The problem may be closer than you think.

They slip through fences at dusk, move between parked cars, and vanish before most people notice them. To some neighbors, they are harmless strays or even quiet companions lingering at the edge of backyards. But their presence is not as neutral as it seems. Across suburbs and small towns, clusters of free roaming cats are changing the rhythm of local wildlife in ways few residents ever see.
Wildlife biologists and conservation groups have been tracking the ripple effects for years. Songbirds disappear from feeders. Native reptiles thin out. Small mammals vanish from greenbelts and drainage corridors. The shift happens gradually, almost invisibly, until the chorus of a neighborhood sounds different than it once did.



