Cats & Birds Resources

Read American Bird Conservancy’s position statement on free-roaming cats.

Essays & Letters on Cats Indoors from ABC

• Do a Little, Save a Lot: Keep Cats Indoors – Essay for Louisiana Ornithological Society

• Roaming Cats Hinder Zoological Conservation – Essay for Felid TAG Times

• Expert Statement to Albuquerque, New Mexico

• The Science of Feral Cats: A Report to Pompano Beach, Florida

• Impacts of Feral and Free-Ranging Cats on Bird Species of Conservation Concern

• 2011 Letter to U.S. Department of Interior
• 2014 Letter to U.S. Department of Interior

ABC Cats Indoors Fact Sheets

• Companion Animal Model Ordinance

• Toxoplasma gondii:  A One Health Problem

• Feral Cats:  Consequences for Humans and Wildlife

• Human Attitudes and Behavior on Keeping Cats Indoors

• Domestic Cat Predation on Birds and Other Wildlife

• TNR: The Wrong Solution to a Tragic Problem

• The Great Outdoors is No Place for Cats

• How to Make Your Outdoor Cat a Happy Indoor Cat

• What to Do About Unwanted Cats in Your Yard

• Get the Facts About Cat Law

ABC Cats Indoors Videos

• Surviving the Wild: Cats & Birds
• Protecting the Native Birds of Hawai’i
• Cats Indoors: A Conservation Movement
• Cats Indoors: Better for Cats
• Cats Indoors: Better for Birds
• Cats Indoors: Better for People
• Cats Indoors: Better for People
• The Dangers Outdoors
• Trap, Neuter, and Release: Bad for Cats, Disaster for Birds
• Cat parasite (Toxoplasma gondii) widespread on Kauai

External Resources

• American Society of Mammalogists Letter to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

• The Wildlife Society and Society for Conservation Biology Letter to the U.S. Department of Interior

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Panama City Field Office Letter to the Escambia County Board of Commissioners

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service New Jersey Field Office Letter to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service New England Field Office Letter to Seacoast Area Feline Education and Rescue Inc.

External Fact Sheets

• Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies: Toolkit to Address Free-ranging Domestic Cats on Agency Lands Managed for Native Wildlife and Ecosystem Health

• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration:  Hawaiian Monk Seals and Toxoplasma gondii

• North Utah Valley Animal Services:  The Science of Feral Cats

• Pennsylvania One Health Task Force:  Recommendations on the Management of Domestic Cats

• The Wildlife Society:  Impacts of Free-roaming Cats

• The Wildlife Society:  Feral Cats

• United States Department of Agriculture:  Free-ranging and Feral Cats

• University of California, Davis, Veterinary Medicine:  Cats Indoors or Outdoors?

• University of Florida:  How Effective and Humane is Trap-Neuter-Release (TNR) for Feral Cats?

• Western Governors Association:  Top 50 Invasive Species in the West

External Position Statements

• American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians

• American Ornithologists’ Union

• American Veterinary Medical Association, owned cats

• American Veterinary Medical Association, unowned cats

• Association of Avian Veterinarians

• Black Swamp Bird Observatory

• Chicago Wilderness

• The Cooper Ornithological Society

• Florida Ornithological Society

• Florida Veterinary Medical Association

• Georgia Ornithological Society

• Hawaii Invasive Species Council

• International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council

• Maryland Ornithological Society

• National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians

• National Wildlife Federation

• National Wildlife Federation:  Control of Invasive Island Predators

• National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association

• North American Bluebird Society

• Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

• The Wildlife Society

Videos

• VICE News:  Hawaiʻi’s Feral Cat Wars

• Delaware Valley University One Health Seminar Series:  Domestic Cats and One Health

• Untamed:  The Case for Indoor Cats

• Cornell Lab of Ornithology:  Keep Cats Indoors

• Ohio Bird Conservation Initiative: Outdoor Cats and the Need for Effective Management

• Is there a disease that makes us love cats?

• The key to a happy indoor cat

• Cats & Wildlife:  How much is too much?

• Cat depredates Stellar’s Jay nest

• Interview with Toxoplasma researcher and neuroscientist Dr. Robert Sapolsky

Scientific Literature

• Aguirre et al. 2019: The One Health approach to toxoplasmosis:  epidemiology, control, and prevention strategies

• Ballash et al. 2014: Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and free-roaming cats (Felis catus) across a suburban to urban gradient in northeastern Ohio

• Barrows 2004: Professional, ethical, and legal dilemmas of trap-neuter-release

• Bonnington et al. 2013: Fearing the feline: domestic cats reduce avian fecundity through trait-mediated indirect effects that increase nest predation by other species

• Boyer et al. 2011: Unrecognized ingestion of Toxoplasma gondii oocysts leads to congenital toxoplasmosis and causes epidemics in North America

• Castillo and Clarke 2003: Trap/Neuter/Release methods ineffective in controlling domestic cat “colonies” on public lands

• Chadwick et al. 2013: Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii in the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) in England and Wales

• Conrad et al. 2005: Transmission of Toxoplasma: Clues from the study of sea otters as sentinels of Toxoplasma gondii flow into the marine environment

• Crawford et al. 2019: A case of letting the cat out of the bag – why trap-neuter-return is not an ethical solution for stray cat (Felis catus) management

• Dabritz and Conrad 2009: Cats and Toxoplasma: Implications for public health

• Dauphine and Cooper 2009: Impacts of free-ranging domestic cats (Felis catus) on birds in the United States: a review of recent research with conservation and management recommendations

• Doherty et al. 2016: Invasive predators and global biodiversity loss

• Gajewski et al. 2014: Toxoplasma gondii impairs memory in infected seniors

• Gerhold and Jessup 2013: Zoonotic diseases associated with free-roaming cats

• Jessup 2004: The welfare of feral cats and wildlife

• Lepczyk et al. 2003: Landowners and cat predation across rural-to-urban landscapes

• Longcore et al. 2009: Critical assessment of claims regarding management of feral cats by Trap-Neuter-Return

• Loss and Marra 2017: Population impacts of free-ranging domestic cats on mainland vertebrates

• Loss et al. 2013: The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States

• McRuer et al. 2017: Free-roaming cat interactions with wildlife admitted to a wildlife hospital

• Medina et al. 2011: A global review of the impacts of invasive cats on island endangered vertebrates

• Roebling et al. 2014: Rabies prevention and management in the context of Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Release programmes
• Torrey and Yolken 2013: Toxoplasma oocysts as a public health problem