Everyone knows our sweet little kitty-bitties are, in fact, ferocious killers. That’s probably why they were first welcomed into human homes some 10,000 years ago: to kill rats. And they still do an admirable job of rodent control.
But unfortunately, rats and house mice aren’t cats’ only prey. They also kill birds. And not just birds, but plenty of other small mammals and insects: The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed cats as one of the 100 worst invasive species in the world.
Indeed, cats have spread from their humble beginnings in the Fertile Crescent to just about everywhere. They’re on every continent except Antarctica. There’s almost no place where cats are not at home, and therefore no place where small wildlife is safe from them.
