The Effects of Cats on the Environment

The global domesticated cat population is estimated to be around 500 million. Feral cats are a much bigger problem than feral dogs because they can still hunt their own food and have retained many of their natural instincts. In the United States alone, an estimated 75 million cats are responsible for the deaths of 1.3 to 3.7 billion birds and 6.3 to 22.3 billion mammals every year. At least 20 native mammal species in Australia have gone extinct due to the introduction of cats. Cat hunting can have downstream effects as well.

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