.png)
By Hannah Cease
I love cats. I have always had cats in the house. If your cats are anything like mine they are always trying to get outside. This might initially seem harmless or even as a way for a cat to have freedom, imagining it as a more natural and fulfilling life. Often this can become romanticized in a way as we think of outdoor cats finding some prey animals and bringing them to their owners as a “gift.” But looking more closely at the data, that image becomes harder to defend. Outdoor cats are highly effective predators, and in the United States alone, they are estimated to kill between 1.3 and 4 billion birds each year and 6.3 to 22.3 billion mammals annually (https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/faq-outdoor-cats-and-their-effects-on-birds/). These numbers show that their impact is not small or occasional; it is ecological in scale.
What makes this especially significant is that cats are not native predators in many of
these environments. Even fat and happy cats continue to hunt, driven by instinct rather than
hunger. Over time, this pressure contributes to serious ecological consequences, and globally,
cats have been linked to at least 63 species extinctions
(https://pangovet.com/statistics/how-many-birds-do-cats-kill-statistics/). These effects often go
unnoticed because they happen quietly, but they accumulate, reshaping ecosystems and
threatening already vulnerable species.
At the same time, the outdoor world is not nearly as safe for cats as it might seem.
Outdoor cats face constant risks whether it is cars, disease, predators, and even injury. As a result
they often live significantly shorter lives than indoor cats. What we interpret as freedom often
exposes them to harm, creating a tension between allowing natural behavior and ensuring their
safety. There are ways to give cats enriching, fulfilling lives without exposing them, or local
wildlife, to unnecessary risk. Indoor environments, enclosed outdoor spaces like “catios,” and
even leash training can provide safe alternatives. It is easy to love cats, but part of caring for
them means recognizing the broader impact they have.
Hannah is a McConnell Scholar at the University of Louisville in the class of 2026. She is studying biology on the ecology track and political science.