Swiss Scientific Field Study
When I started Birdsbesafe company in 2009, after inventing the product for my own cat, George, I did not imagine how many scientific field studies would eventually test the product's effectiveness. That number rose to seven studies, this week, with the publication of the Swiss field study in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
Adding to other studies from Australia (2), U.S., Canada, UK (2), the new Swiss field study is latest confirmation that Birdsbesafe products significantly reduce cat predation on birds.
When wearing Birdsbesafe covers, the average reduction in birds caught is noted as 37%. This confirms that there is a good protective value to the device, as shown in this study.
This a strongly protective effect and very impactul, but it is not as strong as in prior studies on other continents. We wondered why that might be. It does not really match our customers' anecdotal feedback over many years from Switzerland and other European countries, where the product is well-regarded and highly effective at nearly curtailing bird captures.
We have been pouring over the study data and analysis. One key fact, which the authors mention, may be that a number of the study's cats were ong-haired breeds. Long-haired cats are very popular in this region of the world--and that long hair can easily cover too much of the Birdsbesafe collar cover, which needs to be seen by birds to be useful. Perhaps this has influenced the results of the 31-cat field study. (We do not know by how much, but we hope to learn how many cats of the 31 had long fur.)
Many times, over the years, we have custom-made wider collar covers for such long-haired cats. In response, we have heard reports that the wider ones effectiveness rose to our usual expectations. We'll work on making that variation more widely available in future. (It isn't the best size for short-haired cat breeds.)
Thanks to the collaboration of the Swiss scientists, and to the cat owners who waded through the pandemic to participate in this study. We are so grateful!
And looking forward to ever more bird protection in Europe.
