February 12, 2021
Results of a scientific field study, led by Univ. of Exeter's Dr. Robbie MacDonald, were published in the journal Current Biology this week."Fitting Birdsbesafe collar covers reduced the numbers of birds captured and brought home by 42% but had no discernible effect on mammals."
And, the research paper characterized it: "Birdsbesafe is a colorful collar cover that works as a visual warning, increasing the visibility of cats to potential prey animals with color vision. It exhibited pronounced effectiveness in reducing killing of birds, and more generally, prey with good color vision, including herpetofauna."
The study also considered other strategies for reducing cat predation on wild animals. Two strategies, feeding cats more meat-based protein and providing more play activities for the cat, reduced the cat's predation by 36% and 25% respectively, across all prey types.
The field study involved 31 cat owners who tested the Birdsbesafe cat collar cover on 50 cats. For a 7 week period, no cat collar was used, followed by a 12-week period of cats wearing Birdsbesafe covers. Participants, who lived in southwest England, recorded observations of their cats and the prey returned to the homes.
The raw data reported in the journal article showed 267 birds caught by these 50 cats, when no cat collar was worn, compared to 146 birds returned to the homes by cats when the cats wore Birdsbesafe cat collar covers. The field testing was performed in March to early June, with the earliest weeks of the trial being used as a "baseline" for the rate of capture (i.e. no Birdsbesafe worn during those weeks).
This study result of a strongly protective effect for birds when cats wear Birdsbesafe covers is an excellent result. However, the rate of 42% reduction is less strongly protective then two similar studies, in the U.S. (showing an average of 87% reduction) and in Scotland (78% reduction).
Great appreciation to the participants and authors of this latest science study. As always, please keep your cat indoors, if you can. And if you choose to let kitty roam, please try one (or more) of the mitigating strategies to protect birds and other wildlife. Remember, while it is "natural" for a cat to try to hunt, it is not necessary that we let the cats succeed to the detriment of wildlife.
Thanks for caring about cats and birds!
May 21, 2021
April 28, 2021
Does this make our pet products officially famous?
We made the list of 10 best eco-friendly pet products for Earth Day! We're lucky #7. See the story by People Pets' editor here.
We're on a mission to protect birds from cats that hunt. Thank you, cat owners!
April 16, 2021
We are grateful for the loyalty and dedication of our sewing partners, who have sewn our products ever since 2015. Our products are made in the United States, and they always have been. It is a decision of ours to support American manufacturing, and to support the fair compensation of the sewing professionals whose hands guide our products through the sewing process. We rely on their superb professional sewing capabilities in order to bring you a beautiful collar cover to help protect birds -- and to dress up your cat in an attractive way.
Fabric is the main "ingredient" of our product. Over the years, fabric prices have increased. Today, we raised the price of our product. It was our first price increase since 2013. We needed our prices to better reflect our actual costs. We hope you will understand and appreciate that it was an overdue adjustment.
