Nikki Kaplowitz Final Essay 2-8-2013 The most popular house pet and an animal that has been

revered and feared throughout history, the domesticated house cat, felis catus, has been proven to be one of the most detrimental invasive species in the world. The origin of the modern house cat is sketchy at best because their skeletons are so similar to their wild counterparts which makes them difficult to study. Even so, anthropological studies have shown that cats began their relationship with humans near the beginning of the agricultural revolution, about 10,000 years BCE. For the first time in history , somewhere in the Middle East, food was being stored for long periods of time, this attracted vermin and the vermin attracted cats. Thus the relationship between humans and cats began as people started to like having the free asset protection service they offered. Humans favored more docile cats so they were given more access to food and over time evolved from Felis sylvestris, meaning "cat of the woods, into the modern house cat. Considering their history and the amount their population has grown in 12,000 years it is no surprise that they are eating up around 2.4 billion birds, 12.3 billion mammals and countless more small reptiles. Cats have an advantage over every other predatory species because most have a constant food source provided by humans so their population never suffers even when there are

few animals around for them to hunt. They are very skilled predators, reproduce quickly and pet cats usually have better health care than most Americans. All of these factors combined makes for a powerful force against biodiversity. Cats have been worshiped, used for pest control, demonized for being associated with the devil, eaten, used for scientific testing, and finally used for companionship but throughout they have been spending most of their time taking naps and eating whether it be the food we foolishly supply or the small creatures they hunt. They have never served a purpose that could not be easily done by another species, other than pest control, but they are very good at that. It is no secret that felines are the best hunters on the planet and even though snowball isnt exactly the same as cheetah, he may as well be when it comes to a mouse. The common house cat can hear past ultrasound range, the rigid roof of their mouth accommodates about 67,000 smell receptors (more than three times the number humans have), they need about a sixth of the light we need to see, and they can practically fly considering their climbing skills and their staggering ability to jump several stories and land on their feet. There are (very) approximately 400 million cats worldwide, this includes house cats, and feral cats. House cats hunt even though they have ample food and, along with scavenging, feral cats must hunt to survive. Compared to other predatory species domesticated cats are not very territorial and will live in large colonies. Sometimes several hundred cats will live in an area populated by only a few other pairs of

predatory animals such as coyotes, foxes, wolves, etc., and they simply cant compete with the cats for food. Several complex systems interact in the problem of cats. They throw off ecological balances by interrupting ecosystems with their slaughter of millions of little critters that help regulate the populations of their prey and the predators that feed on them. As usual there is an economic factor to this problem. The pet products industry contributes about $50 billion to the U.S. economy every year. On average, over the course of a cats lifetime it will cost about $7600, that money is spent on veterinary care, groomers, breeders, toys, cat food, cat litter, day care centers, and training centers which all improve unemployment. Cats are a very profitable industry but just like many other industries, the environmental cost and the costs of combating the problems such as cat rescue and euthanasia are not worth the reward (even if you include the cute factor). In spite of everything I said, I do not wish to criminalize cat ownership. Cats continue to be useful for pest control in both the city and the countryside, they are cute, and they are a valuable job source but the gargantuan population of feral cats is costly, dangerous, and detrimental to ecosystems and it is the presence of pet cats that keeps their numbers up. Many cat owners do not spay or neuter their cats allowing them to roam the streets to mate with whoever they please, they also often leave food out and support the productivity of cat colonies they dont even know about.

Furthermore, these stray cats live short, violent, diseased, and malnourished lives that they do not deserve. So far there have been two strategies for decreasing the cat population other than urging cat owners to fix their pets which are: mass euthanasia and Trap-neuter- release. Along with being considered highly immoral by many people, the idea of killing off all the cats has been proven to be largely ineffective. This strategy was attempted in Isreal and the cats just kept coming back. The TNR strategy is a long term strategy so it is often criticized by many business who want a quick fix. Whichever strategy is taken it must be paired with individual responsibility. Keeping your cat on your property as much as possible, particularly at night can greatly reduce its likelihood to come in contact with other animals. Support cat licensing laws and humane removal of stray cats. Give your cat a collar with a tag and a noisy bell to help warm would-be prey. Give your cat toys and play with it as often as possible to help curb its desire to hunt. Feed the birds that enter your property, it can make the population more resilient and more accustomed to cats and the dangers they pose. Finally, please spay or neuter cats before they reach four months of age. Ten countries with the highest cat populations

Country USA China Russia Brazil

No. of Cat 76,430,000 53,100,000 12,700,000 12,466,000

France Italy United Kingdom Ukraine Japan Germany

9,600,000 9,400,000 7,700,000 7,350,000 7,300,000 7,700,000

80,000,000 70,000,000 60,000,000 50,000,000 40,000,000 30,000,000 20,000,000 10,000,000 0

No. of C t a

US A C hina Russia Brazil F rance Italy United K dom ing Ukraine Japa n Germ any

SOURCES http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/brief_cats.html http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/06/070628-cat-ancestor.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK32668/ http://visualeconomics.creditloan.com/how-much-our-pets-cost-in-a-lifetime/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/jul/13/cats-purr-food-research http://www.tau.ac.il/lifesci/zoology/members/yom-tov/inbal/cats.pdf http://history-world.org/agriculture.htm http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/opinion/cats-soft-and-deadly.html http://www.mapsofworld.com/world-top-ten/countries-with-most-pet-catpopulation.html http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n1/full/ncomms2380.html