Fatal felines: killer cats on the prowl

DORCHA, our normally docile cat, killed two baby wrens this week.

Summer brings out the worst in cats. Baby birds are leaving the nests. Just about able to fly and clumsy on their feet, they stand little chance against lethal predators in trim suburban gardens where there are few places to hide.

The anti-cat lobby says that pussies do untold damage to wildlife. Songbird populations are declining and cats, it’s claimed, are to blame for much of this. The purring pets have caused the extinction of 33 bird species worldwide. Cat defenders consider this charge unfair; the problems arose mainly on remote islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans when cats were introduced by us.