Perhaps tired of the slowness of the Cats Indoors campaign to take hold, a pair of hooded crows appear to be starting some you know what with cats:
I love the Predator soundtrack that was added to this video. This may become a meme, as I see that someone has also put this video to the music of West Side Story. I applaud the hooded crows and see this as further proof of corvid intelligence. If humans are not going to stop the scourge of cats killing birds for “play” it appears the birds have begun pitting the cats against each other. Brilliant! Well played, hooded crows, well played.
That is so cool
Interesting interplay. But sad to know that 2, probably unneutered feral toms will be suffering from abscesses and infection in a few days after such a fierce battle, and being uncared for…it is a tough life out there for all creatures.
Sharon,
I know you didn’t create this and you can delete my comment and it won’t hurt my feelings one bit. But I feel I must speak my heart on this one. While I love crows and cats I find this vid appalling. Is there no end to voyeurism fetishes? I’m angry at the person standing by watching this unfold and apparently did nothing simply because it might make them famous on YouTube for a day. Oh, yes, there’s a title worth shooting for! What, shall we all start showing next? More high heel kitten mutilation vids for dog lovers? Oh, I know, How ’bout Pit Bull fights, I hear those are particularly nasty.
So it would seem that while this video shows the hooded crows taunting the cat into a fight we should all applaud the crows and take no responsibility for what happens next? I’m with Teri on this one I guess. I’ve invested too much of my own heart and money capturing, fixing, nursing and sometimes when all else fails having the animal put down after fights like this one to stand and applaud this victory for any species.
D’OH! I just wrote about this and came over here to get your opinion, and now I see you’ve written about it already! I thought the crows were playing the cats against each other, too.
I appreciate the cat fancier opinion. We all approach animal videos with what we have gained from personal experience.
From my natural history background, I saw the 2 cats fighting as the same as any other territory battle between animals–I wouldn’t interrupt a pair of bucks in a rutt but yes, I would document it on video if I could. Is it cruel to let 2 male deer fight it out? Should I interrupt two female peregrine falcons fighting to the death over a nest box–no.
I thought it interesting that the hooded crows were in on the fight and wondered why they kept going for the tails. My best guess is that the birds had a nest nearby and didn’t want the cats there.
I would have filmed this video had I witnessed it–I wouldn’t have put the Predator soundtrack to it, but I would have posted it as I witnessed it. Not to be famous, but I’m fascinated by animal behavior. I witness birds fighting all the time. A few years ago, I witnessed (and photographed for the blog) a Cooper’s hawk slowly kill a pigeon. Who do I root for in that one?
We don’t know that these two cats are feral. They could be outside because the owners let them run loose, they could be well fed and medicated. I think it’s a stretch to compare this to dog fighting–these are free roaming cats, not ones forced into an arena for people to bet on.
Fascinating glimpse of animal behavior. Indoor and cared for cats don’t get in fights and live long happy lives. That is the ONLY acceptable and truly humane solution for all cats.
After watching over a hundred birds die in my hands after cat attacks as a licensed rehabber, I’m glad to see any form of mortality for outdoor cats. I have two cats that I absolutely love. One was a feral cat from one of those TNR programs. She’s happy and much healthier indoors than she was when she was “wild.”
Cats belong indoors, to protect them from other cats and from other predators. Crows need animal protein which they sometimes get by tricking other animals. In my neighborhood, some have figured out how to get on either side of a squirrel and drive it onto a semi-busy street, timed right for when a car’s approaching. A cat would make a tasty meal for a crow, and imagine them figuring out a way of making the cats do the killing work for them! Meanwhile, little birds make tasty meals for cats. Unlike natural predators, we subsidize cats with all kinds of programs, making their populations much higher than any natural predator’s population could possibly reach. So we’re stacking the deck against birds. Like Sharon said, it’s nice that at least a few birds can work together to change the dynamic a little bit.
I love corvids.
That is all.
Why would the cats fight just because the crows were bothering them. It looked to me like the crows were just bothering the cats.
Still the best cat fight I’ve ever seen.
I don’t know what was more disturbing–the cat fight itself or the fact that the crows seemed to be enjoying it. I always figured the human fascination with animal fights was some kind of aberration, but maybe it’s a deep-seated natural behavior. Scary thought!
