What Atlanta cats do when their owners aren't looking

[eridani]

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/08/kitty-cams-shocking-truth

A new study from the University of Georgia affirms your deepest, darkest suspicion, America: Your little kitty witty cat may be out for blood behind your back.

Are cats bad for the environment? Click here to find out the answer. University researchers outfitted 60 pet kitties in Athens, Ga. with three-ounce video cameras provided by National Geographic to figure out what the heck cats do all day when they're turned loose into the suburban wild. Between November 2010 and October 2011, the "Kitty Cams" captured more than 2,000 hours of life in the seedy underbelly of neighborhood fauna, revealing that Princess Fluffywuffykins and her fuzzied ilk are likely killing a lot more critters than the precious gifts they leave for you and your dustpan on the doorstep.

"All the previous studies were based on counts of things brought to the house and this time in this study, we found that cats don’t bring most of their prey back to their house," ecologist Kerrie Anne Loyd, the lead author of the study, explained. "So the previous studies were missing a huge portion of captures from hunters."

[TexasTowelie]

1. It's been over a month

since my beloved feline AC has brought in her presents through the bedroom window so that they can be tormented and humiliated. I have been interested to know what my other kitty, Mario, does during the day since he has been getting torn up in fights lately.

[Curmudgeoness]

2. Isn't it apparent from this study,

if people have not already realized it, that roaming cats are doing a great deal of damage to wildlife? Multiply the cats in this study with the cats all over the country, and the effects are devastating.

[eridani]

3. Outside kitties need bells, period n/t

[Curmudgeoness]

5. I will reserve opinion on belling cats

until they do this same study with cats wearing bells. I have heard that cats learn how to move without having the bell sound when they are on attack. But until that study is done, I agree that it has to help.

[rox63]

4. One of the many reasons my kittehs are indoors 24/7

The main reason is so they don't get lost or become road pizza.

[meti57b]

6. Exactly! ..... and if they have never been outside, they don't know what they are missing, anyway.

[rox63]

7. Mine were outside when they were very young

I adopted one as a stray kitten, and the other from a shelter at less than a year old. But they've been indoor cats ever since I've had them.

[CottonBear]

8. The cats in the study were/are Athens, GA cats not Atlanta, GA cats.

And yes, cats are bad for the environment. (Well, except for mousers and ratters in our homes and barns.)