Outdoor and feral cats leading to Californian sea otter deaths
February 18th, 2008
Yet another victim of the outdoor and feral cat plague… highly endangered sea otters.
They’re cute, furry, and when they’re not chasing each other around kelp forests, they’re floating on their backs like miniature teddy bears. Hunted nearly to extinction for their luxuriant fur–the thickest of any mammal’s–the sea otters of California were making a comeback until they started mysteriously dying off. State wildlife officials recovered a record 281 dead otters last year, and this year looks to be even worse. Five or six wash up on California’s beaches and rocks each week. In August alone, 28 dead otters were cast ashore, including an alarming number of full-grown females.
And here is a BBC article with more detail:
A parasite carried by cats is killing off sea otters, a veterinary specialist has told a major US science conference.
The Californian researcher has called for owners to keep their cats indoors.
Cat faeces carrying Toxoplasma parasites wash into US waterways and then into the sea where they can infect otters, causing brain disease. […]
There are 73 million domestic cats in the US, and the number has doubled in the last 10 years; there are estimated to be another 78 million feral cats.
Keep your cat indoors. Not only do outdoor cats — even well-fed ones — kill huge numbers of birds, including endangered migratory birds protected by Federal law (read: you could be help responsible), but they are not implicated in the deaths of hugely endangered California sea otters.
Report feral cats and feral cat colonies to local authorities. Write a letter to your local newspaper alerting people to the plight of endangered sea mammals and the role of feral cats. Collect the names of feral cat mongers — if ownership of these feral cats is established, these mongers may be help criminally liable under federal law for sea otter deaths and/or endangered migratory bird deaths.
Do NOT flush cat litter down the toilet!
Here are some other news sources on this important issue.
The New York Times (and why preservation of wetlands is so vital):
Dr. Mike Murray, a veterinarian at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and Dr. Miller attribute the parasite problem in part to the loss of wetlands, which filter many pathogens and pollutants.
”Now runoff comes in and goes straight down a concrete channel to the ocean,” Dr. Murray said.
Hundreds of sea otters on the coast of California are dying of toxoplasmosis, a disease caused by the Toxoplasma gondii parasite that is carried harmlessly by up to 70 per cent of cats and passes into the environment in their faeces.
And:
The highest proportion of the exposed otters was found in the Morro Bay- Cayugas area, and the lowest proportion in the southern Monterey Peninsula. The Moss Landing-Elkhorn Slough region also had a high proportion of exposed otters but not in statistically significant numbers.
The Morro Rock areas has a confluence of polluting sources — tributary creeks, feral cats, urban runoff, sewage discharge and a concentrated human population, said Karen Worcester, biologist at the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board and one of the authors.
For Californians, ANOTHER important thing you can do to help protect California sea otters is to check the box on your State tax return to donate a few dollars to help this sentinel species! Here’s more info:
# When filling out your 540 form, look for line 60 labeled CA Sea Otter Fund, under Contributions. Fill out whatever amount you wish to donate.
Related posts: "Animal rights" versus biodiversity, Feral cats = huge environmental problem!, Can't we trap-neuter-release those sea lions?
6 Comments Add your own
1. laura | March 2nd, 2008 at 7:02 pm
What does this have to do with feral cats? The problem here is people flushing cat litter down the toilet. Last time I checked, feral cats don’t use litter boxes.
2. Peter Bray | March 2nd, 2008 at 7:07 pm
Please re-read the articles. Feral cat feces, as well as domestic cat feces flushed down the toilet, introduce pathogens to local waterways.
3. Deborah | March 14th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
“Feral cat mongers…?” That pretty much gives that author away…does it not?
As noted by Dr. Murray, a very large part of the problem has to do with the loss of wetlands. How about the “mongers” who have drained those wetlands…? What about them, and all the humans who use that converted land…shall we also hold them responsible?
What about parasites carried by other wild animals that are found in their feces? Doesn’t that get carried into the ocean, too? How do we know there are not other parasites that cause problems, too?
The point is that while cats may play a part, it is ONLY one piece of the puzzle. It is highly unrealistic, with that many feral cats in the U.S. alone, to think that if we killed all that we could find that we would even make a dent in the numbers. Trap-neuter-return works, and while no one wants to see the sea otters die, it is scapegoating to single out one species as being the cause of all the damage, or even a significant part of the damage. It is just easier to single them out than it is to deal with all the damaging decisions made by humans, organizations, governments, etc. that play much more of a role, but are so very much more complex to change!
4. annoyed | March 14th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Cats are the major reservoir for toxoplasmosis. It is not other animals, but CATS, that are spreading death to sea otters.
No, TNR does not work. There are NO studies that show that.
5. annoyed | March 14th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
It is not “scapegoating” when cats are THE reservoir for toxoplasmosis…
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