Feral cats pose threat to burrowing owls at Shoreline Park

A feral cat at Shoreline Park, home to about 50 burrowing owls that nest in the ground. Credit Jason Henry/New York Times.

David Streitfeld writes in today's New York Times Technology section:

Cats have stalked birds forever, but in Shoreline Park a final victory is at hand. The number of cat sightings there last year was 318, according to the City of Mountain View’s official count. And 2017 was the first time in 20 years of record-keeping that no owl fledglings were observed in the park.

Eileen McLaughlin, a board member of the Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge, an organization trying to protect and expand the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, submitted a public records request to Mountain View and discovered that the city’s wildlife preservation biologist was worried about the cats’ “significant impacts” on protected species, “especially burrowing owls.”

McLaughlin is concerned. "We lose the owls, we lose something else next, and then something else."

Eileen McLaughlin, a board member of the Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge, at Shoreline Park. Credit Jason Henry/New York Times.

Read on to find out more about how feral cats pose a threat to the burrowing owls at Shoreline Park.