Читать книгу Cats For Dummies - Gina Spadafori - Страница 60

Don’t community cats eat birds? Cats aren’t native to a wild environment, and birds are. Shouldn’t we be worried about protecting endangered birds?

Of course we should. But free-ranging cats aren’t the biggest threat to wild birds. People are. Consider: Cats have always been around, and so have birds. But now bird numbers are declining. Are cats to blame? Nope. The bigger threat to birds is loss of habitat and climate change, not cats.

Besides, when cats hunt, they’re better at catching rodents. You could argue that cats do us a favor by keeping the rodent population down — and those critters really do spread some nasty diseases.

Cats aren’t a fraction of the threat to birds that humankind represents. And a community cat colony that’s well maintained is even less of a threat than one that’s not. A managed colony doesn’t grow, and isn’t as hungry. Fewer cats, and fuller cats, are both good news for birds.

But even the most ardent advocates for community cats believe that they shouldn’t live in areas with sensitive populations of prey animals, such as rare birds. For these situations, cat colonies can be removed and relocated — and indeed, they should be.

Toxoplasmosis is a legitimate worry for pregnant women, but you can reduce the risks significantly by taking a few basic precautions. Please see Chapter 19 for tips on how to handle your cat safely while you’re expecting.