Cats as first cause of death of British ringed birds

The BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) started bird ringing 100 years ago, in 1909. To date some 36 million birds have been ringed, providing a unique insight into the birds of Britain and Ireland...

...The BTO receives reports of around 14,000 birds with rings every year, providing an invaluable source of information on the latest trends in bird conservation. I think that one of the telling statistics is the causes of death. For all those people who get very upset when birds are caught in oil spills, (5,600 records), collisions with windows (13,800) or collisions with overhead wires (9,400), all these numbers are dwarfed by the 41,900 birds killed by domestic cats.