Curious Cat Stalks A Coyote

[lulu5kamz]

This cat seemed very curious of the coyote until the coyote took a step in the cat's direction. It hid underneath the car until the coyote gave up about a minute later. The coyote ended up walking down the hill and the cat went in the opposite direction. The cat had a collar so it must belong to a neighbor.

 

[Ssayer]

Wow! A cat belonging to one of our neighbors had a life ending event with a coyote last summer. It's just me, I know, but I simply do not understand leaving one's pet outside loose and unattended. I don't care if it's "only a cat" or "only a dog"...

 

[pmcross]

Wow! A cat belonging to one of our neighbors had a life ending event with a coyote last summer. It's just me, I know, but I simply do not understand leaving one's pet outside loose and unattended. I don't care if it's "only a cat" or "only a dog"...

I agree 100% with you. Our dogs are like family members. I never understood why people leave their dogs or cats loose outside. Pretty crazy video though. I don't get to see coyotes around my neck of the woods

 

[Parley]

Damn good editing. Lot's of cats and small dogs are killed by coyotes in my neighborhood each year.

 

[J Sigmo]

That is nice editing. Pretty spooky!

A friend of mine had a cat who liked to stalk deer in his back yard back in the '70s. It used to crack us up watching him!

But I agree that leaving pets outside to run loose is a bad idea. I know cats really enjoy it, and dogs also love to roam. And I also know how hard it is to keep them from escaping at times. We had a dog who would have made Houdini proud! Our endless construction to block new points of escape from our yard was like an arms race of sorts. I swear, that dog could climb bushes, firewood piles, trees, etc. like a squirrel!

But our vet bills dropped by about 90% or more once we started keeping our cats indoors, and their lifespans doubled on average. It probably makes the neighbors happier, too.

 

[dmiller]

But our vet bills dropped by about 90% or more once we started keeping our cats indoors, and their lifespans doubled on average. It probably makes the neighbors happier, too.

It also made the bird population happy. The best reason to not have outside cats is birds.

 

[J Sigmo]

It also made the bird population happy. The best reason to not have outside cats is birds.

Lots of neighbors really love birdwatching, and have feeders and watering places set up so they can watch the birds. So if your cat goes into their yard and murders birds right before their eyes, it probably detracts from the serenity and enjoyment of the bird watching experience, for sure!

And cats roam anywhere they please when they're out, so that's a concern.

I have read, though, that in many built-up areas the bird population is very "un-natural", with high populations of non-native species who only live there because of the changes created by humans to the natural ecosystems that were there before towns and cities sprang up.

Around here, the area would be a high plains desert with sagebrush and prairie grasses, but no trees or open water. But since we have a town, there are watered lawns, gardens, and trees galore. And bird baths, bird feeders, etc., which have created an unnatural oasis for all manner of birds who would never stop, much less inhabit the area.

So adding domestic cats to this artificial "zoo" really doesn't affect anything natural. It just changes the character of the zoo.

But for the sake of domestic tranquility, I think keeping our cats to ourselves is a very good idea.

If you want to protect endangered bird species, you need to actively oppose wind power projects. Those monstrosities are responsible for huge losses of Raptors and other dwindling species in vast areas of otherwise undisturbed land. It's an amazing mess here in Wyoming, with huge areas blighted by those ugly things. And all in the bogus name of "green" energy.

But I digress!

 

[dmiller]

Lots of neighbors really love birdwatching, and have feeders and watering places set up so they can watch the birds. So if your cat goes into their yard and murders birds right before their eyes, it probably detracts from the serenity and enjoyment of the bird watching experience, for sure!

And cats roam anywhere they please when they're out, so that's a concern.

I have read, though, that in many built-up areas the bird population is very "un-natural", with high populations of non-native species who only live there because of the changes created by humans to the natural ecosystems that were there before towns and cities sprang up.

Around here, the area would be a high plains desert with sagebrush and prairie grasses, but no trees or open water. But since we have a town, there are watered lawns, gardens, and trees galore. And bird baths, bird feeders, etc., which have created an unnatural oasis for all manner of birds who would never stop, much less inhabit the area.

So adding domestic cats to this artificial "zoo" really doesn't affect anything natural. It just changes the character of the zoo.

But for the sake of domestic tranquility, I think keeping our cats to ourselves is a very good idea.

If you want to protect endangered bird species, you need to actively oppose wind power projects. Those monstrosities are responsible for huge losses of Raptors and other dwindling species in vast areas of otherwise undisturbed land. It's an amazing mess here in Wyoming, with huge areas blighted by those ugly things. And all in the bogus name of "green" energy.

But I digress!

Infographic: Wind Turbines Are Not Killing Fields for Birds

 

[J Sigmo]

Areas near where I live where we could photograph eagles, osprey, hawks, owls, antelope, deer, etc., only a few years ago are now devoid of that wildlife because wind farms have been built nearby. The windmills may not directly kill these animals, but they certainly drove them away. One can only speculate as to how this loss of habitat has affected the populations.

Domestic cats, on the other hand, have been in those neighborhoods as long as I can remember, and those particular species were present.

Earlier this spring, I was driving home from work, and saw something rather large in the street. When I turned around and approached it from the other direction to get my headlights on it, guess what it was.

It was an owl eating a housecat.

Anecdotal, I know. But this is what I've seen in areas I frequent.

I don't see housecats out on the open prairie or in the mountains or in other areas not inhabited by humans. Instead, they seem to stay in town. But in places with milder climates, perhaps there are large populations of cats out away from towns and cities killing birds in wild areas. I just never see that anywhere near here.

And the distribution of species and population densities of birds I see in town seems quite different from what I see out in the wild areas near here, too. So I believe that the very existence of the towns warps the bird population away from what it would be if the towns (and therefore the domestic cats) were not present.

Again, I question whether we can blame cats for any effect on what bird populations would be without also examining the effects the towns and cities responsible for the cats' presence have on those bird numbers.

I'd like to see non-biased statistics for bird deaths by species by cats versus wind turbines along with statistics about bird and cat species distribution and how they are affected by the very presence of towns and cities.

I suspect that a lot of what humans do, including harboring cats, has increased populations of some birds while causing others to decline.

Looking for statistics briefly just now, I ran across various sources showing wildly different estimates of bird death causes. But I didn't see any that broke it down by species.

Some sources placed impacts with windows far above deaths from cats. It's hard to know whose statistics to trust. Everyone seems to have an agenda.