Children and youth are sometimes
assumed to have very limited power when it comes to having a direct
conservation impact. They can't vote and usually don't lobby their local politicians.
NatureKids BC Victoria Nature Club. Credit: E. Wind |
Birds are one of the most popular subjects for
citizen science projects, and no wonder really. Birds are all around us, they
are active during the day when we are and they are powerful indicators of overall ecosystem
health.
Credit: NatureKids BC |
It's part of a national effort led by Nature Canada called “Keep Cats Safe & Save Bird Lives” and involves a number of other organizations. We work closely with the project’s BC partner, Stewardship Centre BC.
Canada’s bird populations are in
trouble; some species have declined by more than 90%. These declines are mainly due to
habitat destruction and climate change, and it's estimated that cats cause
approximately 200 million bird deaths each year. As part of our initiative, we work with our youth members to keep birds - and cats - safe. In fact, free-roaming cats
also face numerous risks (including disease, vehicle collisions and fights with
other cats and wildlife) by being outdoors and they often have shorter life
spans compared to indoor cats.
With the help of our members, we're
trying to understand what some of the barriers are for keeping cats indoors and
how feasible it is to use alternative strategies to reduce the risk of bird
predation of free-roaming cats.
Our youth scientists receive training
on how to carry out this conservation project before they start. They collect
data on their own cat’s behaviour as well as on the birds in their garden, and they record their
observations when one of three treatments are used on their cat (either a
brightly coloured collar, a collar bib, or attempting to train their cat to walk
on a leash). Watch out for more information about how you and your family can get involved in this citizen science project later this year!
This project was undertaken with the support
of the Government of Canada and the Vancouver Foundation.