The domestic cat, an invasive plague for biodiversity (video)

Christophe Magdelaine / www.notre-planete.info

The debate is recurrent: in addition to the damage caused by our activities and our ever stronger footprint on the environment, our dear domestic cats, real predators, are a plague for biodiversity. The subject is so serious that in 2015, the National Museum of Natural History launched a participatory survey to estimate the impact of our small cats on biodiversity.

Domestication of the Domestic Cat originated between Egypt and the Near East at least 4000 BC. It is present in metropolitan France, since Roman times and "has really established itself on farms that after the Middle Ages where it was his mission to hunt rodents.Today, its popularity is growing and the animal responds to the progressive evolution of man's ties to domesticity: towards greater autonomy and independence ", explains the National Museum of Natural History.

The domestic cat ( Felis silvestris catus ) is a carnivore, family Felidae. Under his touching airs, the cat is a true predator who occupies part of his night to hunt anything and everything. It attacks mainly small mammals, small birds but also any prey within reach. Most of the time, it is not his purpose to feed himself but rather to satisfy his natural instincts.

At the planetary level, the cat is behind the rat but in front of the fox and the dog, causing the extinction of hundreds of species . Involved, direct predation but also interspecies competition, the transmission of diseases and finally the association with other invasive species. Thus, cats have been responsible for the extinction of 63 species of mammals, birds and reptiles for 500 years, according to research done by Dr. Tim Doherty of the Center for Integrative Ecology of Deakin University (Australia), which is working to show the ravages of cats in Australia.

How many cats are there in France?

In France, "The significant predation of cats on wild animals is a proven fact, for example, in 2017, more than 11% of the animals housed in LPO rescue centers were animals wounded by cats: 84% are birds, 16% are mammals or reptiles, "lamented the LPO in late January 2018.

There are about 12 million cats in France [1], it is by far the most popular domestic animal , in front of the dog (7.5 million). With the systematic and permanent slaughter (we think of course the wolf ) of most wild predators in France, the cat has easily established itself as "the carnivore best represented in our environment, whether in urban environments or rural landscapes, "says the National Museum of Natural History.

12 million insatiable predators

The multiplication of cats becomes problematic for wildlife. Indeed, the cat, even domesticated, retains his instincts and his powers of predator, independently of any food need. In other words, even well fed and pampered, the cat remains a nocturnal killer , as evidenced by the corpses, little devoured, which he leaves in the early morning in the garden. Predation is so important that the LPO even considers the domestic cat as an "invasive" species in ecosystems.

According to the National Museum of Natural History, the cat attacks more than 50 species in Western Europe with numbers taken that may be important. Thus, amphibians, reptiles and all kinds of small vertebrates, often endangered in France, are also the prey of domestic cats in the natural environment.

According to different studies and methods, a well-fed cat can catch an average of 27 prey per year, compared to 273 for a stray cat and 1,071 for a feral cat [2]. As a result, only domestic cats kill about 324 million small animals a year! [3]

This estimate is not insignificant while breeding birds are decreasing according to the 2016 update of the national Red List : one-third of the breeding bird species is now threatened, compared to a quarter in 2008. In total, 92 species are classified as threatened in France.

How to keep cats away?

Even if you do not own a cat, they roam the gardens freely during the night. In order to preserve its biodiversity, the LPO offers us some tips that have been proven:

And for cat owners, there are also solutions to limit their predation:

"To limit the predation of his pet cat, you have to give him free access to a varied diet, do not let him out in the early morning or at night," advises the LPO.

Cat and biodiversity: a participatory science project

To more accurately estimate the impact of cats on wildlife, the National Museum of Natural History launched in 2015 a website which "aims to collect data on the predation of domestic cat on small wildlife. the amount of information collected will allow to sketch the animal's diet in its environment, in relation to various parameters related to the habitat (urban context, surrounding environment) or to the relationship with men (feeding, keeping at liberty A better understanding of the ecosystems in the presence of this predator is also expected. "

As of March 22, 2016, more than 2,500 contributors have collected information on more than 14,000 prey items.
At the beginning of 2018, this collaborative project no longer seemed to be followed and we did not have any feedback after our requests for information.

Source: notre-planete.info