Scientists at the University of Maryland conducted a study that concluded that cats should be kept at home. It turned out that pets interacting with the environment become disease carriers along with wild animals, such as raccoons.
The analysis used data from DC Cat Count, a Washington, D.C.-based study of the route and contact of cats with wildlife. It used 60 motion-responsive cameras.
"We found that the average domestic cat is 61% likely to walk where raccoons, the most common carrier of rabies in America, live. Another 61% are with red foxes and 56% with possums," said Danielle Herrera, lead author of the study. - By letting our cats outdoors, we are seriously endangering them and
comment retirer de largent sur 1win our own health."
In addition to the risk of rabies and toxoplasmosis, the pets threaten local wildlife - squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, marmots, mice and so on. By hunting these animals, cats can reduce biodiversity and degrade ecosystem health.
Scientists in Finland recently discovered that "hospital" strains of Staphylococcus aureus, invulnerable to most antibiotics, had begun to spread in populations of urban hedgehogs in Helsinki.
