Domestic cats (cats) are fascinating animals. While I'm mostly a "dog man" only because I'm allergic to some cats with no ability to predict to whom, I'm always amazed at how wild so many cats are when compared to domestic dogs. I also know that people who choose to live with cats vary in their attitudes about whether their feline friends should be kept shut up in a house or be allowed to roam freely, "to be cats" and pay the price for being free. Some of my good friends have chosen to let their cats come and go as they please, and while a few have disappeared on their forays, many have survived to live long, and we assume, happier lives, than their closeted cousins. My friend Tom's cat, Wolfie, who was rescued and had previously been declawed before he went to live with Tom and his family, spent a lot of time outside and lived to 18 years of age in the mountains west of Boulder. For many years Wolfie avoided the cougars, coyotes, and red foxes who also roamed in his home range, and on occasion he preyed on some of the birds and small rodents with whom he shared space. Tom and his family agreed that Wolfie had had a very good life coming and going as he pleased.

But what about the animals on whom cats feed. Cats are known to eat numerous other animals, including birds and small rodents. Of course, it's also known they in turn can be eaten by animals who they encounter. And, many people who live with cats know the downside and upside of letting cats roam freely. So, how do they feel about the fact that cats eat other animals?

A new study by Dr. Jennifer McDonald, an associate research fellow at the University of Exeter's Center for Ecology and Conservation and her colleagues, called "Reconciling actual and perceived rates of predation by domestic cats" published in the journal Ecology and Evolution, showed that cat owners were happy to let their cats run free even if they knew they killed wildlife. The abstract for this very interesting study reads as follows:

The predation of wildlife by domestic cats (Felis catus) is a complex problem: Cats are popular companion animals in modern society but are also acknowledged predators of birds, herpetofauna, invertebrates, and small mammals. A comprehensive understanding of this conservation issue demands an understanding of both the ecological consequence of owning a domestic cat and the attitudes of cat owners. Here, we determine whether cat owners are aware of the predatory behavior of their cats, using data collected from 86 cats in two UK villages. We examine whether the amount of prey their cat returns influences the attitudes of 45 cat owners toward the broader issue of domestic cat predation. We also contribute to the wider understanding of physiological, spatial, and behavioral drivers of prey returns among cats. We find an association between actual prey returns and owner predictions at the coarse scale of predatory/nonpredatory behavior, but no correlation between the observed and predicted prey-return rates among predatory cats. Cat owners generally disagreed with the statement that cats are harmful to wildlife, and disfavored all mitigation options apart from neutering. These attitudes were uncorrelated with the predatory behavior of their cats. Cat owners failed to perceive the magnitude of their cats' impacts on wildlife and were not influenced by ecological information. options for the mitigation of cat predation appear unlikely to work if they focus on “predation awareness” campaigns or restrictions of cat freedom.

An essay by Jan Hoffman in the New York Times titled "When the Cat Comes Back, With Prey" provides a nice summary of the above study. Concerning owner's willingness to keep cats indoors from dusk to dawn, Ms. Hoffman writes, "The idea was flatly rejected, with some owners providing unsolicited commentary: 'My cat chooses for herself whether to stay in or go out,' one wrote."

Ms. Hoffman also writes, "The study’s cat owners were generally able to predict whether their would bring home prey, but they fared poorly at estimating how much. Among 43 cats tabulated in the Cornwall village of Mawnan Smith, the average monthly catch ranged from none to 10. Over four months, the cats delivered a total of 325 animals: Nearly 60 percent were rodents, and 27 percent were birds. (According to researchers, 6.2 percent were unidentifiable.)"

While there is no doubt that cats do prey on a wide variety of animals, “the cat owners in this study reject the proposition that cats are a threat to wildlife.” And, experts disagree on whether cats are really having a significant ecological impact. Dr. John Bradshaw, who works at the University of Bristol and wrote the book Cat Sense (see also), remains unsure if cats are really having an ecological impact. He notes, “No doubt pet cats kill lots of little animals, but are they doing long-term harm in the United States and Britain?” Dr. Bradshaw "feels that the evidence is 'flimsy.'” Others disagree, and I'm sure the debate will go on and on.

Clearly, there are a number of important issues at hand, including the safety of the cats (see, for example, "Observations of Coyote–Cat Interactions") and the effects they have on wildlife including endangered birds. It's highly unlikely people are going to agree on either issue but they need to be openly discussed because there also are some serious questions centering on people's decisions to keep cats locked indoors 24/7.

Marc Bekoff's latest books are Jasper's story: Saving moon bears (with Jill Robinson), Ignoring nature no more: The case for compassionate conservation, Why dogs hump and bees get , and Rewilding our hearts: Building pathways of compassion and coexistence. The Jane effect: Celebrating Jane Goodall (edited with Dale Peterson) has recently been published. (marcbekoff.com; @MarcBekoff)