Cats and Birds: Finding a Way Forward

This article was originally published in the Fall 2026 issue of EarthCare Northwest, our quarterly member newsletter. Become a member today and receive our next issue. 

In 2020, my partner and I adopted Neo, a tuxedo cat named for the protagonist of the sci-fi blockbuster, The Matrix. In the film, Neo awakens to a world where machines are farming humans for their “bioelectricity”. In our life, Neo awakes to a world where he—15-times smaller than me—is allotted a full third of the bed; where one ironic amateur pet portrait proliferates into a dozen sincere tributes; where a nonsensical cat-directed pidgin is the default language spoken at home. Welcome to The Meow-trix. We are cat people. 

We’re not the only ones. According to the 2021 American Housing Survey, 22% of Seattle-area households have one or more cats, totaling roughly 500,000 pet cats across the region. We lack local data on outdoor access specifically, but if patterns here mirror those elsewhere, a large number of these cats would be allowed outside some of the time. Given that domestic cats’ hunting prowess compares favorably to lions and that they hunt even when well-fed, the choices cat households make about outdoor access can have significant consequences for local wildlife. 

As a conservation organization, we have a duty to address outdoor cats as a pressure on wild birds. As cat people, we have a desire to be thoughtful. We are conscious of the long history of persecution of cats—rooted in misogyny—that the rhetoric of conservation has sometimes inflamed.  As a first step toward more strategically and carefully engaging on this issue, we prepared a research summary on outdoor, free-ranging cats. In it, we summarize our review of the scientific literature, our current understanding of local conditions, and provide initial recommendations.  

Managing outdoor cats is complicated and emotionally charged. We’re not expecting easy answers. But we’re committed to engaging on the issue—with humility, with curiosity, and with our own cats harvesting the bioelectricity from our laps. 

Key Research Findings

Local Conditions

Catios are One Solution to Keep Cats and Birds Safe

Conservation Director Joshua Morris and other cat and bird experts weighted in on a variety of different catio option that can give your pet the enjoyment and enrichment of the outdoors, while protecting them, and wild birds from harm. Read more about catio option in the Business Insider: Best Catios article. 

Reporting Cat Predation of Wild Birds Can Help Scientists

dBird.org is an online reporting tool developed in partnership between New York City Bird Alliance and Birds Connect Seattle. Community members like you can use this simple tool to report incidents of bird injuries or death from free-roaming cats (and other events like a window or vehicle collision). This data helps scientists better understand local conditions and causes of bird mortality.