βOn the topic of keeping outdoor cats from killing songbirds (if keeping the cat inside isn't an option).
>From β http://mashable.com/2015/03/23/scrunchies-cats-wildlife/ The '90s hair accessory, scrunchies, have found a new purpose other than making your teenage self look hip β they are being used to protect wildlife from the bloody paws of domestic cats. The statement hair piece, best known for its role in the sitcom Full House, has been repurposed to alert birds and other animals that a cat is on the approach. Researchers from Murdoch University in Western Australia looked into the effect the patented anti-predation collar, by U.S. company Birdsbesafe <http://www.birdsbesafe.com/>, had on the survival of animal life. The collar, strikingly similar to what is commonly known as a scrunchie complete with a frilly and colourful pattern, reduced the rate of deaths by 54%. The study, published in January <http://www.appliedanimalbehaviour.com/article/S0168-1591%2815%2900022-2/abstract>, found the collars being used in Australia helped reduce the deaths of birds and herpetofauna when the cat was wearing a scrunchie. Furthermore, the brighter the colour, the more effective the collar was. Mammals with poor colour vision were not helped by the fashionable neck wear. Murdoch University PhD student Catherine Hall led the research on 114 pet cats over 2 years in a suburban Australia with three different colour collars β red, yellow and rainbow. The study found birds reacted more readily to the rainbow and red collars. "They're best used by owners whose cats catch a lot of birds and lizards and either don't catch a lot of mice and rats, or their owners don't care whether they catch mice and rats," she said, according to *phys.org*. <http://phys.org/news/2015-02-rainbow-cat-collars-birds.html> For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ If you have questions about this list please contact the list manager, Tom Shelley, at [email protected].
