Cats missing...Hawk? or Owl?

18 years ago

San bernardino, Calif.

4 cats gone missing in the last month.

No coyotes have ever been heard.

three nights ago I spotted a large B O P flying circles low over the neighborhood.

Which is more likely? is it a Hawk or an Owl?

I've heard conflicting thoughts about Hawks taking cats.

-1: that Hawks can't lift/carry a cat.

-2: Forum post (Texas forum) goes on and on about the Hawks natural progression to taking cats as urban sprawl creeps in to their territory

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Comments (15)

sterna
18 years ago
roadkill
Elly_NJ
18 years ago
Coyote, poisoning...
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unstresst
Original Author
18 years ago
Rule out poisoning and roadkill....there's no bodys.
Elly_NJ
18 years ago
Things eat roadkill, and poisoned animals go into the woods to die and then get eaten.

Also, someone may be taking the cats and rehoming them?

All good reasons to keep cats indoors, especially now.

Good luck!
unstresst
Original Author
18 years ago
ODD doins...3 cats return....what's goin on here?
4 of the 5 regular visitors-(cats)- had vanished one by one over the last month.
It's been a week since the 4th one dissapeared.
Last night about 2:30 AM 3 of the missing cats all showed up together.
unstresst
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks all for the input.....The long-n-short of it all:
keep cats and other small critters inside at night.
kritzypoo36
18 years ago
I have a small chihuahua and I have noticed Hawks flying around should I be concerned? I'm scared to leave her out by herself.
unstresst
Original Author
18 years ago
I've seen some pretty small Chihuahuas....those should definitly be supervised outdoors in Hawk country.
cheema
18 years ago
If a hawk can take a large rabbit I don't see any reason why one wouldn't take any creature that looks to be the right size. I think most cats are safe from hawks however, a fox would eat a cat in a minute. Their are grey foxes who climb trees, and here on the east coast red foxes, too. I have chased a fox away from a tree in my back yard in the middle of the night after awakening to the odd bark. I went to the back yard and a red fox (who can't climb trees) had chased a cat up into a tree. The fox was not eager to leave. Unfortunately the cat was spooked and jumped from the tree with the fox in persuit. I hope the cat made it...I have five cats and I have seen all five of my cats ( all at once)chase a red fox (in attack mode) in my backyard during midday. I have a pond and the fox I believe came to drink. What I learned is to keep my cats indoors unless I am out with them. They will stay near to me. An owl would not take a cat unless perhaps it is quite small.
doggonegardener
18 years ago
Domestic cats allowed outside regularly are known to have ranges of 17 square acres. That is a lot of country to be covering to think that no bodies would be present.

I am glad some of the cats came home. It speaks to the importance of keeping cats inside or secured and safe in an appropriately constructed outdoor enclosure.

Rene
verdeacres
18 years ago
A few weeks back I was putting out my rather large german shepherd in the morning and I went to go get her and a coyote as large 3/4 the size of her was checking her out. I haven't seen it since but I was fearful for my min. poodle, even though he is 18 pounds.
chinamigarden
18 years ago
Cats out on the prowl kill many birds. To have a Bird of Prey kill a cat might seem like justice served to some.
cynandjon
18 years ago
In a nature magazine I read it stated that Cats that stay inside live longer and are healthier then cats allowed to go outside.It went into detail about the impact house cats have on wildlife. Especially birds. Contrary to what some people believe, House Cats are NOT native to NA. They were brought here from the Middle East.
around 39 million birds a year are killed in each state by domestic/feral cats.Cats also spread dieases to other wild life.

Here is a link that might be useful: impact of cats
fightinchickin
18 years ago
Of course cats that live inside have longer life expectancies. Though it could probably be debated whether cats that are kept indoors without the possibility of regular exercise are indeed "healthier." It also seems like it would be obvious that cats (which are predators) would have a detrimental impact on small birds, reptiles, etc.

What we know as "house cats" today are not native to anywhere. They have been domesticated and bred to produce certain qualities. They were probably first domesticated in the Middle East (most likely Egypt or Turkey). This fits a larger pattern - this was the site of most animal doemstications as it was the site of the earliest sedentary humans. However, cats did not come to North America from the Middle East, they came with the first waves of settlers and sailors from Europe (as the link you provided states).

To speculate on the question of the original post, I would think that it would be most likely to assume that the cats disappeared from other factors rather than to make the leap that they were taken by raptors.
cynandjon
17 years ago
Ok thanks for the correction, YEs you are right I didnt quite make my point. It was that house cats are not native to NA. Many people justify the killing of birds by cats because they think cats are native.