What has cute little whiskers, a soft coat, loves to be cuddled and kills more than 1 billion birds each year? I’m talking about the domestic house cat. But this is not about the fluffy kitty that sleeps at the foot of your bed. No this is about feral cats. Those mean, lean killing machines that are a plague on the wildlife of North America.
Last fall while jump shooting ducks on some old creeks and beaver ponds, I crossed a woodlot that I knew had produced ruffed grouse in previous years. Where I live we are at about the middle of the grouse cycle. The grouse population isn’t very high but also not very low. But back to the story as I walked through the woodlot I came upon something that disturbed me greatly. Here was a scraggly brown cat eating a dead ruffed grouse. Normally I am willing to share the game birds I love to hunt with native predators like foxes and hawks. This predator however was not native to my land and was destroying valuable native wildlife. I rushed forward, my 50 year old 12 gauge in hand and destroyed that feral beast.
This was not the first time I have seen feral cats intruding on local wildlife. Growing up I routinely found dead birds that were obvious cat kills. Song birds and game birds alike were killed by these demons. Two years ago while hiking through a marsh I came upon a Black duck hen quacking fiercely into a clump of marsh grass. When I approached she flew off. But when I peered into the grass I saw a disappearing tail. Here was the duck’s nest with all the eggs destroyed. Feral cats had struck again.
Don’t get me wrong I do not hate all cats. My neighbors in fact have one of the nicest cats I have ever met that comes running over like a dog wanting to be petted. The problem I have is with people who allow their cats to leave their property. Once a cat leaves your property my provincial department of fish and wildlife considers it a feral cat. And feral cats do not belong here or anywhere for that matter. All I know is that my bird dog loves to “play” with cats we meet afield and I’m not going to ruin his fun.