By Chris Gayomali / The Week
The internet loves cats . And why not ? They ’re cute , endlessly entertainingand , unlike dogs , do n’t require constant attention . But what do African tea do when they ’re not curl up in your lap ? According to life scientist , they ’re off killing other animals — one thousand million of ‘em . scientist from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the Fish and Wildlife Service forecast that each class , apparently bloodthirsty felines are preying on billion of bird and small mammals like autochthonal chipmunk , shrews , and meadow voles . " When we launch the model , we did n’t get it on what to expect,“researcher Dr. Peter Marra told theNew York Times . " We were absolutely stunned by the answer . " The model , which crunches numbers from 21 be study , is the first of its kind in the United States , and follows on the dog ofa controversial plan in New Zealand to winnow out the nation ’s CT . Here ’s a flavor at our killer CT , by the numbers :
84 million
House cat in the United States
4 to 18
Birds killed by a typical house cat every year
8 to 21
minuscule mammal vote down by a typical house cat every twelvemonth
30 million to 80 million
Free - roll , feral kat estimated to be living in the United States . They either last alone or live in colonies . In Washington , D.C. , for example , there are estimate to be some 300 outdoor cat colony .
23 to 46
Birds pop by each feral cat every twelvemonth
129 to 338
modest mammalian kill by each feral computerized axial tomography every year
1.4 billion to 3.7 billion
full bird kill by America ’s cats every class
15
Percentage of all razzing deaths estimated to amount at the hands — er , paws — of Arabian tea
6.9 billion to 20.7 billion
full small mammals kill by cats every year
2 to 4
gene by which these new gauge killing rate are high than mortality rate figures antecedently suggested . " Our finding suggest that free - ranging CT induce considerably expectant wildlife death rate than previously thought and are potential the single greatest seed of anthropogenetic mortality for U.S. birds and mammals,“the study ’s source conclude . " Scientifically sound conservation and policy intervention is need to reduce this impact . "
reference : LiveScience , New York Times , USA Today
