Ecological impact of inside and outside house cats around a suburban preserve

This study quantified prey returned by house cats living beside a suburban nature preserve, distinguishing cats kept partly indoors from those roaming freely, and estimated the predation they imposed on local small mammals and birds. The authors found substantial wildlife mortality concentrated at the suburban-natural interface, demonstrating that pet cats with outdoor access meaningfully affect adjacent wildlife communities. The work provided early empirical grounding for the now-extensive literature on domestic-cat predation and for recommendations to keep cats indoors near sensitive habitat. It exemplified how household pets function as subsidised predators at the edge of protected areas.