I agree when Mathew says cats are experts of rodents not birds.It’s true they like to catch rats.I can see from this film humans really love to put the blame on the innocents rather than look in the mirror.

Thank you Mathew and others who support TNR.My teenage daughter and I actively help with TNR where we live.It’s funny Alleycat.org was mentioned.They were instrumental in teaching us about TNR through their website.The best way to help feral cats is to spay and neuter them and have a cregiver watch over them when they return home.I just really want to say this film was so one sided.What a shame.

My cat killed 21 RATS a week during the summer but never killed anything else. As I live in town I can only say thank goddness something was killing them. Do you know how quickly rats breed and spread. They also urinate all the time they are moving.

The real threat to wildlife is humans destroying the habitats of wildlife, pesticides, chemicals...and the list goes on and on.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the ones who lobby Congress to spread lies and exaggerations about cats in general paid to put this film together. I’m not saying cats never catch a bird but to put the blame on cats instead on the real destroyers-HUMANS-is outrageous. Cats are rodent specialists NOT bird specialists and play an important part in the ecosystem.

Bottom line:everyone needs to spay and neuter their kitties and keep kitty indoors with supervised play outside for the reason that people are down right cruel.Cruel people are the real destroyers of wildlife and anything else that crosses their path.

As for the community feral and stray kitties please support Trap Neuter Return(TNR)in your community. This is the only proven way to help community feral and stray cats. It will help tremendously bring down the number of cats who are the victims of lack of spaying and neutering.

Do a search on Alley Cat Allies to understand the best way to help community feral and stray cats through TNR.

Hi,

its typical to human to blame the cats of every thing,
did we stop hunting?
did we stop killing animals for our amusement?
did we stop making testing on animals?
did we stop eating animals?

why want we try change this first, then TNR for cats and closing them should be the answer.

-Moti

this video is clearly anti domestic cat, as ridiculous as that sounds its true, to the point of disgust. Why blame these furry little friends of ours? Why not blame the idiots who do not get them fixed? I am literally appalled at this disgusting anti feline video. Someone paid for it to be made and whoever is in it I hope you don’t think you are doing animals any good. ####### disgusting.

Very biased. I wonder if they will produce and equally “unbiased” film on devastating effect glass skyscrapers, pesticides and humans have on wildlife and birds?

Mmmm. Interesting. Neutering is so important.

Our beautiful and well fed cats used to hunt and kill everything in their path. Once we recognized this behavior, we adjusted the time that they would be allowed outside to give the other creatures a living chance. It was futile, we decided to place them in a cat refuge (spayed and neutered). It is a delimma that has no easy answer, but as humans we “must” do what we can to be the guardians of our lovely planet.

“Interesting, but extremely biased.  It is fairly well documented that it is not the cat that is driving various animal species to extinction but human activity which causes environmental degradation.”

Rubbish.  Domestic cats are included in ‘human activity’ since with out us there would be no such thing.  In Australia where I am from a great many of our native animals are extinct due in no small part to cats.  Feral cats dominate large areas of the land while in more urban areas house cats are everywhere and they all hunt.  We have lost almost every small mammal we had and small birds and lizards are not fairing too much better. If you don’t think cats are having a huge impact on the wild life then I question your ability to think rationally.

I think a lot of this is very unfair to cats.  None of these wildlife people would have a problem with a big cat taking down it’s natural pray. That’s just what cats do.  And seeing what we humans have done to the planet and the wildlife I think it’s the hight of arogance to say that cats killing mice and birds is something to worry about.  And most of these people, if they found a mouse in their kitchen they would beat it to death with their shoes.

I liked it. I didn’t see it as against cats because on their own cats wouldn’t be in this position as RK said “human activity which causes environmental degradation” and we have put the cat here. However this is a story of servival and our own responcibilities.
PS I like cats and one lives with us.

Interesting, but extremely biased.  It is fairly well documented that it is not the cat that is driving various animal species to extinction but human activity which causes environmental degradation.

I completely agree with “lh” on this.  Not only is the title misleading, but so is the introduction to the film, itself.

Interesting in parts but shamefully biased.  I’m a bit disappointed in Nat Geo.  Misleading title and stating in the introduction that ‘you may learn more about cats than you ever wanted to know’, sets the callow tone of this movie.
“Why cats are despised by the creators of this film.” would have been a more approprate title.

I wasn’t expecting to see rabbit carnage in a movie about the secret life of cats.  This is typical NG propaganda.

