"If all the “birds” are real, how do we account for there being more dead birds than live ones in the U.S.?

And why isn’t anybody talking about that?"

Said Peter Wolf in Vox Felina.

 

Article Highlights

READ COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE:  VOX FELINA LINK

 

Birds Aren’t Real: The Latest Evidence

"Based on the best available evidence, researchers estimate there about 7 billion birds in North America during the pre-breeding season (i.e., adults), with roughly 5.7 billion (excluding coastal and wetland species) found in the Lower 48 [2]. It’s quite difficult to reconcile such a figure with the “conservative” estimate, made six years earlier, that “free-ranging domestic cats kill 1.3–4.0 billion birds” year in and year out in the contiguous U.S. [3].1 That’s in addition to the mortalities attributable to building collisions (365–988 million birds [4]), collisions with vehicles (89–340 million birds [5]), power lines (8.9­–68.6 million birds [6]), and wind turbines (140,000–328,000 birds [7]). And if we take into account the research suggesting that wind turbine estimates might be four times greater than previously suggested [8], total U.S. bird mortalities from collisions with buildings, vehicles, power lines, and wind turbines could be as high as 1.4 billion annually.2

But that doesn’t account for a study published last year that adjusted upward—and considerably—the number of bird deaths caused by building collisions: “minimally” 1.3–3.5 billion, but perhaps as many as 5.2 billion annually [9].

For those keeping track at home, these sources of bird mortality (including the inflated, agenda-driven “estimate” for free-roaming cats) total at least 2.8 billion—and up to 9.6 billion on the high end.3 Not all of these birds are adults, of course. Still, reconciling these figures with an adult population estimated to be just 5.7 billion requires the kind of creative accounting that would put Lehman Brothers to shame..."

 

READ COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE:  VOX FELINA LINK

 

About Vox Felina

Vox Felina is a repository of research notes, news stories, correspondences, and associated commentary focused on a range of issues related to “the plight” of unowned, free-roaming cats in general, and trap-neuter-return (TNR) in particular. The blog format offers two significant benefits for such a project: (1) by limiting the scope of each post, I’m able to zoom in on the details—critical for understanding deeply the complexities of the topic, and (2) the hypertext and tags permit linking and cross-referencing impossible in the print domain.

The primary impetus behind Vox Felina, launched in April 2010, was the abundance of flawed science promoted by many TNR opponents, undermining any honest debate of the “feral cat” issue. Nearly seven years later, the flaws have become more glaring, the promotion unapologetically post-factual (and self-serving). The need for a rigorous, thoughtful response is, therefore, greater than ever.

There are legitimate issues to be debated regarding the efficacy, environmental impact, and morality of TNR. But attempts at an honest, productive debate are hampered—if not derailed entirely—by the dubious claims so often put forward by TNR opponents. I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I’m very interested in asking better questions—the sort of questions that might stimulate a more conscientious debate of this important issue. And in any event, I feel compelled to speak out on behalf of the cats.

Peter J. Wolf