Based on various studies, we estimate that domestic cats could be killing over 100 million birds in the UK each year.The only real solution is to keep domestic cats indoors.

The Problem

Here in the United Kingdom, we're a nation of animal lovers. But what a lot of us don't realise is just how much our love for one particular type of animal is allowing an avoidable tragedy to happen to other animals.

There are approximately 11 million pet cats in the UK, in addition to stray or feral cats who may number an extra quarter of a million. Almost every single one of these cats is allowed to roam freely across its local neighbourhood, with estimates suggesting that up to 97% of cats are 'outdoor cats'.

We all know that cats sometimes hunt animals, and sadly, we now know that the hunting done by this large population of free-roaming domestic cats has a catastrophic effect on our native wildlife, especially birds.

Studies done on domestic cats tend to show that the amount of birds they catch and bring back is around three per year on average, with some bringing more, some bringing less or none.

But further research shows that the vast majority of animals killed by cats do not get brought home, and are either eaten by the cat or left dead at the scene. This means that cats which we think are not hunting may well actually be doing so, and those that we know are hunting are doing more damage than is apparent. The actual kill rate appears to be between three and six times as high as the rate of birds brought home, meaning that the figure of 100 million dead birds is likely an underestimate.

Additionally, bird predation has indirect effects. Adults that are predated can end up leaving chicks to starve to death in the nest, and adults that evade predation may need to abandon nests to do so, among other factors. This further depresses bird population levels.

The Solution

Although many things have been tried to reduce predation by free-roaming cats, the results have been modest. Therefore, the solution is simple:

Domestic cats need to be kept indoors, or at a minimum, restricted to their garden.

Outdoor domestic cats have been implicated over a quarter of the world's bird, reptile, and mammal species extinctions, and we need to start taking this problem seriously.