Feral cats are listed as one of IUCN's 100 worst invasive species. http://www.iucn.org/places/medoffice/invasive_species/docs/invasive_species_booklet.pdf They have been especially destructive to island ecosystems. Some studies have looked at the ecological impacts of feral cats and outdoor cats. in general, feral cats have a greater impact because they hunt for food, not just for sport. One study estimated that outdoor pet cats kill about 1 animal a week. Multiply that by 100 million pet cats, it will be a significant impact (Mack RN et al. 2000 Ecol Appl 10(3):689-710.)
Feral cats are probably considered invasive, but pet cats are probably not, although I don't really know. However, i know there was a new bib invented for pet cats that supposedly help decrease successful predation. That would be a great product to market to outdoor pet owners. http://www.catgoods.com/autrial.html Yiwei Wang Graduate Student UC Santa Cruz On Nov 21, 2007 9:42 AM, Warren W. Aney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Yes, feral cats are considered an unwelcome invasive. Just ask any field > biologist or the Audubon Society > http://www.audubon.org/local/cn/98march/nasr.html > > Warren W. Aney > Senior Wildlife Ecologist > Tigard, OR 97223 > > -----Original Message----- > From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Blanc, Lori > Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 12:30 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: invasive species and cats > > > Hi all -- > > In all the discussion so far about introduced/invasive/non-native > species, I don't recall seeing any mention of cats. > > I've heard a lot about the impacts of cats on wildlife in Australia, but > not as much about cats here in the U.S. Indeed - this can be a > sensitive issue, since so many people have cats for pets, and let the > cats have free roam outside. For example, I recently saw an article in > the New York Times (Nov 13), which presented the case of a birder in > Texas who shot a feral cat, which he had observed stalking endangered > piping plovers. This case is in court, with many people upset about the > cruel treatment (i.e. shooting) of the cat. The person who shot the cat > faces up to 2 years in prison and a $10,000 fine for shooting the cat. > > So, this raises a few questions: > > 1) Are house cats considered an invasive species in North America? > 2) Do cats have a significant negative impact on avian populations in > North America? > > I realize that I can do a quick literature search on this topic to learn > more, but I'm also curious to see what the general opinions are of the > ecologists on this listserv, especially within the context of the recent > invasive species discussion. > > Thanks, > > Lori > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Lori Blanc, Ph.D. > Dept. of Biological Sciences > Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University > 540-231-5256 >
