Birdkiller by-laws, revisited

The cutest general predators out there

by Giancarlo Cininni

The pigeon on the front steps was dead. A fresh kill. The body was still intact and the flies were yet to come restart the circle of life. Bird deaths are common around here.

The culprit was most likely one of the neighbourhood outdoor cats. Cats that might be feral, might have been abandoned, or cats whose owners might merely lament having them stuck indoors. Regardless, cats are an ecological problem.

Outdoor cats kill 60 million birds a year in Canada according to a 2025 study by the University of Guelph. Worldwide, cats have eradicated 63 species according to a 2016 study out of Australia by Doherty et al. about invasive predators and biodiversity loss. Yet despite their contribution to an ongoing ecological crisis, most municipalities in Canada have done nothing to curb the havoc cats wreak on native species.

The HRM currently has no by-laws in place to prevent cat owners from allowing their pets outdoors unsupervised. Legislation that attempted to control the outdoor cat population by demanding licensing and tighter regulation was proposed at city council in 2008 and 2018. Both attempts failed.

District 2 councillor David Hendsbee, who supported both proposals, was reported by the CBC to have been “left fuming” at Council after the failure to pass the by-law in 2008.

“Here we are trying to have responsible pet ownership. And I guess I was getting frustrated that it felt like a non-issue ... So I was a little disappointed in the collective decision at that time,” he said in a 2026 interview with Grand Parade.
Hendsbee said his rural district is plagued by feral cat colonies that threaten local
wildlife.