Nature Canada

Cat Colonies in the Antiquities in Italy

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Ted Cheskey

Ted Cheskey, Senior Conservation Manager

Ancient marble pillars cast sinister shadows over the labyrinth of collapsed passageways, toppled arches and stained altars. The pungent odor of urine emanates from the darkness mingling with the occasional waft of garlic from café kitchens. Perched on an altar, as if honouring its most recent slaughter is a jet black cat. I slowly scan the necropolis in search of more felines. Directly below us, along the base of the wall, another stray lies tucked into a corner. We slowly circle the site that covers a city block, finding seven more cryptic cats, and an eighth actively wandering along the walls. These cats were part of a feral colony that lived amongst the antiquities. Rome has innumerable antiquities of ancient times when Roman civilization was at its peak nearly 2000 years ago.

Some like the Pantheon are extremely well preserved and still function as sacred places and/or tourist attractions. Others are only recognizable in tourism guides and historical panels that describe the societies that built the arches, temples, alters and pillars that now appear as quasi-organized archeological dig sites and random standing pillars or temples. Cats are barely visible in these places during daylight, but if you return at night to observe carefully you will see cats on the prowl. The cats seem to belong in these places. Likely they keep the mouse and rat population in check, an important role in a city still haunted by memories of the black and bubonic plagues of the Middle Ages. During daylight, the cats are very hard to find, likely sleeping in cavities beneath the rubble. Birds are present though. We saw Blackbirds, pigeons, house sparrows, starlings and even European Kestrels during in the day. These species do not appear to be the primary target of Rome’s feral cat population, most of which are asleep during daylight.

[separator headline=”h3″ title=”In Canada, cat colonies are more problematic”]They do not have the same Feral Cats in ItalyRuins in Italyhistory of evolving with the human societies as the Roman cats. Un-owned or feral cats (often abandoned or the progeny of strays), are estimated to be responsible for 60 percent of cat-caused bird mortality amounting to around 120 million birds per year. Feral cats in Canada lead miserable lives, often falling victim to disease and injury from fights or attacks from predators not to mention the extreme temperatures that mark our Canadian winters. In addition to the tremendous toll on bird populations, stray cats also kill millions of other animals. While some of these include rodents that we consider as pests, cats do not discriminate whether the prey is a pest or a threatened species. Cats have been directly linked to the extinction of at least 37 bird species globally. Feral cats are also major disease vectors for owned cats that are allowed to wander freely. Feline cancer, distemper, toxoplasmosis and rabies are among the diseases spread by feral cats. Some of these diseases can be transferred to humans and are extremely problematic.

[separator headline=”h3″ title=”Feral cat populations sadly are increasing…”]…despite efforts of many to trap IMG_2303Feral Cat in Italyand sterilize strays so that these populations shrink through natural attrition. This is a complex problem that is extremely difficult to understand, let alone resolve. Nature Canada is building alliances with scientists and other organizations to find solutions. We will keep our members and followers informed of our progress. However, the obvious and the unsaid is that 40 percent of bird mortalities amounting to around 80 million birds annually, are the result of predation by owned cats. We believe that most Canadian cat owners agree with us that this situation is not acceptable and would be willing to take actions to reduce cat-caused bird mortality. After all, doing so will also mean healthier cats living longer, and how can we all not support that?

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