[NatureNS] disappearing outside cats in Halifax's South End

From: "Dusan Soudek" <soudekd@ns.sympatico.ca>
To: <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca>
References: <747FE80ACCEC4A71AA6C9828F4BDDEEE@DusanTHINK> <791E3A81-468A-4C45-B365-4E48604B5E75@DAL.CA>
Date: Tue, 20 May 2014 08:15:18 -0300
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Andy,
   amen. A reminder that cats are not on top of the urban/suburban food =
chain. Good for the nesting birds, amphibians, reptiles, and small =
mammals in the area....
   Dusan Soudek

From: Andrew Horn=20
Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2014 7:43 AM
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca=20
Subject: Re: [NatureNS] disappearing outside cats in Halifax's South End

Hi Dusan,=20

A raven snatching a kitten seems pretty likely; there=92s ravens on the =
prowl all the time around here, and they=92re awfully good generalist =
predators. A grown cat would be a tall order for a raven, though, and I =
would think any big raptor prowling the south end would be noticed, so I =
suspect that incident=92s unrelated to the reported rash of cat =
disappearances in that (my) neighborhood.

I don=92t know the facts about the disappearances, only rumor. The =
rumored rate of six cats in six weeks that I=92ve heard doesn=92t fit =
the disappearances I=92ve heard about (1 within the last couple weeks, 2 =
around that blizzard in late March, and another run over by a car months =
ago) =97 but again, I=92m just going on hearsay.

The possible coyote sighting in the park might well be the source of =
another neighborhood rumor, that a coyote might have snatched the cats. =
But no coyotes or coyote scat have been sighted in the neighborhood, as =
far as I know.

The up side of all this of course is that people are keeping their cats =
indoors, as they should everywhere.

Cheers,
Andy

On May 19, 2014, at 7:09 PM, Dusan Soudek <soudekd@ns.sympatico.ca> =
wrote:


     Recently there were two letters to the editor and one column =
devoted to the rash of cat disappearances in a fairly compact area of =
Halifax=92s South End. On May 17 a letter writer reports a =93very large =
black bird=94 taking off, with a probable kitten in its talons. Any =
speculation about what species the predator might have belonged to? A =
raven? A turkey vulture? A melanistic bald eagle? Incidentally, there is =
a warning in nearby Point Pleasant Park about a recent probable coyote =
sighting.
     Dusan Soudek =20

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<HTML><HEAD>
<META content=3D"text/html; charset=3DWindows-1252" =
http-equiv=3DContent-Type></HEAD>
<BODY=20
style=3D"WORD-WRAP: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; =
-webkit-line-break: after-white-space"=20
dir=3Dltr>
<DIV dir=3Dltr>
<DIV style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
<DIV>Andy,</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;&nbsp; amen. A reminder that cats are not on top of the=20
urban/suburban food chain. Good for the nesting birds, amphibians, =
reptiles, and=20
small mammals in the area....</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;&nbsp; Dusan Soudek</DIV>
<DIV=20
style=3D"FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; =
COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: =
none">
<DIV style=3D"FONT: 10pt tahoma">
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV style=3D"BACKGROUND: #f5f5f5">
<DIV style=3D"font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=3Daghorn@dal.ca=20
href=3D"mailto:aghorn@dal.ca">Andrew Horn</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, May 20, 2014 7:43 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=3Dnaturens@chebucto.ns.ca=20
href=3D"mailto:naturens@chebucto.ns.ca">naturens@chebucto.ns.ca</A> =
</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> Re: [NatureNS] disappearing outside cats in =
Halifax's South=20
End</DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV></DIV>
<DIV=20
style=3D"FONT-STYLE: normal; DISPLAY: inline; FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; =
COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: small; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; TEXT-DECORATION: =
none">Hi=20
Dusan,=20
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>A raven snatching a kitten seems pretty likely; there=92s ravens on =
the prowl=20
all the time around here, and they=92re awfully good generalist =
predators. A grown=20
cat would be a tall order for a raven, though, and I would think any big =
raptor=20
prowling the south end would be noticed, so I suspect that incident=92s =
unrelated=20
to the reported rash of cat disappearances in that (my) =
neighborhood.</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>I don=92t know the facts about the disappearances, only rumor. The =
rumored=20
rate of six cats in six weeks that I=92ve heard doesn=92t fit the =
disappearances=20
I=92ve heard about (1 within the last couple weeks, 2 around that =
blizzard in late=20
March, and another run over by a car months ago) =97 but again, I=92m =
just going on=20
hearsay.</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>The possible coyote sighting in the park might well be the source =
of=20
another neighborhood rumor, that a coyote might have snatched the cats. =
But no=20
coyotes or coyote scat have been sighted in the neighborhood, as far as =
I=20
know.</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>The up side of all this of course is that people are keeping their =
cats=20
indoors, as they should everywhere.</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>Cheers,</DIV>
<DIV>Andy</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>On May 19, 2014, at 7:09 PM, Dusan Soudek &lt;<A=20
href=3D"mailto:soudekd@ns.sympatico.ca">soudekd@ns.sympatico.ca</A>&gt;=20
wrote:</DIV><BR class=3DApple-interchange-newline>
<BLOCKQUOTE type=3D"cite">
  <DIV dir=3Dltr>
  <DIV dir=3Dltr>
  <DIV style=3D"FONT-FAMILY: calibri; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
  <DIV>&nbsp;&nbsp; Recently there were two letters to the editor and =
one column=20
  devoted to the rash of cat disappearances in a fairly compact area of=20
  Halifax=92s South End. On May 17 a letter writer reports a =93very =
large black=20
  bird=94 taking off, with a probable kitten in its talons. Any =
speculation about=20
  what species the predator might have belonged to? A raven? A turkey =
vulture? A=20
  melanistic bald eagle? Incidentally, there is a warning in nearby =
Point=20
  Pleasant Park about a recent probable coyote sighting.</DIV>
  <DIV>&nbsp;&nbsp; Dusan Soudek&nbsp; =
</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>

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