This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2013, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Wednesday night on the "NBC Nightly News," Brian Williams reported on a new study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that "says flat out, cats are bird murderers." In America, "cats are responsible for the deaths of as many as 3.7 billion birds every year."
That staggering fact sent me to the Internet, and I discovered that the average populations of common birds are in dramatic decline (68 percent since 1967; 80 percent for some species). It's a serious environmental problem.
It's not all the fault of cats, of course, but we should outlaw and euthanise feral cats — not just neuter them.
In my neighborhood, I know of several kindhearted people who set out food and milk for stray cats. Well, they aren't doing the birds any favors, which I assume they love, too.
If you're feeding a free-roaming cat, quit it. You're doing more harm than good.
Leo Whiting
Salt Lake City