I had two inside cats–they’d been declawed when I got them. They lived more than 20 years as happy inside cats & succumbed to age-related illnesses. Keeping cats indoors is good for them.
However, I help feed a neighborhood cat. Hardly “feral”–just homeless. (He’s gotten injured in fights & I’m considering kidnaping him for a quick vet trip–no more tomcatting!)
I leave the house early on work days & he’s usually on the front porch, waiting for his food. One Saturday, I awoke late & he was not there. So I called for him…
He came rushing around from the back of the house with something gray in his mouth. As he jumped onto the porch a little bird flew out & away.
He definitely preferred the catfood. And it wasn’t even from a can!
No need to be honest in GQ.
I think cats (as well as dogs, and, well, most domesticated animals) get used to routine. The cat food is always there, and they can fill themselves when they want. But then the rodent (or bird) comes along and they’re not really hungry, but there’s something about little moving things that their brains are wired to hunt. Haven’t you ever seen a cat try to ferret out the moving parts of an ink-jet printer?
And I didn’t encourage my cat to hunt by playing any particular games. I just got him from the guy who sells pirated CDs from Mexico in front of the corner carniceria, who says he found him on the street. I gave him (the cat, not the guy selling CDs) food, let him look out the window, and said, “Get that mouse, or you’re outta here in a week.” (The mouse was freaking out my girlfriend). He was barely a kitten, but he got the mouse, so I gave him tenure.
I read somewhere that female cats will “present” their dead prey to their owner more than males, because of a maternal instinct. (After all, how good are you at catching mice with your bare hands? Your female cats knows that you suck at it.) So they want to feed you.
Pazu has made the point about how domestic cats have overwhelmed evolutionary defenses.
Where I live it’s easy to see the effect of cats on several ground- and near-ground-nesting bird species, e.g. bobolinks, ovenbirds and brown thrashers. These are hard to find closer than about a quarter-mile from human habitation, yet are present (in suitable habitat) well away from houses. There is still enough such remote habitat that these species are not in immediate danger of extirpation, but it’s clear that the area in which these species can be healthy has seriously shrunk and will almost certainly continue to do so.
Contrast this with a friend’s house located on about 275 acres with no nearby neighbors. He has an indoor-only cat. In the spring, the calls of ovenbirds are readily heard just outside his door, and brown thrashers are seen daily. This tells me that responsible pet owners can seriously limit the negative consequences of cat ownership if they choose.
I suspect the cat problem will be closely related to the proximity of human habitation (humans being about as enamored of pristine beaches as are piping plovers).
I used to live about an hour from the Parker River NWR (of which the south end of Plum Island is a part) and would go there every couple of months, often with a birdwatching group. We were told that the refuge took considerable care to see that pets were never allowed their, and indeed their regulations confirm this. Cats are not mentioned specifically, but there are rules against any presence of domestic animals including a prohibition against releasing any such.
Cats have to be taught by mommy-cat to deliver the death bite and eat their prey. So your cat may have caught the bird by instinct but didn’t kill and eat from ignorance. (The death could of been incidental.)
Or your cat was displaying its maternal instinct to teach you how to kill.