Birds Beware! Guard Cat on Duty: A Statistical Analysis on How Education can Affect Residents’ Opinion of Cat Licensing in Kamloops

Urban bird populations are under undue stress caused by constant attack from an inflated predator population of cats. Cats are very capable hunters, killing between 100-350 million birds yearly in Canada. Currently, pet cats are allowed to roam outside with no supervision or restrictions, which allows them to fight, dig in gardens, and hunt small animals. Calgary has implemented a cat licensing program that gives cat owners the same responsibility as dogs owners while raising funding for projects such as the trap-neuter-return program. Calgary’s success has inspired this investigation into public opinion on the implementation of a similar program in Kamloops. The aim of this study is to demonstrate that through education people will favor an inconvenient change for the greater good. This project involves surveying two groups of subjects, one that has been educated about the negative consequences of free roaming cats on bird populations, and one that has not. The survey will be a questionnaire on the subjects’ opinion of implementing a cat licensing program in Kamloops. This simple change can help conserve at risk species as well as larger urban populations that are important for their ecological significance, research, and public enjoyment