Since its establishment in early 2022, Save Arlington Wildlife has expanded its advocacy beyond rodenticides to address other major threats to local wildlife, from recreational fishing and discarded line and gear to astroturf and the destruction or tear down of older growth and even dead trees that serve as critical wildlife habitat. And it is undeniable when reviewing the science that one formidable threat to wildlife are our household pets. Let’s be really clear: We here at SAW LOVE all animals, including companion animals like cats and dogs. Virtually all of our members and volunteers are devoted and doting pet parents themselves, including SAW founder Laura Kiesel. So we’re not blaming pets for being animals. In fact, it’s not really the pets that are the problem, but people. And we’re asking people to take responsibility and do the right thing to respect the wildlife we share space with.
This is why SAW is launching two initiatives this summer: KEEP YOUR CATS INDOORS! and LEASH YOUR DOG!
ABOUT CATS
Domestic cats are not originally from North America. This means they are technically an invasive species and the wildlife here did not co-evolve with them as predators and don’t have adequate defenses. But perhaps even more critically: cats are domesticated and get most of their food from people. This means when cats hunt, they are not doing it for sustenance in most cases but to simply satiate their hunting instincts. This instinct can just as easily be sated with a wand toy or chasing a stuffed mouse. Because they are not restricted by caloric intake or driven by hunger–cats actually hunt and kill MANY MORE small animals than do natural wild predators. So there’s nothing “natural” about them killing songbirds and other animals and leaving their corpses around. Even if a cat does not kill the animal they catch outright immediately, just getting bitten by a cat is almost always a death sentence. This is because cats carry a deathly bacteria in their mouths called Pasteurella, that often gets into the bite wounds of their prey, slowly poisoning their bloodstream until they die of the infection. SAW has dealt with this firsthand. And it’s not just songbirds. Small or baby raptors are also at risk. This includes an Eastern Screech owlet treated in spring 2025 at Cape Ann Wildlife after being attacked by an outdoor cat.
* Songbird rescued by SAW after attacked by outdoor cat. Died from infection.
Outdoor cats also spread the parasite that causes Toxoplasmosis in their feces. While the cats themselves are usually not affected as carriers, many species of wildlife like otters are incredibly vulnerable to its fatal impacts. This spring, For Fox Sake Wildlife Rescue in Tennessee admitted a sick bobcat kitten into its care that had been infected by Toxoplasmosis. The infection blinded the kitten so she can now can never be released back into the wild. Many other animals likely die before they can be admitted into care. Had this kitten been an adult she probably would have had to have been euthanized.
* Bobcat kitten blinded by Toxoplasmosis contracted by outdoor cat. Photo courtesy of For Fox Sake Wildlife Rescue.
According to the American Bird Conservancy, cats have contributed to the extinction of 63 species of birds, mammals, and reptiles in the wild. In the United States alone, outdoor cats kill approximately 2.4 billion birds every year. And songbirds are already on the brink due to other human-caused culprits like climate change, widespread pesticide use, light pollution/window strikes, and habitat loss. We do not need to be compounding the risks sensitive songbirds already face by letting our cats outdoors.
*The photograph “Caught by Cats” by Jak Wonderly, which won first place in the Human/Nature category of the 2020 BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition. Includes 232 animals that died from domestic cat after being treated in a given year at WildCare in California.
Many owners of outdoors cats claim their cats are not really killing any or many songbirds, based on what they witness their cats bring to them. It’s assumed cats are bringing back all or most of their kills. But an eye-opening study found that owners were vastly underestimating their cats’ kills. The study surveyed outdoor cats owners and then fitted their cats with small cameras to actually tally their kills. It found that the cats killed an average of more than twice a week every week but only brought a quarter of their kills back home.
Keeping cats indoors isn’t only better for the wildlife, it’s healthier for the cats! Indoor cats live an average of 10-15 years longer than outdoor cats. SAW’s founder had two cats named Cokey and Samson who were both kept strictly indoors. They lived to ages 21 and 20, respectively. Her childhood cat, Pilder, also a strictly indoor cat, lived to be 23. Outdoor cats are at risk of getting run over by automobiles, killed and eaten by predators like coyotes (many instances in Arlington have been reported), mauled by a dog, poisoned by pesticides or rodenticides, or contracting a range of deadly diseases or parasites. Take for instance, the tragic fate of outdoor cat Arturo of Everett, Mass, who died in 2024 of fatal rodenticide poisoning, presumably from eating a poisoned mouse. Many veterinarians interviewed by SAW noted the cats they see with rodenticide poisoning are almost always outdoor cats.
*The 3 year-old tabby cat, Arturo, who died of rodenticide poisoning.