The cat sat on the mat and shat...The rat eat the shat that cat shat on the mat...The cat eat the rat that eat the shat that the cat shat on the mat...THE CAT SHAT THE RAT BACK ON TO THE MAT!!!

I usually love National Geographic presentations but this film erroneously suggests that cats are “the” reason for the loss of songbird species. Every study done on this subject has concluded that loss of habitat is by far the major reason for the decline in songbirds. Cats are a secondary reason. Anyone interested can check with the Audubon Society on this. We can do our part to save songbirds by saving their habitat, buildings that they won’t collide with, not using pesticides, turning off outside lights during migration season, as well as keeping our cats indoors. Much of the cat problem can be eliminated by a simple law making it illegal and punishable to abandon cats. Recommended reading:  The Silence of the Songbirds by Craig Lawrence.

Nice comments, Laurie. I am amazed at people that would rather kill the offspring, or set them out somewhere, than to spay or neuter their cat to begin with.

This is in response to Anonymous Posted 5/29/09: I’M ashamed you’re a human too! It’s attitudes like yours that are causing this problem. I can only hope you do not own a pet!

You’re right, cats didn’t originally live in houses, but neither did we! Should we let our children run wild outside too? So they can catch diseases, get hit by cars, mangled or tortured to death by some lunatic or predator? As for neutering, and getting overrun: Ages ago they had more predators to keep their numbers in check. I didn’t see any predators to the cat in that park in FL.  Are you aware that BILLIONS of kittens are euthanized IN ONE DAY? There are plenty of kittens available, we don’t need any more.  We do agree on one thing: I believe there are many humans that should be neutered too.  Either because we don’t need more like them or because they are not in the position to care for another human being (you don’t have any children do you?).

And when you say “...allow cats to breed...why have...kitty in the first place?” Are you saying the only reason to have a pet is to breed it? How about companionship, love, affection? You allow your cat to have kittens, then what? More to love? Sure, if you’re going to keep all of them and take care of them.  But most of the time they’re given away to people who really don’t care for them and later change their mind; or they’re allowed to roam outside and create more and more kittens.  We created this problem, it’s up to us to fix it in the most human way possible.  Keeping in mind that this is not the cats fault.

I have 7 cats.  All are “pretty”, indoor, and spayed/neutered. They have food always available, so I don’t need to “stuff” them, and they eat when they’re hungry, so they don’t “stuff” themselves. And not one of them is fat OR lazy!  Two of them were purchased from adoption agencies. Of the other 5: One I found as a kitten wandering the streets, two I found dumped at 5 days old, and two that were dumped as new borns.  If you don’t want kittens, get your cat altered!  Don’t dump the results!  What, can’t stand the idea of killing a creature so you dump it?  Don’t you think that’s basically sentencing it to a SLOW death?  If you can’t or won’t take responsibility for the animal, “then you shouldn’t own a cat at all, end of story!”

Back to you, “Anonymous”, I’m not done with you yet, but I’m running out of characters, so I’ll have to continue in the next post…

Continued from above post: “This is in response to Anonymous Posted 5/29/09”

I also have 4 outside cats that I care for because “stupid humans” simply left them behind when they moved.  After 6 litters, all have been spayed/neutered, and all kittens given to feline adoption agencies to live in foster homes until adopted by screened loving families.

And cats don’t “need to breed”.  No creature does.  The humans that are neutering their cats “to prevent more of them” are actually the ones who care the most for them. Some of us have to take responsibility for the irresponsible “stupid humans”.  WE decided to domesticate these animals, they are ALL of ours responsibility.  God Bless those ladies trying to help those abandoned cats in that park.  And all the others who are using their OWN time AND money, and who are giving so much of themselves to try to fix what so many have broken.

PLEASE DON’T “forget it”!  Be part of the solution, not part of the problem! Your right, one person “can’t neuter every cat on the planet...” But if everyone just took care of their OWN backyard, then we CAN make a difference.

My cat and dog hunt together.  Usually a shrew or rabbit is the prey. I have an indoor cat as well.  Both cats and the dog are neutered, yard is fenced.  The outdoor cat has killed birds,rabbits and mice.  Not so many now as when we first rescued him from a feral environment.  Watching him, you can see how any movement will trigger the hunting instinct.  So supervising his outtings, with the basement as his playground, only mice get caught.  This film was interesting.  I feel that the cost of spay/neuter and the cost of putting them to sleep keeps people from doing the right thing.  Some can barely afford basic kitty care and food.  All adopted kittys and dogs should be neutered before going to their new homes.  DO NOT count on the new owerer doing the right thing. A rescue cat cost me $80 five years ago. That covered his neutering, first shots, and blood tests.  Also he was socialized.  One of the best cats I have ever owned.

