Last week’s passage of a bill to make illegal the
declawing of cats proved to be incredibly divisive. New Yorkers fell into one,
if not a few, of numerous camps.
Many cat lovers praised the move, claiming declawing
is akin to ripping off your fingers at the knuckles.
Other cat lovers believed that unintended
consequences will come about from the law, from people not adopting cats to
owners giving up on them completely due to, respectively, the potential and
reality of extensive damage to their homes.
Disgruntled taxpayers wondered why this had been
elevated to an issue of importance given the socioeconomic malaise of upstate.
And, then, there was the group of people with whom I
identify with the most on this issue – my fellow naturalists and ornithologists
who fret about the impact that this will have on local wildlife. Clawed cats
are killers.
The reasoning behind the bill’s
introduction and passage begs the question: Where does and should “animal
advocacy” begin and end? We ask that questions because we wonder why, if they
are so concerned about animal welfare, the advocates seem not to care about the
wildlife of the region, which is arguably far more important than this invasive
species.
Yes, felis catus is an invasive species.
Whether feral, living in a barn or
garage, or fully domesticated and sharing time indoors and outdoors, cats are a
scourge on the natural world that demolish the integrity of our environment, no
different than other threats currently bearing down on Western New York that
were also introduced to the area by Man – the emerald ash borer (the beetle
that is destroying every ash tree in the area) and the Asian carp (the
monstrous fish that will upset the Great Lakes ecosystem).
Those two creatures will have
measurable and considerable impact on our economy so they are perceived as
major dangers by the populace at large. Cats, on the other hand, are not
popularly reviled because their economic impact is nil and they’re “cute.”
Alas, no dollar value can be placed on
the dangers cats pose to local wildlife. Yet, there’s nothing “cute” about what
they do.
According to a 2010 study by the
University of Nebraska Extension, there are 60 million stray and feral cats in
the United States and another 88 million domestic cats which may spend time
outside, all of which kill 1 billion of our feathered friends every year.
The American Bird Conservancy is less
conservative in their numbers. They say predation by domestic cats is
the number-one direct, human-caused threat to birds in the United States and
Canada. They estimate that in the United States alone, cats kill approximately
2.4 billion birds every year. The Conservancy says cats have contributed to the
extinction of 63 species of birds, mammals, and reptiles in the wild.
Other well-respected organizations such
as the Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology have been outspoken
on the environmental dangers posed by cats.
We naturalists despise free-roaming
cats because the unnatural predators make easy meals out of low-nesting and
ground-nesting birds. Familiar woodland and lawn birds like thrushes, cardinals
and ovenbirds are easy prey for the cats. For example, every year I get
multiple pairs of catbirds attempting to raise broods in my yard and every year
the catbird’s babies are eaten by, ironically, the mammals they get their name
from.
Also consider the plight of rare and
endangered sandpipers, plovers and nighthawks that call stony shorelines home.
The local populations of these ground nesters have taken a massive beating
along the Niagara River corridor and Great Lakes because so many people have
championed and protected feral cat populations on Tonawanda Island and Goat
Island and places like the lakeside hamlet of Olcott. The decimation of these
birds was magnified by the well-intentioned Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs
that never insisted on declawing the feral cats.
All of this assault on Mother Nature
will be magnified as house cats, barn cats, and the like join their feral
friends in retaining their claws. They will become more efficient hunters and
the loss of precious birds will continue, unabated.
It will be interesting or, rather,
depressing to see the impact.
In 2020, I will join hundreds of
volunteers in conducting studies for the latest update of the Atlas of Breeding
Birds in New York State. I guarantee when we work on the next edition 20 years
later we will find most ground dwelling birds threatened if not endangered -- they’re
already on that path.
Is this really what animal lovers
want?
You can’t love one species of animal so much that
it is detrimental to all others.
If you really love all animals, and not just your
cats, put protections in place. Cats with claws are efficient killing machines
so you have to save those creatures they would prey on. Keep all of your cats
indoors, always. Actively participate in or donate to TNR programs to control
feral cat populations. Don’t get a cat if you can’t control it.
I like cats – specifically true house cats – as I
grew up with and enjoyed the company of felines. But I value the lives of our
local wildlife well above the comfort of an invasive species. Getting rid of
declawing is a portal to getting rid of so many beautiful birds…maybe even
permanently.
From the 10
June 2019 Greater Niagara Newspapers and Batavia Daily News
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