Where are all the birds?

[Alice]

I think the birds are all in Edinburgh. I was there at the weekend and the hotel gardens were moving with blackbirds, thrush, tits, finches, robin, wren - and they were all singing.

[Eco-Chic]

In our local area (Block) we have as much as 10 cats fighting over territory and the carnage and noise has become a nuisance and the council are looking into restraining orders. [/SIZE][/FONT][/LIST]

Cats are officially wild animals and, as such, owners cannot be held responsible for their depredations and transgressions.

[Capsid]

Cats are officially wild animals and, as such, owners cannot be held responsible for their depredations and transgressions.

Eh? What's your definition of wild? Surely they are domesticated animals.

[Eco-Chic]

I know. I know. Look at the pretty moggy fast asleep on your bed, ironing or whatever. Nevertheless, they are wild animals and owners can't be held legally responsible for the cat trespassing and digging up the neighbours seedlings, poohing in the neighbours garden, killing birds, mice, frogs, toads etc.

Responsible owners will keep moggy in at night where possible to prevent hunting wild birds and other wildlife at dawn.

[daleclarke]

I know. I know. Look at the pretty moggy fast asleep on your bed, ironing or whatever. Nevertheless, they are wild animals and owners can't be held legally responsible for the cat trespassing and digging up the neighbours seedlings, poohing in the neighbours garden, killing birds, mice, frogs, toads etc.

Responsible owners will keep moggy in at night where possible to prevent hunting wild birds and other wildlife at dawn.

We have had this conversation before on here and as was found out then, there is no law stating cats are 'Wild' they are classed as Domestic Pets and as such are liable to the same rules as other animals.

If they were classed as wild they are then classed as feral and as such can be classed as pests.

Here is the law on Cats from Animal Act 1971.

Animal Act 1971 and the Common Law Duty of Care

It is a commonly-held view that cats have a ‘right to roam’ wherever
they wish. This view is largely based upon the fact that certain
duties imposed upon the owners of dogs and livestock to keep
their animals under control (Road Traffic, Highways and Dangerous
Dogs Acts) do not apply to cat owners. The law in these respects
recognises that, by their nature, cats are less likely than some other
animals to cause injury to people or damage to property. However, cat owners do have a general duty at law to take reasonable care to ensure that their cats do not cause injury to people or damage to property. In practice, cases involving damage to property or injury to people by cats are few and far between.

Sorry for being pedantic, but my view is that bad cat owners should be liable for damage, as I am sick of paying for it.

[Eyren]

My two cats live indoors. After owning a half-Bengal who was a tireless denuder of birds' nests (with the result that I truly dreaded the arrival of spring), I decided that I wasn't going to inflict my love of felines on the wild bird population again. It helps that we live close to a main road that eventually did for said bird-murderer - I daren't let the new cats out unsupervised, for their own safety as well as that of the local wildlife.

However the main threat to birds last year was the council cutting down all the shrubberies on the housing estate. I know it had to be done - our garden was getting a lot of its light blocked - but I do wish they hadn't done the whole site at once. It must have deprived a lot of birds of nesting sites.

Which reminds me - I really need to put up those bird boxes I bought...

[Rodley]

I put up 2 new bird boxes that my wife had been given as a birthday present by a friend in our small woodland area yesterday. I sat down in the garden and noticed that the boxes were already being investigated by great and blue tits. It can't have been more than a couple of minutes after taking the step ladder away! It looks like the blue tits have won one of the boxes as a pair were in and out of it at the end of the day. Now we are looking forward to seeing baby birds in our garden.