Sorry to tell you this, dog lovers, but:
Experts say that if all the world's cats suddenly died, things would quickly go to hell in a handbasket.
[. . .]
So, how dramatically would the rodent population increase if cats suddenly vanished? It just so happens that several scientific studies have been conducted that paint a vivid picture. A 1997 study in Great Britain found that the average house cat brought home more than 11 dead animals (including mice, birds, frogs and more) in the course of six months. That meant the 9 million cats of Britain were collectively killing close to 200 million wild specimens per year — not including all those they did not offer up to their owners. A study in New Zealand in 1979 found that, when cats were nearly eradicated from a small island, the local rat population quickly quadrupled.
And if the rodent population shot up, this would of course trigger a cascade of other ecological effects.
Hope my cats don't hear about this. They already think too highly of themselves, and this would make them impossible to live with. And they haven't even been doing their part in ridding the world of vermin.
