Yes, feral cats and house cats freely roaming kill-we all know this.
www.smithsonianmag.com for an extensive article .
Prominently featured in article is Pete Marra - author of book Cat Wars. Head of Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center.
USA has 20 to 80 million feral cats. 80 million house cats. The toll on wildlife is astounding.
Cats transmit plague, rabies, feline leukemia, T.Gondii, the very dangerous to animals and people: Toxoplasmosis with 10 to 20 % of people having-causes brain damage..., 1.2 million tons of feces.
New Zealand plans to kill 2 million feral cats.
Catch,neuter and release does not work well.
Pete Marra likes cats (as do I) but strongly feels that eliminating feral cats is the only workable solution. He receives serious threats and hate mail.
Feral cats are wild animals that are dangerous and cannot become socialized, lovable pets. They are not sweet kitty cats.They bring disease and death. They are miniature tigers that would kill you, if they were larger.
It is recommended that feral cats not be fed, or encouraged. That house cats be kept inside.
Well, this is sort of a free country, still. People will do as they will. But do you want to see birds flitting about, or a cat stalking one.
edit: Parents had a cat that brought home a rat bigger than she was. Another cat had a live rabbit that was frozen in shock but still not harmed.
edit: Mother fed a stray,took to a no kill shelter, cat was adopted, showed up 8 mo later at her house,traveled at least 20 miles, She kept cat in separate building, about half socialized, had to be careful around or risk being clawed or bitten. Cats are very bad kittys unless socialized when young.
Edit: New trend is to spend big bux on cat breeds from Africa, yes, real wild, not domesticated cats. Or hybrid cats. Imagine 80 million hybrids. Now, those would be killing machines. Some states prohibit owning. Like owning these very dangerous wolf-dog hybrids.