Birds in Maracaibo, Venezuela, threatened by the proliferation of cats
The growing number of these super predators, often abandoned by their owners, threatens to wipe out populations of birds as well as small mammals, particularly rodents, and reptiles. In Maracaibo, the Claudia swift is in danger.
In late April 2025, dead birds appeared on the streets of Maracaibo, Venezuela's second largest city. The severed heads and dismembered bellies of these Claudia swifts ( Tachornis squamata ), which usually nest in an urban grove near a stream—and are vitally important in the face of the mosquitoes that proliferate in this coastal city—left no doubt as to the identity of the killer.
"It was cats that caused their deaths," environmentalist José Sandoval told the newspaper Crónica Uno . One of them, having been caught in the act, was given up for adoption. Of the 50 such birds counted in January in Maracaibo, only 22 remained at the end of April, housed in a single nest, compared to three previously.
"If we continue at this rate," warns José Sandoval, "in a month we will have no more swifts, because it is not only those killed by cats that die, but also those that remain in the nest without anyone feeding them."
There, as in the whole country, the proliferation of these felines endangers the wildlife. Birds, lizards, small mammals (rodents in particular)… Almost anything that moves can fall victim to this adorable pet behind which hides a super predator, that is to say
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