Evaluation of the Impacts of Free-Ranging Domestic Cats on Global Bird Populations and Ecosystems

Yuxian Zhao

2024

Abstract

Free-ranging domestic cats (Felis catus) are owned and unowned cats that can range freely. These cats appear for a variety of reasons like deliberate grazing by owners or lack of management. Garden birds are an important part of nature, often involved in seed dispersal and pest control. It is now known that free-ranging domestic cats have caused a huge reduction in population and species abundance of garden birds. This article discusses the impacts of free-ranging domestic cats on garden birds and evaluate and suggests the existing relative policies. It outlines the scale of bird fatalities attributed to both owned and unowned cats, which are estimated to kill billions of birds annually across various regions including the US, Australia, and China. The distinction in impact between rural and urban settings is highlighted, with rural cats often used for pest control, while urban cats are primarily companions. Governments in different countries have different strategies for dealing with free-ranging domestic cat problems. Common treatment methods include TNR and euthanasia and hunting, but there are a variety of problems to be solved in implementation. Many governments even lack current policies to control free-ranging domestic cats or protect garden birds.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Zhao Y. (2024). Evaluation of the Impacts of Free-Ranging Domestic Cats on Global Bird Populations and Ecosystems. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Renewable Energy and Ecosystem - Volume 1: ICREE; ISBN 978-989-758-776-4, SciTePress, pages 87-91. DOI: 10.5220/0013846500004914

in Bibtex Style

@conference{icree24,
author={Yuxian Zhao},
title={Evaluation of the Impacts of Free-Ranging Domestic Cats on Global Bird Populations and Ecosystems},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Renewable Energy and Ecosystem - Volume 1: ICREE},
year={2024},
pages={87-91},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013846500004914},
isbn={978-989-758-776-4},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Renewable Energy and Ecosystem - Volume 1: ICREE
TI - Evaluation of the Impacts of Free-Ranging Domestic Cats on Global Bird Populations and Ecosystems
SN - 978-989-758-776-4
AU - Zhao Y.
PY - 2024
SP - 87
EP - 91
DO - 10.5220/0013846500004914
PB - SciTePress