4 ms·

Nothing new here. Less desirable kitties have become important rodent hunting 'barn cats' as long as I can remember. The problem is they tend not to discriminat

Nothing new here. Less desirable kitties have become important rodent hunting 'barn cats' as long as I can remember. The problem is they tend not to discriminate prey, and decimate already hurting bird populations. The real unspoken issue here is overpopulation, please spay and nuter your pets! /rip bob

bayesian_horse 8y ago
The news is that there are programs to lend out rescued felines to businesses. I didn't know that. A good idea is to put a little bell on free roaming cats. The mice are still probably going to make themselves scarce.
nsillik 8y ago
Luckily for humanity, Bob Barker is still alive[0]. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Barker https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Barker
tdb7893 8y ago
The study for the amount of birds they eat made a lot of assumptions so there's doubt on whether it's actually accurate or not. I do agree on the spay / neuter, though. Also it's news because these are cats shelters generally kill
- ng12 8y ago
  I'd believe it, cats have the urge to hunt whether there are mice to be hunted or not. We had one particularly ferocious hunter who would go after chipmunks, birds, and snakes after the barn was clear of mice.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  The study for the amount of birds they eat made a lot of assumptions so there's doubt on whether it's actually accurate or not. Any link to reputable/scientific doubts on this? All my Google Fu churns up in reiterations of the popular narrative.
  - tdb7893 8y ago
    No, my wife studies dogs (but wants to study cats) and her friends were talking about how that paper was a big impediment to getting better policies regarding feral cats so sadly I don't have the references in front of me. Edit: if I remember a large part of the problem they had with it is that it's very very hard to estimate the number of feral cats and also how many birds they eat in a scientifically accurate way.

bayesian_horse 8y ago

The news is that there are programs to lend out rescued felines to businesses. I didn't know that. A good idea is to put a little bell on free roaming cats. The mice are still probably going to make themselves scarce.

nsillik 8y ago

Luckily for humanity, Bob Barker is still alive[0]. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Barker https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Barker

tdb7893 8y ago

The study for the amount of birds they eat made a lot of assumptions so there's doubt on whether it's actually accurate or not. I do agree on the spay / neuter, though. Also it's news because these are cats shelters generally kill

ng12 8y ago
I'd believe it, cats have the urge to hunt whether there are mice to be hunted or not. We had one particularly ferocious hunter who would go after chipmunks, birds, and snakes after the barn was clear of mice.
reaperducer 8y ago
The study for the amount of birds they eat made a lot of assumptions so there's doubt on whether it's actually accurate or not. Any link to reputable/scientific doubts on this? All my Google Fu churns up in reiterations of the popular narrative.
- tdb7893 8y ago
  No, my wife studies dogs (but wants to study cats) and her friends were talking about how that paper was a big impediment to getting better policies regarding feral cats so sadly I don't have the references in front of me. Edit: if I remember a large part of the problem they had with it is that it's very very hard to estimate the number of feral cats and also how many birds they eat in a scientifically accurate way.