Cats should never be outdoors and let into harms way my ###. Why do you think we still HAVE cats? Ooohh, let me guess, was it because the cavemen never let there precious pet kitties out to play with the t-rex? Doubt it. We have cats because cats have and continue to will withstand the test of time (except maybe the large breeds, which are dying out because of humans).

It’s called instinct, my friends. And unless you live in the city, by all means - LET YOUR CAT OUTSIDE! Or don’t get one at all. Don’t keep them in cages, they need space. Cats sure as hell didn’t originally live in houses and they can sure as hell continue to live outside of them. So yes, that even means little Fluffy or Tinkerbell over there. Oh, but let me guess? You’ve declawed them and thus taken away one of their natural means of protection, because you didn’t want your precious furniture all scratched up. And I think people who neuter their cats should go in and get themselves neutered. And goodness knows that if those cats were a few feet taller and rippling with muscles, they would be bringing you your family instead of little field mice. So tell me now that they don’t have natural instinct.

Oh, and if wasn’t for those “irresponsible” people who allow cats to breed, then why would you have your precious kitty in the first place?

If you’re going to buy a cat to have it look pretty and sit around your house, neuter it and stuff it with food, allowing it to become fat and lazy, then you shouldn’t own a cat at all, end of story.

Also, as for the people killing cats because cats are going to wipe out certain animal populations, they need to think that over a little better. Just because a hundred cats are in an area, this ONE area, of this one island, doesn’t mean bird populations are magically going to deplete. Hell, if that was just ONE cat at the one spot in that one island, it could do just as much damage.

And you can’t neuter every cat on the planet, so forget it.  Cats need to breed, it just one of their ways of life. And seriously - if we were going to get overrun with cats, they’ve been around long enough it could have happened ages ago, when there were MORE of them to start with. No, it’s humans overrunning the cats, and the humans don’t like them, so they just simply neuter them to prevent more of them. Because the stupid humans have decided they should get their way no matter what. I’m ashamed to be a human.. such a spoiled pathetic race.

I can see where some areas of the planet have wildlife diminishing due to the introduced cat, but there has to be a better way. Purposefully killing them is far to harsh and unnecessary. I know...how about a Kitty Island? Would the cats perish on the island due to starvation from wiping out their food source?

I thought everyone knew cats are hunters. I love my cats dearly. I would save each and everyone of the unwanted if I could.
I understand that all wildlife is important, and often desprate measures are nessassary.
I do not think the open cruelty, of the hunt was needed to make this an informative film. All hunt victims suffer and the results are heart wrenching. but I saw this film as portraying cats as nearly evil and deserving of being clubed and eaten.

Good grief, yet another tired, old typical stereotype involving cats. “The soul of a killer still lurks inside every kitty.” That is a crock. Most indoor cats have become so domesticated that they wouldn’t have a clue about what to do with a mouse, bird or any other “prey.” My three cats are afraid of a bug, for heaven’s sake. We live in the woods and a field mouse got in the house one time, all three cats hid under the bed. To make blanket statements about cats is to deny their inherent differences. Feral cats are often more aggressive “hunters” than housecats, often thanks to irresponsible people who allowed their cats to breed then dumped them into hard lives.

All cats are NOT alike just like all people are not alike, just like all dogs are not adorable loyal darlings. My Mom had a few wonderful dogs, she also had a couple that were temperamental, demanding, snippy and would just as soon bite as be friendly. If dogs can have different personalities and instincts, why is it assumed that ALL cats are alike? It is that same mindset that allows bigots to believe that “all African Americans are alike,” “all Jewish people are alike” and to harbor misplaced and misguided disdain for entire groups.

As for “slipping out of the house,” cats should never be allowed outdoors and into harm’s way.  There is no reason to expose cats to disease, poisons, vicious dogs, subhuman sick people, car accidents, wild predators, parasites and a myriad of other dangers. Cats kept indoors are cleaner, safer and will not be subject to the title “hunter” that many would like to assign to ALL cats.

Cat equality. A concept whose time has come.

I really enjoyed this film. I am a cat lover and I have 3 cats. I learned a lot from this film. I already have my cats with a curfew, but I did not realize that the cats hurt the wild life. I am going to keep that in mind because I love all animals.