About 140,000 birds a year have been estimated to fall prey to domestic cats in Poland each year.

This considerable number makes doubtful the assurances of neighbourhood cat owners that their pets only hunt rats and mice. Besides, how did the mangled bunch of feathers arrive at the edge of our patio where we see two of these local cats patrolling or hiding?

It is well past time a rule forbidding cats to be allowed to roam outside off-leash was enforced everywhere. Maybe then the loss of so much birdsong will not proceed further as quickly as it has over the last decades in country and in town, and this regardless of other factors such as the reduction of insect populations and the ubiquity of pesticide use.

Glynne Evans

Saanich