People don't like hearing this, but outdoor cats are the largest source of human-caused bird deaths. They kill Billions of birds every year in the US, especially ground-nesting birds.
outdoor cats are the largest source of human-caused bird deaths
Proceeds to link a study made by a guy who was so angry about the response to his study that he made a second study about the response he received for his first study.
Anyway, blaming the cats is goofy.
A) Countries like Australia have 10 times less cats, yet their birds are dying off 50% times faster than they do in the US. How does that work?
B) The American bird species that got hit the hardest are all the ones that don't live around domesticated cats.
Grassland birds for example, used to live in fields and farmlands.
Thing is, America converted those into land for agriculture. So no, they're not being hunted down by cats one by one, they die off because of the loss of habitat, the loss of food sources (thanks pesticides) and the loss of nesting habitats. Oh, and their migratory routes are fucked up too.
Blaming it on cats instead of industrialization, urbanization and changes in agricultural practices is peak comedy. USA USA USA!
Maybe read some material from the North American Bird Conservation Initiative instead of a study that no one but Redditors gives a single shit about.
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u/[deleted] Jan 01 '24
Is there a lore reason why Hawaii bird extinction peaked back then? Hawaii didn't become a state until 1959, so shouldn't it peak in the 60s?