:kitty-cri-screm:

try not to re-litigate this, but if you think anonymously threatening to murder someone else's animal is cool and fine, you can fuck off

Further down in the thread lots of people are agreeing that they would shoot the cat :ohnoes:

  • Chapo_Trap_Horse [none/use name]
    ·
    4 years ago

    My outdoor local ecosystem of skunks, raccoons, rats and squirrels are flourishing. Are cats killing that many birds? I don't have a cat, but my neighbor's cats killed a couple birds so the neighbor put little bells on all the cats so they can't sneak up on shit anymore.

    • TheCaconym [any]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Are cats killing that many birds?

      This article says they're "likely the single greatest source of anthropogenic mortality for US birds and mammals" (which I personally doubt, I'd say modern agricultural practices is much higher, but still, it shows it's significant). Yet at the same time the same article also says the majority comes from un-owned cats, not pets.

      the neighbor put little bells on all the cats so they can’t sneak up on shit anymore

      It works, but only decreases about 41% of killings (the little bastards learn to hunt by silencing the bell, lowering their jaw to stop it tingling).

      • Chapo_Trap_Horse [none/use name]
        ·
        4 years ago

        We estimate that free-ranging domestic cats kill 1.3–4.0 billion birds and 6.3–22.3 billion mammals annually.

        What in the ever loving fuck???? Where did they get these numbers? I didn't read the whole paper but I couldn't find it scanning.

        • TheCaconym [any]
          ·
          4 years ago

          Yeah, it's a highly debated estimate. To be honest part of it I think is the desire to attribute the massive collapse of birds population to another cause than the main one: our modern agricultural practices killing insects in tremendous amounts, depleting their food source (see this article or this one for example). I still think outdoors cats kill a significant amount of a depressingly decreasing population of many species, so keeping them indoors can only help.

    • AlephNull [she/her]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Domestic cats that regularly go outside have rather large territories they'll patrol. The transition from housecat to stray to feral comes with pretty distinct physiological changes too, cats are only 'cute' when theyre inside and figuratively defanged, killer instincts relegated to attacking hair bands and odd socks.

      The story might be different elsewhere, but aus straight up doesn't have a lot of predators, so cats can readily escape and find themselves comfortably at the top of the food chain, to the horror of our marsupial brethren

      • Bakdunis [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Do you have any source for that "Domestic cats that regularly go outside have rather large territories they’ll patrol"?

        There are a few domesticated cats in my suburban-ass area that were abandoned and they barely wander the block with the exception of the one which a neighbor has taken in on a part time basis. She pretty much never seems to go further than their yard and my yard. This situation very well could be an outlier.

        • AlephNull [she/her]
          ·
          4 years ago

          The per capita kill rate of pet cats is 25% that of feral cats. However, pet cats live at much higher densities, so the predation rate of pets per square kilometre in residential areas is 28–52 times larger than predation rates by feral cats in natural environments, and 1.3–2.3 times greater than predation rates per km2 by feral cats living in urban areas. Pet cats kill introduced species more often than do feral cats living in natural environments, but, nonetheless, the toll of native animals killed per square kilometre by pet cats in residential areas is still much higher than the toll per square kilometre by feral cats. There is no evidence that pet cats exert significant control of introduced species. The high predation toll of pet cats in residential areas, the documented examples of declines and extirpations in populations of native species caused by pet cats, and potential pathways for other, indirect effects (e.g. from disease, landscapes of fear, ecological footprints), and the context of extraordinary impacts from feral cats on Australian fauna, together support a default position that pet cat impacts are serious and should be reduced. From a technical perspective, the pet cat impacts can be reduced more effectively and humanely than those of feral cats, while also enhancing pet cat welfare. We review the management options for reducing predation by pet cats, and discuss the opportunities and challenges for improved pet cat management and welfare.)

          From outdoor cats: a csiro study