Cats are 'cuddly killers' and get the best of both worlds - Yorkshire Post Letters

I WAS extremely disappointed by the blinkered and one-sided letter from Mandy Hobbis, the co-founder of CatsMatter (The Yorkshire Post, April 30).

The notion that cats are cuddly little supporters of all things rural is sadly mistaken.

The estimates for wildlife killed by cats in the UK are around 100 million including 27 million birds and 73 million other animals including mice, shrews, voles, squirrels and rabbits (RSPB report from the Mammal Society).

In the US the estimated figures are 1.3 to 1.7 billion birds and 6.3 to 22.3 billion mammals (Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the US Fish and Wildlife Service).

A couple of cats let loose on an island can totally wipe out all the small mammals that live there.

Cats are killers by nature and as semi-feral creatures they are given the best of both worlds: a cosy, well-fed, pampered existence along with a licence to cause

carnage in their surroundings.

Some of us may not approve of hunting but to promote a ban on hunting and then support the activities of such cuddly killers is just plain hypocrisy.