See?  It’s not the radio towers.  IT’S THE CATS!!!!

They’re our pets, our companions, and have a reputation for being both furry and friendly.

But a new report claims that our feline friends are anything but cuddly, saying that domestic cats in the United States kill between 2.4billion to 12.3billion mammals a year, mostly birds, shrews, and moles.

The shocking revelation again brings up the longstanding debate of whether house cats prove overly dangerous to the wild animals around them.

The article, appearing in Nature Communications, claims that domestic cats kill from 1.4billion to 3.7billion birds annually, as well as 6.9billion to 20.7billion mammals per annum, including moles, shrews, mice, and rats.

The study, which was helmed by the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the Fish and Wildlife Service, adds that a majority of the wildlife deaths can be pinned to free-ranging cats, that is, cats who have owners but are allowed to roam.

The report goes on to claim that more wildlife was killed by the seemingly-docile house cat than from poisons, pesticides, traffic accidents, and automobile accidents.

Dr Peter Marra, who was an author on the report and works at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, told the New York Times that expectations were unclear when he and his colleagues began their study.

‘We were absolutely stunned by the results,’ he said.

The paper notes that the report is likely to stir up a longstanding debate between cat owners and environmentalists worried about animal populations.

But there is a certain amount of agreement in that these domesticated cats should not be allowed to freely roam neighborhoods any more than other pets like gerbils, dogs, or canaries should.

As USA Today notes, the report is part of a larger, three-year study from the Fish and Wildlife Service to see how many birds are killed by predators, chemicals, and other accidents each year.

George Marshall – CBRE 

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