6 ms·
As Google Feeds Cats, Owl Lovers Cry Foul
- fjsolwmv 8y agoOutdoor cats kill billions of birds annually. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_predation_on_wildlife https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_predation_on_wildlife
- DoofusOfDeath 8y agoObligatory: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/cats_actually_kill http://theoatmeal.com/comics/cats_actually_kill
- jws 8y agoI wonder if it offsets the surplus birds created by bird feeding. According to USA WILD BIRD FEEDING INDUSTRY YEARLY RESEARCH 2015 [1] US consumers spend about $6B on bird seed annually. I pay about $1/lb (or a pound per kilogram ;-) for seed. A house finch weighs about 20 grams and will eat about 10 grams of seed a day. Say 100 days of winter feeding and that is 1kg of seed per bird. So something like 3 billion songbirds don’t die in the winter and nicely make up for the cat cull. ——— [1] http://www.ectownusa.net/wbfi/docs/2015_WBFI__judy_final.pdf http://www.ectownusa.net/wbfi/docs/2015_WBFI__judy_final.pdf
- strstr 8y agoRelatedly: Anna's Hummingbirds' winter range has changed (likely) because of home feeders and urbanization. [1] http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/royprsb/284/1852/20170256.full.pdf http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/royprsb/284/1...
- Ice_cream_suit 8y agoHumans kill 58 billion animals each year. I do not see anyone suggesting that we stop feeding humans.
- strstr 8y agoFeral cats aren't people?
- blarg1 8y agoor are they ...
- briandear 8y agoHumans are more important than feral cats.
- joejerryronnie 8y agoThat could be debatable.
- joejerryronnie 8y agoYou can't take on cat lovers and expect to win. If there's one thing humans enjoy, it's a subservient apex predator who curls up on your lap and purrs.
- WalterBright 8y agoMy cat looks at me with "If only you were smaller" eyes. Should I be concerned?
- foobar1962 8y agoYou shouldn't anthropomorphise. Animals don't like it.
- bitwize 8y agoIf a cat looks at you through narrowed eyes, it generally means they're pretty chill with you and like having you around.
- ihatecats666 8y agoScrew your cat.
- 21 8y agoIn other news, Australia just finished building the world largest cat-proof fence: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-44235185 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-44235185 Maybe that owl park could be fenced?
- tiredwired 8y agoyes, and Google can pay for that.
- amunicio 8y agoNope. Australia is building a fence to keep the cats out and the cats are going to pay for it.
- mirimir 8y agoMaybe they could use an "invisible fence".[0] They're already capturing, neutering and chipping. So they could fit warning collars. But perhaps battery life is too short. 0) https://www.catological.com/best-invisible-fences-cats-reviewed-even-use-one/ https://www.catological.com/best-invisible-fences-cats-revie...
- wxuan 8y agoI've been around baylands and remember seeing a large group of feral cats a few years ago under the bayshore freeway underpass. Could explain why they are gone.
- rachelbythebay 8y agoIf they get rid of the owls, then maybe they'll finally be able to build on the lot next to the park. (There are tons of ground squirrels and then the owls follow...) I know, I know, they aren't doing this on purpose, but these things have a funny way of "just working out"...
- throwaway080383 8y agoAre the most trivial of topics publishable if they say something negative about a big tech company? I think NYT would not have gone with this if say, John Deere employees were feeding cats outside their headquarters.
- msabalau 8y agoPeople who work at John Deere don't make journalists feel that they've badly failed at career planning.
- paulcole 8y agoI’ve often heard how Silicon Valley tech bros aren’t capable of empathy. But here you are, perceptively realizing how everyone who doesn’t work at Google is constantly aware of and jealous of those who do.
- notacoward 8y agoIt's not a lack of empathy. It's a recognition of the fact that a lot of journalists see Facebook, Google, etc. as rivals negatively affecting their own livelihoods, and that it's human nature to by hyper-aware of a rival's failings. They seize on tech-industry missteps the same way a Democrat would seize on a Republican's or vice versa.
- wpietri 8y agoGosh, it's almost like Google is a company 10x the size of John Deere, one used by billions of people (and the great bulk of the NYT's readers). And you might note that this is in the section specifically devoted to covering the technology industry. Do you also object to the Times having that and not an agriculture section?
- arthurofbabylon 8y agoWhy would it be in the tech category? Nature, ecology, sure. Tech? Only if indeed it’s more about sensationalizing a buzzy tech company would a story about cats and owls be in a tech category.
- pervycreeper 8y agoCats, especially feral cats, commonly carriers of Toxoplasma gondii, are a public health hazard to humans. The city could potentially employ this fact as a consideration.
- slimsag 8y agoOwls, and birds in general, also carry lots of disease. Psittacosis for example. So I don't see why that should be a consideration (unless you advocate something crazy like a complete sterilization of all non-human life?).
- pervycreeper 8y agoPresumably, the relative risk of infection from owls to people who don't seek them out is much lower than it is from cats. My point is only that the health risks could conceivably be used as a pretext to take action against the cat "rescue" operation.
- RIMR 8y agokill 'em all, let God sort 'em out.
- PhasmaFelis 8y agoYou pretty much have to directly interact with cat shit to catch toxo, and cats instinctively shit in out-of-the-way places, so your odds of actually getting it from a feral cat are pretty slim.
