Cat Wars: The Devastating Consequences of a Cuddly Killer

In 2013, Marra (director, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Ctr.) authored a headline-grabbing predation study estimating that 60 to 100 million outdoor cats (any cat outside, whether owned or stray) kill around a billion birds and mammals a year. Marra and coauthor Santella (The Tug Is the Drug) cite this statistic as the primary reason that free-ranging cats should be eradicated by any means necessary, including large-scale euthanasia, shooting, and poisoning. In addition, the authors claim that cats pose an imminent public health threat (because of rabies, plague, and toxoplasmosis) and could be the final blow to species already on the brink of extinction. To a great extent, Mara and Santella exaggerate the "looming" public health and extinction threats posed by free-ranging cats in this country. By repeatedly referring to the domestic cat as a plague and an invasive species, they make mass eradication seem an appropriate punishment for bird-killing cats, but no animal welfare organization endorses such action. They also fail to disclose that Marra is one of the authors of the 2013 cat predation study.