4-4-15 the cat problem

So how do free-ranging domestic cats impact native wildlife?  Learn more this week when the Gottfried Prairie and Arboretum in partnership with the Fond du Lac County Audubon Society host an intriguing presentation called  The Cat Problem: Less Caterwauling and Effective Solutions Needed.  This educational program will be April 8th at 7PM in Room UC114 at UW-Fond du Lac, 400 University Drive, Fond du Lac.  The presentation will be led by Professor Stan Temple, the Beers-Bascom Professor Emeritus in Conservation at the University of Wisconsin and Senior Fellow, Aldo Leopold Foundation.  Professor Temple has devoted his career to studying and trying to reduce threats to native wildlife, including predation by free-ranging domestic cats. He conducted one of the first assessments of the impacts of free-ranging cats in rural Wisconsin had on wildlife.  Now 25 years and dozens of similar studies later including a recent study show that cat predation is the largest source of bird and mammal mortality in the U.S. directly related to human behavior. Solutions that match the enormous scale of the problem must be found and implemented soon, for the sake of the cats and the wildlife for which we are responsible.  Reservations are not required for this FREE event.   For more information, check out the Gottfried Prairie and Arboretum’s website at http://gottfriedprairiearboretum.org/.