- Ensorceled 8y agoOut of the way places like kid’s sandboxes.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- ihatecats666 8y ago
- zafka 8y agoI am torn by stories like this. I share my house with 6 indoor only cats, but when i had cats that were inside/outside, they definitely did their fair share of hunting. On the other hand, I do worry about threatened species, and on top of it all, my alma mater's mascot is the "fighting burrowing owl" Go Hootie!!!
- foobar1962 8y agoFeeding feral cats is easy, instant gratification. They should adopt an endangered owl instead, or make a goal to measure and increase the population.
- baryphonic 8y agoTL;DR: Six owls that burrow underground (how's that for an adaptation?) used to live in a Mountain View park. Over the past three years, three of these have been killed or gone missing. Environmental activists have traced these deaths and disappearances to cats nurtured by a Google employee group that feeds feral cats, along with spaying or neutering them. Google has devoted significant resources to helping these birds survive in other places, but environmentalists feel that Google is not doing enough about the feral cat population; in particular, activists worry that the large number of feral cats represents a slippery slope toward destroying biodiversity in this particular park.
- qop 8y agoDestroying biodiversity is a stretch, it's only three owls... Also, burrowing owls are Least Concern on IUCN red list. (Least Concern is their terminology, not mine, I don't agree with it) So it's not like there's really any merit to the claim that a few cars they fed, who then killed three owls, is "destroying biodiversity" It's not that slippery a slope. It's just cats. If they were teaching them and hunting these owls, obviously thatd be different, but they're not. Gosh, I hate Google too but it's like they literally can't even feed stray cats without some sort of controversy from the media or online pseudoactivists.
- ageofwant 8y agoYou should absolutely not feed feral cats, unless its 1080, or Curiosity[1]. Just the idea of feeding feral cats is patently absurd, Google employees should bloody well know better. [1] http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2016-11-16/curiosity-cat-bait-needs-commercial-partner/8031270 http://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2016-11-16/curiosity-cat-ba...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- akhilcacharya 8y agoIt’s dawning on me that news beat on what Google employees is similar to the one that seems to ask what Ivy League students think of current trends.
- ChuckMcM 8y agoClearly they need some Coyotes out there too. When I was at Sun, the 'main' campus early on was at 2550 Garcia ave, (now Intuit) and we would walk around shoreline at Lunch. There were lots of signs to be aware of and not to disturb the burrowing owls (which once was misspelled the borrowing owls and so we had a lot of pan handling owl jokes for a while). When I worked at Google (on Amphitheatre way) there was a cat there that had a badge. But I think that one stayed indoors. If Google has chipped the cats as they say in the article, then an RFID reading station in the owl territory would allow them to identify and eliminate those cats predating on the owls I expect.
- mirimir 8y ago> If Google has chipped the cats as they say in the article, then an RFID reading station in the owl territory would allow them to identify and eliminate those cats predating on the owls I expect. That's a good idea. But still probably unacceptable to cat lovers. Maybe there are middle options. Google could build a very large cage, and release non-adopted cats there. Or if that's not feasible, it could declaw and/or defang them. And yes, I know that those are horrible things to do to cats (or anyone, for that matter). But maybe it's better than death.
- ChuckMcM 8y agoI expect a defanged/declawed cat would not be able to fend for itself and would die through starvation or predation. Cat lovers and bird lovers have been fighting over the restored wetlands on the south side of the bay since the late 70's as far as I can ascertain.
- mirimir 8y agoAgreed. That's why I said that it was horrible. But death would be better? Also: > “Google understands the cats are not supposed to cross the line into the park,” a spokeswoman for the Silicon Valley Animal Control Authority said. But in the photo, we see a cat heading for a picket fence. So why not build a real fence, which cats can penetrate? Or build a ~1 ha cage?
- beefeater 8y ago3 dead owls in 3 years with no proof whatsoever that cats are responsible and somehow the NY Times thinks this is newsworthy. Mind-boggling.
- ageofwant 8y agoThese are the only things you should feed a feral cat, in order of preference: - Curiosity (When it becomes available) - 1080 - Eradicat http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive-species/feral-animals-australia/feral-cats http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive-species/...
- heartbreak 8y agoDo you read your own links? Or do you just spew this information with reckless abandon? You’re promoting blanket killing of innocent animals, and you can’t even get your information right. Until you understand the problem, perhaps you should avoid killing it.
- ageofwant 8y agoThe links I posted are accurate and informative. Have you actually read them ?
- wand3r 8y agothis article and this comment section are rather terrible. I am really opposed to Googles business model and the pervasive lack of privacy they inflict on the world-- but this is such a weird thing to write an article about. I personally, and this is my own opinion, find the need to save every niche endangered animal to be both fruitless and silly. Humans have a significant impact on the environment and should certainly strive to limit the negative effects as much as possible, but on balance cats eating owls doesn't rank particularly high on the priority list of high-impact adjustments we need to make. It's not really Google corporations fault and while feeding animals is sort of dumb, these feral cats are presumably living in the wild after escaping from random peoples houses, overbreeding pets and irresponsible pet ownership is to blame
- megamindbrian2 8y agoWhy do you want to overpopulate the world with cats? They are a nuisance.