Recent report contends feline friends killing wildlife at alarming rate: Experts say issue is more complex than that
Tuesday, March 26, 2013 - 07:30
in Biology & Nature
Scientists from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently released a report in the journal Nature Communications that sought to estimate the number of wildlife killed by cats in the United States. The mainstream press seized on the study, which used previous small studies to generate a new estimate that put the U.S. death toll from cats at billions of birds and mammals annually. Within days, the story generated significant public outcry from cat lovers, as well as a handful of news outlets questioning the accuracy of the research itself.