The Trouble With Humans and Cats

I’m a cat person. I’ve had a number of cats over the years, with my favorite being the one in the picture, Mahasamatman, the Lord of Light, commonly known as Sam. He’s been gone for about 15 years — about as long as he lived — and I still miss him.

I say all that by way of introduction because a few weeks ago I read Natalie Angier’s report in The New York Times on a recent scientific study that found domestic cats in the U.S. kill 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals each year. Yes, that...