Editor:

This is an exciting time for us wildlife biologists and for anyone who cares about wildlife. Baby animals are being born all around us. This week most baby magpies fledged and next week the robin chicks will make their first flight out of the nest. In a couple of weeks, we should start seeing proud quail parents leading their broods of tiny chicks to your birdfeeders.

With all this happening right now, it is critical that domestic cats be kept indoors at all times. More than one million birds are killed by house cats every day in the United States alone.

I should point out that keeping domestic cats outdoors is actually against the law in Salt Lake City and you may be given a fine if an Animal Control officer finds out the cat belongs to you. I want to emphasize that when you find a baby bird on the ground, leave it where it is8212;or8212;if you really want to help, place it on a nearby tree or fence. Its parents are keeping a close watch on the little one and are still feeding it. Animal Control and other agencies are being swamped with phone calls from concerned private citizens who have found a baby sparrow or a baby starling in their backyard.

There is another factor that people should understand: starlings, European sparrows, pigeons and other non-native species are extremely abundant, in fact, too abundant. They create competition for nesting sites and for food with native, more threatened species. It might sound cruel, but a dead starling may equal one more bluebird. A dead sparrow means one more golden finch, perhaps. When I get phone calls from people telling me that they found a baby starling and they want to save it, my reply is always: step on it. We need to do all we can to boost the populations of native species which are being displaced by more aggressive non-native species.

Manny L. Antonacci,
U Alumnus
Radiological Health/Biology