Cats kill millions of vertebrates in Polish farmland annually
We estimated the predation rate by free ranging domestic cats on vertebrates in rural areas of central Poland. We performed a door-to-door survey on the number of cats owned and type of food provided and combined results of the survey with the previous data on cats’ diet composition, estimated with...
Main Authors: | , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Elsevier
2019-01-01
|
Series: | Global Ecology and Conservation |
Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989418303196 |
id |
doaj-a03ec9c9abc04477a926925f474c8168 |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-a03ec9c9abc04477a926925f474c81682020-11-24T21:24:21ZengElsevierGlobal Ecology and Conservation2351-98942019-01-0117Cats kill millions of vertebrates in Polish farmland annuallyDagny Krauze-Gryz0Jakub Gryz1Michał Żmihorski2Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Nowoursynowska 159, 02-776, Warsaw, Poland; Corresponding author.Forest Research Institute, Sękocin Stary, Braci Leśnej 3, 05-090, Raszyn, PolandInstitute of Nature Conservation, Polish Academy of Sciences, Mickiewicza 33, 31-120, Cracow, Poland; Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Stoczek 1, 17-230, Białowieża, PolandWe estimated the predation rate by free ranging domestic cats on vertebrates in rural areas of central Poland. We performed a door-to-door survey on the number of cats owned and type of food provided and combined results of the survey with the previous data on cats’ diet composition, estimated with different methods (prey-brought-home and prey-eaten). With the help of simulations, we estimated an average number of mammals and birds killed by cats on a single farm annually. 0.839 cats were kept in each farm, 78.5% of them were fed with leftovers. On average, cats from one farm brought home 16.4 mammals and 3.0 birds annually, but ate 198.9 mammals and 46.3 birds annually, although these two categories are not fully additive because cat can eat prey it brought home. Extrapolation of these figures to all Polish farmsteads (2.9 million in 2002) indicates that cats bring home and eat 48.1 and 583.4 millions of mammals, respectively, and 8.9 and 135.7 millions of birds, respectively. Our survey showed that cats in Polish farmland are kept as mousers rather than pets and little attention is paid to their welfare (i.e. are poorly fed). Thus, the total impact they impose on wildlife can be expected to be important. Keywords: Birds, Door-to-door survey, Free-ranging cats, Mousers, Prey brought home, Prey eaten, Vertebrateshttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989418303196 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Dagny Krauze-Gryz Jakub Gryz Michał Żmihorski |
spellingShingle |
Dagny Krauze-Gryz Jakub Gryz Michał Żmihorski Cats kill millions of vertebrates in Polish farmland annually Global Ecology and Conservation |
author_facet |
Dagny Krauze-Gryz Jakub Gryz Michał Żmihorski |
author_sort |
Dagny Krauze-Gryz |
title |
Cats kill millions of vertebrates in Polish farmland annually |
title_short |
Cats kill millions of vertebrates in Polish farmland annually |
title_full |
Cats kill millions of vertebrates in Polish farmland annually |
title_fullStr |
Cats kill millions of vertebrates in Polish farmland annually |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cats kill millions of vertebrates in Polish farmland annually |
title_sort |
cats kill millions of vertebrates in polish farmland annually |
publisher |
Elsevier |
series |
Global Ecology and Conservation |
issn |
2351-9894 |
publishDate |
2019-01-01 |
description |
We estimated the predation rate by free ranging domestic cats on vertebrates in rural areas of central Poland. We performed a door-to-door survey on the number of cats owned and type of food provided and combined results of the survey with the previous data on cats’ diet composition, estimated with different methods (prey-brought-home and prey-eaten). With the help of simulations, we estimated an average number of mammals and birds killed by cats on a single farm annually. 0.839 cats were kept in each farm, 78.5% of them were fed with leftovers. On average, cats from one farm brought home 16.4 mammals and 3.0 birds annually, but ate 198.9 mammals and 46.3 birds annually, although these two categories are not fully additive because cat can eat prey it brought home. Extrapolation of these figures to all Polish farmsteads (2.9 million in 2002) indicates that cats bring home and eat 48.1 and 583.4 millions of mammals, respectively, and 8.9 and 135.7 millions of birds, respectively. Our survey showed that cats in Polish farmland are kept as mousers rather than pets and little attention is paid to their welfare (i.e. are poorly fed). Thus, the total impact they impose on wildlife can be expected to be important. Keywords: Birds, Door-to-door survey, Free-ranging cats, Mousers, Prey brought home, Prey eaten, Vertebrates |
url |
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989418303196 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT dagnykrauzegryz catskillmillionsofvertebratesinpolishfarmlandannually AT jakubgryz catskillmillionsofvertebratesinpolishfarmlandannually AT michałzmihorski catskillmillionsofvertebratesinpolishfarmlandannually |
_version_ |
1725988760127012864 |