From wineries to wildlife, JK Wonderly is no stranger to bringing photos to life using light, layout and composition. But to get something beautiful in dead animals? That was a new challenge.
Wonderley’s photo, “Captured by Cats”, recently won first place in the Human / Nature category at the 2020 BigPicture Natural World Photography Competition. His image paints a grim picture: the photo needs to be multiplied 10 million times each year to show the billions of animals killed by cats.
The inspiration for his photography comes from the work of Wildcare, a non-profit wildlife based in San Rafael, California. Of the 321 animals injured by cats and brought to the center in 2019, only 89 survived. Another 232, shown in Wonderly’s photo, died despite efforts to save Wildcare.
He says, “To put all this in front of you, they all died for the same reason, to know that, really made me think about what was happening.”
Worked wonderfully on the layout of the corpse, an arrangement of ideas that would conceive of a large number of deaths and captivate viewers for a long time to see them up close. The original idea was from Melanie Piazza, director of animal care at Wildcare. Piazza has worked in wildlife rehabilitation for more than 20 years treating injured outdoor cats and other wildlife during his career.
Pursuing the “caught by cats” project proved to be an emotional experience. The day before the shooting, Piazza removed the corpse preserved from the freezers at Wildcare and took it home to defrost. The next day the brushing and bandaging were filled with wounds so as not to stop them from leaking, while Wonderly arranged and took photos of them.
“Our goal was not disgusting or shocking. We want to present animals as respectfully as possible and attract people’s attention with their beauty, ”says Piazza.
Wildcare’s Melanie Piazza has a western tanner killed by a cat. Photographer Jack Wonderley documented 232 animals injured by cats in 2019 that Wildcare could not save. Of the more than 300 animals brought in with cat injuries, only 89 survived.
Photograph by Jack Wonderley
Problems with outdoor cats
Cats have contributed to the extinction of 63 species of vertebrates, most of them birds, says Peter Marra, director of the Georgetown Environment Initiative. “The fact that they have taken this extinction is bad enough.” [Additionally] We know they have a significant impact on the population globally, whether they are threatened or not, ”he says.
Mera, formerly director of the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, is the author Cat Wars: The Catastrophic Consequences of a Cuddly Killer, Which details why cats can be a threat to species diversity. “Since the book’s release in 2016, not much has changed regarding the regulation of outdoor cats, but there is a greater awareness and understanding of the issue,” says Mara.
Some argue that cats are natural predators and should be allowed to roam and kill prey anyway. But, according to Piazza, the fight is not fair. This argument looks at several important factors.
In natural predator-prey relationships, the predator hunts until the population has enough prey to feed, he explains. As the hunter population dwindles, so does the hunter population. Domestic cats disrupt the cycle.
“Kittycam” shows what stray cats prey on
National Geographic’s Critracam team and researchers from the University of Georgia paired the camera collar with Fera cats on Geckel Island’s Geckel Island in 2015. Motion sensors turned on the cameras, and they let the cats groom themselves, hunt and move around. Researchers planted cats on fewer birds than expected – and more small mammals, insects and lizards.
“They’ve been in the same area for 15 to 20 years, they’re fed by their men, they don’t have to hunt to survive,” says Piazza. “They just kill and nothing changes in their population, so it doesn’t give the local wild population time to bounce back, as if it were a natural predator-hunting cycle.”
The discussion of the outdoor cat is a polarizing issue, and Piazza says the project is not meant to keep animal lovers away. His goal, instead, is to make them one. It suggests keeping cats in bed, having a ketio (a closed house patio for your cat) or promising to make your next cat an indoor cat. These practices not only protect other animals, they also keep cats safe and healthy.
.
