[Summit] a suggestion for cat owners

[Greg Gerritt]

Coyotes are everywhere and not going away.  Do not feed them or leave smelly stuff around and pets should be indoors except when walking with you.  greg

 

From: Summit <summit-bounces at sna.providence.ri.us> on behalf of Ethan Gilsdorf <ethangilsdorf at gmail.com>
Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2025 at 2:20 PM
To: Art Norwalk <art at norwalkcom.com>
Cc: Summit Neighborhood <summit at sna.providence.ri.us>
Subject: Re: [Summit] a suggestion for cat owners

 

Good point Art. I agree!  I can’t tell you how many times I see “lost cat” signs on telephone poles in the neighborhood and I imagine to myself “Yep I think a coyote got that one…” I’ve seen coyotes out hunting in my neighborhood, even in the daytime.

With kindness,
Ethan

 

Ethan Gilsdorf

writer | teacher | critic | nerd 

ethan at ethangilsdorf.com | ethangilsdorf.com | YouTube | Author of Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks | TEDx talk | Upcoming workshops | Writing coaching | Learn to Play D&D (corporate & community)

“[writing is] a medium of understanding suffering.”—Ocean Vuong

 

 

 

On Tue, Jun 17, 2025 at 1:46 PM Art Norwalk <art at norwalkcom.com> wrote:

There's no doubt cats are predators in the outdoors. But they're also prey, particularly for coyotes.

 

Best solution -- keep them indoors.

 

-- Art

 

On Tue, Jun 17, 2025 at 10:52 AM Ethan Gilsdorf <ethangilsdorf at gmail.com> wrote:

hi neighbors:

I love cats. But in the past few days, I've seen the carnage from what I believe are three cat attacks on wildlife: one dead baby rabbit, one mangled mourning dove in my backyard, and one crime scene: an explosion of feathers under my bird feeder. The dove was barely alive, so I brought it to the wonderful bird rehab organization Congress of the Birds (in the West Side), but they could not save it and it died later that night.

One study showed that domestic cats kill 1.4 to 3.7 BILLION birds and 6.9–20.7 BILLION mammals in the lower 48 states each year --- more than from collisions with buildings, towers, vehicles, or pesticide poisoning.

I would ask all cat owners who let their cats roam freely outdoors to please consider taking preventative measures to stop the killing. A cat collar called BirdBeSafe --- which, yes, looks like a ridiculous clown accessory --- has been shown to work. Birds can see bright colors, and when a cat wears one of these colorful collars, they are easier to see, which gives birds time to fly away in time. This company also sells a "breakaway buckle" for the collar, which will open under pressure if you cat ever gets caught in a sticky situation. Putting a bell on your cat's collar has been shown to not be as effective.

Thanks for considering the welfare of our neighborhood wildlife as you make choices for your cats.

Links below.

https://www.audubon.org/news/how-stop-cats-killing-birds

https://www.birdsbesafe.com/

https://www.audubon.org/news/cats-pose-even-bigger-threat-birds-previously-thought

With kindness,


Ethan Gilsdorf

10th Street

 

Ethan Gilsdorf

writer | teacher | critic | nerd 

ethan at ethangilsdorf.com | ethangilsdorf.com | 

 

 

_______________________________________________
Summit mailing list
Summit at sna.providence.ri.us
http://sna.providence.ri.us/mailman/listinfo/summit_sna.providence.ri.us
SNA Website: http://sna.providence.ri.us/

_______________________________________________ Summit mailing list Summit at sna.providence.ri.us http://sna.providence.ri.us/mailman/listinfo/summit_sna.providence.ri.us SNA Website: http://sna.providence.ri.us/ 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://sna.providence.ri.us/pipermail/summit_sna.providence.ri.us/attachments/20250617/ee10909a/attachment.htm>