If your cat is hankering for some outdoor time, consider installing a catio or harness-training your cat so they can go on leashed walks (keep on a short leash and avoid areas where predators like coyotes are known to roam; avoid walking the cats at night or dusk and dawn when both predators and songbirds are more active). Be mindful that indoor cats can get bored without proper enrichment, so make sure they have plenty of toys and trees at home and play with them for at least 15 minutes once or twice every day. Introduce them to some Cat TV or get a bird bath or nest box in your yard so they can watch the birds outside through the window! If you let your cats outdoors, consider only letting them out in the immediate yard when you are also outside with them and can closely supervise them.
*Cokey and Samson living their best indoor lives.
ABOUT DOGS:
While dogs do not inflict quite as much damage on wildlife as cats do, they still can cause quite a bit of harm, especially when allowed to roam off-leash in sensitive wildlife habitat. Dogs can attack and fatally bite animals ranging from smaller mammals to reptiles like snakes and turtles, and even birds. The risk is especially pronounced in spring and summer during the baby season when young animals are more susceptible to attack. Fledgling birds that can’t fly yet may struggle to get away from a pouncing dog and birds that build their nests in the ground are at risk of being trampled even if a dog didn’t mean any harm!
Recently there was a heartbreaking account of a baby beaver in New York that an off-leash dog had bitten in several places before being brought to the wildlife rehabilitation facility, Wild For Life. Unfortunately, this little guy did not pull through.
*Baby beaver that died of several dog bites, May 2025. Photo courtesy of Wild for Life in NY.
In fact, the impacts dogs have on wildlife is why they are generally not allowed in many national wildlife refuges in the Commonwealth or Mass Audubon-owned conservation lands. One reason why many beaches in Massachusetts prohibit dogs from April 1 to September 15 is to protect coastal nesting birds like the highly endangered Piping Plover. Dogs have been recorded fatally attacking plovers in New England. It’s also one reason why some nature trails–like the woods in Arlington’s own Menotomy Rocks Park–have active leash laws in effect 24/7.
One big way to help minimize the impacts of your pooch on wildlife is to follow these laws and not take your dog where they are not allowed and follow all leash laws to the letter. However, even in areas where there are no leash laws, SAW advocates for leashing your dog or dogs anyway–especially in wooded areas or riparian trails (those near or paralleling water bodies like rivers, lakes, streams, and ponds)–preferably year-round but especially from early April through mid/late October. This is not only to protect wildlife from your dog, but will help protect your dog from wildlife. Coyotes in particular are known to predate smaller dogs and can view larger dogs as competitors and may attack. Dogs can also get into scuffles with other wild animals like raccoons, skunks, and fishers–that are known to carry rabies and other diseases they can transmit to a dog. These wild animal can pass along fleas, mange mites, and other parasites as well. If your dog gets bitten by any of these animals, animal control has to kill them to test for rabies. This is far from fair if you let your dog off-leash and it antagonized a wildlife animal that that animal it cornered now must die for defending itself. Studies show when wildlife attack pets, whether or not it is in self-defense, it can cause resentment and backlash against the wildlife, which can result in increased lethal trapping and control of those species, and in some cases even illegal poaching. Here in Arlington, several red foxes lost their legs in illegal leg-hold traps that were suspected to be for local coyotes.
* Phoenix the Arlington fox that lost his leg to a leg-hold trap. Photo courtesy Newhouse Wildlife Rescue.
Even if dogs are not chasing or biting wildlife, studies have found dogs running loose in an area can stress out wildlife and make many wild animals alter their behavior such as changing their own nesting/denning sites and migration routes to avoid dogs. Dogs can also crush sensitive vegetation when they veer off trails, causing plants to die that insect pollinators and other species depend on to survive. The dogs can also incur soil erosion when going off-trail that can adversely effect water quality in nearby wetlands. Additionally, it can be difficult for dog owners to track when/where their dog is defecating when they travel ahead without leash. Dog feces can do a lot of damage to water bodies and native soils and plant life.
Keeping dogs on-leash is also protective of other dogs (some on-leash dogs may be reactive and even if your dog is friendly, a dog they approach might not be receptive to having a strange dog run up to them). It advances people’s safety too as senior citizens or disabled folks might be vulnerable to injury if your over-eager dog accidentally knocks them over or jumps on them for a pat.
So please keep your dogs on-leash most of the time when walking them outside and especially on trails in the woods or around wetlands; supervise your dog when they are in their yards both to make sure they don’t harm wildlife or get targeted by coyotes; always pick up after your dog and take it with you (bonus: consider using compostable poop bags rather than plastic ones).