3 missing cats same area over 1 weekend

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119444408#Comment_119444408

Good that they're chipped. Do you know if they are boys or girls?

If any boys, maybe there is a female in heat somewhere!

Hopefully they'll show up. There was a poster here not so long ago whose 12 year old cat disappeared for over a month, and they were convinced there was no way he'd survive, but he came back!

Any resolution OP?

Timfy

An amazing amount of cats disappeared, and still do, in the part of the UK where I used to live... it coincided with the reintroduction of the Red Kite, whose population is now out of control.

the beer revolu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119493922#Comment_119493922

That sounds like a load of poop to me.

For some reason, you are against the reintroduction of birds of prey. People are weird. Constant problems here with people deliberately poisoning birds of prey and fabricating stories about them taking cats, dogs and lambs.

anewme

There are some horrible crowds going around at night with dogs.

Prolific in certain parts of Dublin anyway.

You'd know if they were active though.

Timfy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119496774#Comment_119496774

Hiya the beer revolu,

No, you have me all wrong! I am a massive supporter of the reintroduction of birds of prey and a fully paid up member of the RSPB.

Unfortunately the reintroduction in the West Berkshire (UK) area was successful beyond anyone's wildest imaginations and, without a word of a lie you can see at least 10-15 kites in the sky at any given time in the small town where I used to live, about 15 miles outside Reading. Not only have they decimated the garden bird population and even driven out the Buzzards that were reintroduced back in the 90's but it is a fact that many small pets have met their demise to these beautiful, but rather peckish raptors. The issue is not helped by misguided people feeding them, making the Red Kite more like the urban foxes than the birds of empty moorlands as we imagine them.

https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/red-kites-commute-reading-food-8981827

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-berkshire-39704653

Birdnuts

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119497461#Comment_119497461

Utter rubbish - red kites weigh barely 2 pounds and have tiny feet designed for picking up scraps without landing. The idea that they are flying off with cats or anything larger then a small rabbit is obvious nonsense. Their nest sites are well studied in Wicklow and show their main live prey is rats and young crows. Neither do they bother with small garden birds as the are simply not designed to hunt these small agile species. I suggest you read up on them via a reputable source and you will learn that they were never "moorland birds" but were found in large flocks in towns and cities across these islands up to a few hundred years ago and were considered usefull scavangers keeping streets clean of waste food etc. just like their cousin the Black Kite still does across Asia and Africa.

Hoboo

An African swallow could carry a cat, certainly one that weighs the same as a coconut.

Timfy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119500229#Comment_119500229

Hi Birdnuts,

Just to address a couple of items;

I did actually say "small pets". As you quite rightly say, they would struggle with a large adult cat and the farmers that shoot and poison them for taking lambs would be laughable if it wasn't so tragic.

Despite your assertion to the contrary, I have personally witnessed Kites take small garden birds and once, in an impressive shower of feathers, a pigeon.

I know very well the habitats of these creatures... I was referring to the romantic notions that some people seem to have over Kites and raptors in general.

I don't really need to "read up" on anything, I am friends with ornithologists that know far more than I ever will, several of whom are published themselves.

Please don't address my posts with "Utter rubbish" This is one of the friendlier areas on Boards, a littler bit of civility goes a long way in making this a nice place. If you wish to be abusive the soccer forum is over that way....

the beer revolu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119497461#Comment_119497461

This a discussion on cats going missing. You brought up red kites, claiming that a spate of cats went missing when they were introduced in the UK.

There is no credible evidence of any cats been taken by kites. None.

KildareP

Most of the cats in our area take off every year for most of August but we're surrounded by a lot of crop farms and bog and its harvest season so lots of field mice making a hasty exit from the fields. Some will come back within a few days, others could be gone weeks but they all do inevitably come back.

Hopefully yours have come back!

Timfy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119500543#Comment_119500543

Not when they were introduced... when the population hit a tipping point they were witnessed, by many including myself, as becoming urbanised, losing their fear of humans and taking small prey from town gardens. It would not take a huge leap to go from a pigeon to a kitten.

But I see that this is turning into one of those conversations that is only permitted to have one point of view and so I bow out.

Cheers.

the beer revolu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119493922#Comment_119493922

Oh, sorry for claiming that you said amazing amount cats disappeared, coincidentally with the introduction of red kites.

I should have known that you actually meant that cats weren't taken, at all - only smaller pets were and that it didn't coincide with the introduction but rather later in the scheme.

PS you should probably read your own posts before claiming what you said. 😉