Cats not guilty
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1995:
A year-long study of feline predation
commissioned by the Petcare Information
Advisory Service, an Australian pet industry
front, found that from April 1993 to April
1994, the owners of 1,550 cats were able to
verify the killings of only 4.76 animals per cat.
Only 2% of the cats killed Australian native
mammals; 7% killed native birds; 17% killed
native reptiles and amphibians; and 41% killed
only introduced species, mostly mice, rats,
and rabbits. Of the cats in the sample, 40%
were kept in at night; 94% were neutered.
The study refutes the 1988 findings of Dr.
David Paton of Adelaide University, who
reported after a study of 700 cats that they
killed an average of 32 small animals per year
apiece. Paton responded to the new data by
asserting that perhaps Australian cats are
runnng out of native widlife to kill.
