05/04/2026
I know, I know, you've all heard this before, but I have to post this about cats, specifically strays and the feeding of strays
https://www.facebook.com/share/18bbjr6ruM/
The "Kindness" That Kills 34 Songbirds
A domestic cat finishes a bowl of kibble on a quiet patio, while a few feet away, the lifeless body of a native songbird lies in the dormant March brush.
We assume that keeping neighbourhood strays well-fed suppresses their drive to hunt, protecting local wildlife from starvation-driven predation.
In reality, feeding free-roaming cats actively multiplies the death toll. The domestic cat (Felis catus) hunts based on deeply ingrained instinct, not hunger. Scientific tracking reveals that well-fed outdoor cats kill an average of 2.1 animals per week, abandoning 85% of their catches uneaten. Right now in March, native birds like the Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis, Status: Secure) are dropping to the ground to forage and establish critical early-spring territories. Providing food artificially inflates local cat densities, creating an inescapable, subsidised gauntlet for these vulnerable, ground-feeding birds.
Songbirds are the interconnected foundation of our ecosystem, vital for early-season insect control and seed dispersal.
You can stop this cycle. Cease unsupervised outdoor feeding, transition pet cats indoors, and actively support local Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programmes to humanely reduce feral populations over time.
The bowl of food on the porch does not buy peace. It simply fuels a subsidised predator, wiping out the songbirds you never saw.
