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["Dianne Stephany" <iluvdanc@rochester.rr.com>]

I have been reading this chain on cats as predators, but no one has mentioned the native predators on rodents and birds-- mink, weasels, ferrets. They are relatives of  the martens that have been mentioned.   I daresay trapping mink and ferrets for their fur ( 'fitch" coat = ferret) decimated the predator population and gave cats a niche.

I can remember seeing a weasel as a child on the farm in Indiana, but haven't seen or heard of any sightings since.  Sometimes we would lose chickens to weasels if we didn't shut the hen house door at night. And the one I saw was less than a foot long including the long tail- probably a 'least weasel'. 

 

Dianne, now in Rochester NY zone 5