Something is eating the baby birds in my yard!

[Bunnylover25]

There is no telling what it is. There are so many different possibilities. In nature, songbirds, their eggs, and chicks are prey for snakes, raccoons, possum, skunks, foxes, other birds, rats, abd other things. Even squirrels will raid bird nests. That’s why they lay so many eggs. A small percentage actually makes it to adulthood.

Still that cat or another one is really high in the suspect list. It’s circumstantial evidence but the cat is really pretty high up there.

Legally I don’t know what you can do. Even if the cat is not supposed to roam by HOA rules, you could be putting yourself at legal risk if you harm the cat in any way. Each city, county, and even state have their own laws about that. Some people will say you should be able to do this or that, but "should" doesn’t do you much good when you’re trying to raise bail on an animal cruelty charge. Reality can be quite different than fantasy.

If you complain to anyone, you set yourself up as a prime suspect if anything happens to that cat.

You have different options, none of them really good. You could talk to the owners but reality is they probably won’t do anything. I have no idea what your HOA might do if you talk to them. They might just be waiting for a complaint to enforce their rules. They might totally ignore you.

You could talk to your animal control. They probably don’t care what the HOA rules are but will go by city or county laws. Since it is wild birds and not your pets, they probably won’t do anything, though they may loan you a trap.

There is a faction on this forum that will tell you to SSS, Shoot, Shovel, and Shut up. In appropriate circumstances that can be a pretty good option. I’ll admit nothing but under appropriate circumstances that can work. The problem with the Shut up part is not that it applies to you but also anyone that might see you. I can control what I say but that busybody down the road, well, I sometimes need to be careful. That “Shoot” could mean many things other than actually shooting it, like trapping.

Some people will even come on here and tell you how you can shoot it in the middle of suburbia and not get caught. Now that’s mature, shooting a deadly weapon within range of mothers with babies in their arms, especially when it is often people with no experience with guns they are telling how to use them. I’m not anti-gun at all. I use a gun. I’m anti being stupid with guns, which threatens our rights if it gets enough people thinking we’re all like that.

I think you have two viable options. One is to complain to your HOA. That may or may not do any good.

The other is to trap the cat and get rid of it. This might have legal implications for you, even if you trap it on your property and turn it in to animal control. Permanently removing it can have really severe penalties if you get caught. Or it may be perfectly legal where you are. I don’t know.

I really don’t think you can do enough to harass the cat and keep it away. You can’t be out there 100% of the time protecting the nests.

Good luck! It’s not an easy problem, especially with someone else’s pet.

I read somewhere that you can take the owner to court for trespassing and damaging. Had a neighbor that had a cat that he let out often and would kill the baby bunnies and leave them on my neighbor's front door mat or in my yard. Went on for years, police man standing in for animal warden even traped it but it bit him and ran away. So I called the city prosecuter and told him that the city knows of this and even paid workers comp for the police man's infected hand, never fining the owner. I let him know if he didn't stop it I would see him in court along with my neighbor because I would be filing in court for criminal trespass, emotional distress and what ever else I could. That day they left a letter on the owner's mail and it stopped, BTW our city has a leash law for cats and dogs.