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  Straits Times Forum 16 Aug 06
Don't blame cats for the fall in bird population
Other factors may be the cause
Letter from the Cat Welfare Society

Straits Times Forum 16 Aug 06
'Kill the cats' strategy won't save the birds at Botanic Gardens
Bell them instead
Letter from Judith Lindley

Straits Times Forum 14 Aug 06
Killer cats pose a real problem to birds and small mammals
Letter from Lau Chee Kin

I USED to enjoy watching different species of birds around the lake in the Botanic Gardens near Cluny Road. I've seen ducks, waders and kingfishers that dart in and out of the rushes and vegetation fringing the lake.

In recent weeks, the only birds I've seen are the pigeons, mynahs and crows that descend on the food thrown to them by visitors.

Then, while jogging one morning, I saw a large cat emerge from the bushes around the lake. I have seen cats before in the gardens but never realised the problem they could pose.

I remembered a BBC TV programme about domestic and feral cats and the havoc they wreak on wildlife in the English countryside, so I went online to check the situation in Britain. The BBC website had the following report: 'The average pet cat kills up to 40 small creatures every year. With almost nine million domestic cats living in the UK, that accounts for nearly 300 million deaths a year, according to the Mammal Society's recent survey. Unfortunately, many of the casualties are garden birds whose numbers are already diminishing. Some are even endangered species. Cat hunting might be a drop in the ocean compared to the threat posed by loss of habitat but it is still worth minimising through responsible ownership.'

Similar results have been reported in the United States and during fishing trips to Australia, New Zealand and Christmas Island, I learnt about the cat problem first hand from wildlife officers who said it was an uphill battle to prevent domestic and feral cats from devastating local fauna and causing extinction of certain species.

Singapore is a small island and we have few indigenous fauna we can treasure. Everywhere I go, I see stray cats which are all instinctive killers of small mammals and birds and I have seen them with dead birds in their mouths.

I hope the National Parks Board realises cats pose a real problem to birds and small mammals. Unlike in larger countries like Australia and New Zealand, it should be much easier for us to take action before it is too late. If action is not taken soon, visitors to our parks and forest reserves will think our only local birds are pigeons, mynahs and crows.

Straits Times Forum 16 Aug 06
'Kill the cats' strategy won't save the birds at Botanic Gardens
Bell them instead
Letter from Judith Lindley

Reader Lau Chee Kin writes in the ST Online Forum on August 14 that "killer cats" threaten bird life at the Botanic Gardens and cites BBC reports and personal experience to prove it.

He does not specify the action he hopes for from the authorities, but the usual "kill the cats" strategy is not likely to work, as the Cat Welfare Society has often made clear on other occasions.

Letting dogs patrol the grounds would present other problems, including dog attacks on ground-dwelling birds.

Animal welfare groups and the authorities should work together to catch, neuter, bell and relocate feline offenders. Cost and manpower constraints make this impractical as a permanent response, but it can provide a grace period for careless pet owners, give time to publicise the problem and warn community cat caregivers and lax pet owners in the area that the Botanic Gardens and other parks must be off limits to their animals.

Mr Lau's letter should not be the start of a war between bird lovers and cat enthusiasts.

People are supposed to be the ones with brains.

Judith Lindley (Ms)
West Midlands, United Kingdom

Straits Times Forum 16 Aug 06
Don't blame cats for the fall in bird population
Other factors may be the cause
Letter from the Cat Welfare Society

We refer to Lau Chee Kin's letter "Killer cats pose a real problem to birds and small mammals" (ST Online Forum, Aug 14).

Mr Lau suggests that as the BBC website contains information that "the average pet cat kills up to 40 small creatures a year" he concludes that cats are therefore killing the birds in the Botanic Gardens.

The study, I believe, was conducted by the Mammal Society of Great Britain. It was an extrapolation based on 14,370 prey killed, almost 10,000 of which were mice and other rodents.

The authors say "It was not possible to determine how representative this sample was of cats in general, nor how representative the behaviour of cats surveyed was." They add that "Our estimates of the total number of animals brought home by cats throughout Britain should be treated with requisite caution and these figures do not equate to an assessment of the impact of cats on the wildlife population."

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in the United Kingdom for example, has stated that "there is no scientific evidence that predation by cats in gardens is having any impact on bird populations UK wide." They have found that the bird populations that are falling most drastically are from bird species that rarely come into contact with cats.

As biologist CJ Mead states "any bird populations on the continents that could not withstand these levels of predation from cats and other predators would have disappeared long ago."

So what are the causes of this decline in wildlife population?

The most important are climate change and the deforestation of birds' habitats. The use of pesticides has also been found to be killing birds. In some cases, it has been found that other birds have been responsible for the demise of certain bird species. More aggressive birds have been known to drive off other birds, which may be what is happening in the Botanic Gardens.

In a San Francisco park, the landscaping programme was found to have removed the undergrowth necessary for the birds to survive, leading to a decrease in the number of birds.

Mr Lau asserts that cats are "instinctive killers". Studies have shown that cats are most likely to kill rodents. Birds in fact have been found to make up only a small fraction of their diet when they have to hunt for their own food.

A biologist, Dr Roger Tabor, states that "the number of birds caught by cats is small (allowing for the exceptional specialist cat)."

To blame the decrease in the number of birds on the fact that Mr Lau saw one cat in the Botanic Gardens is being alarmist. One could draw a similar conclusion that because we see people in the Botanic Gardens, they are responsible for driving the birds away.

Given the studies that have shown the demise of habitats due to human activities, this would be the more logical conclusion to draw.

The BBC website Mr Lau mentioned did say that the cat population can be controlled through a programme of sterilisation. We agree wholeheartedly that a programme of Trap-Neuter-Return-Manage (TNRM) is the best way to keep the cat population under control.

In Longwood Gardens, Pennsylvania, USA for example, a similar programme was started and the cats there are also working cats as part of an integrated pest control system to help look after the gardens.

For more information about TNRM, please visit the Cat Welfare Society's website at http://www.catwelfare.org.

Dawn Kua Su-Wen (Ms)
Director of Operations
Cat Welfare Society
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