconservationalliance....ut/memlist.cfm To find the contact information, each organization needs to be clicked on to go to the website - that then needs to be searched to locate the appropriate contact information.
State Departments are not too difficult to locate through web searches, and they generally have contact information. But it is also time consuming work.
I also need help conducting the research - and reviewing the research these people are using. For instance, some of the cat predation studies are conducted by examining the excrement of feral cats. This can provide misleading results when extrapolated to animals feral cats are killing - cats are opportunistic carnivores, and will eat already dead animals.
If anyone wants to help, please let me know!!!!!
Thank you!