While I agree that cats are destructive and should never be allowed to wander outside, I still would have put a stop to the fight. There’s nothing to be gained by letting domestic animals kill each other. Their owners never seem to learn, anyway.
I was not previously aware of the Cats Indoors campaign, but I have personally been an advocate of keeping cats indoors for a long time, simply because as a child I lost all of my outdoor cats much younger than necessary as the result of car accidents and dog attacks. It’s nice as an adult to have cats that have lived long enough to enter their senior years.
My veterinarian has a poster in each of her feline exam rooms that shows the average healthiness and life span of cats that are outside exclusively, outdoors mostly, indoors mostly, and indoors exclusively. The indoor only cats have the greatest level of health and the longest lifespan. I’ve always liked that she has this posted on her walls – it makes a simple and clear statement.
This conversation has really given me some food for thought. I’ve been asking myself, “When would you stop an animal fight?”
Like I stated earlier, I would never interfere with bucks in rutt, but back when we had three rabbits, we did separate rabbit fights (there is nothing more disturbing than watching two cute bunnies violently fight like those cats in the video).
So, pets in a confined area seem to be the dividing line? Let wildlife duke it out, but do not let a potential pet fight.
I wouldn’t tolerate chickens or dogs fighting in an arena surrounded by people making bets…but I would hesitate separating a fight between free roaming cats (feral or pets) that I saw fighting outside.
I may also have a higher tolerance to animal violence than most from the many scientific projects I volunteered with. Pelican and cormorant colonies are fascinating and sad places. I’ve seen chicks trampled by older pelicans, or slowly pecked at by gulls while the parents do nothing. There was a report right before Thanksgiving about a Minnesota turkey farm and it’s intolerable cruelty. Injured turkey chicks left on the floor to die. That is no different than how many bird chicks meet their fate in the wild. That is no excuse for a turkey farm to treat animals cruelly. But we set up a standard for animal welfare that is non existent in the wild.
When I first saw this video (not on this site) I was both fascinated by the crows’ behavior and distressed by the ferocity of the cat fight. It’s not that I don’t realize the cats fight; it’s just that in my normal life I am insulated from the violence of the natural world. If I saw that fight I’d be afraid to physically intervene unless I had a hose; infections from cat scratches are nothing to sneeze at.
Hurray, Laura!
A “pair” of Hooded Crows–or two Hooded Crows?
I wonder if the crows had bets on the outcome?
I’m with you on this one Sharon. If these are feral cats, they are doing what any wild animal does, defending territory. If they are house cats let outside…well, they are still doing what animals do, they are defending territory. I find it fascinating enough but even more so with the addition of the crows. I don’t see any reason to intervene. We’re denying the tooth and claw reality of the world if we think animals don’t fight. I don’t see a need to step in on a survival tactic that has worked for animals for millions of years. Now then, I do draw the line at people purposefully fighting animals for fun or profit. That is beyond the pale, however, it is also very different than what was happening here. If these are people’s pets and they care about their health then they should not let them outside. Once you are outside you can wander into another cat’s territory and in nature there are consequences for such transgressions.
I’m a pretty big animal rights nut, but I don’t find anything wrong with this video. Yes, we are watching animals fight, but that’s what animals do. I DO feel sympathy for the cats and their well-being and I could write volumes about the ethics of owning an outdoor cat, but sometimes we should just take a video like this at face value. It is what it is: interesting and somewhat entertaining. And the cat fight is not what makes it those things, it’s the interaction between the crows and their would-be predators. Consider it anthropomorphizing, but I think crows have earned that honor. Nature is wonderful in that it’s always full of surprises.
I was routing for the Crows. I was a little dissapointed in their aggression towards the cats, but was surprised they stayed around that long. Maybe they need to be prepped with a film from Alfred Hitchcock.
Well thought out responses to the critics and a great stimulus for debating a difficult question. I don’t believe we should ever intervene in any sort of naturally occurring predation event or territorial dispute, but when domesticated animals tussle it depends on the situation for me. Two cats left outside by careless owners going at it seems like a fair match up, best left alone. Do cats ever actually kill one another in a dispute anyway? That said, I would feel compelled to break up a fight between a pitbull and a poodle, or some other clearly unfair battle.