5 ms·

> "The big concern is where we have an overlap of people and cats with native species that are small and vulnerable," Kays said. Kind of the key question here.

> "The big concern is where we have an overlap of people and cats with native species that are small and vulnerable," Kays said. Kind of the key question here. Does your local jurisdiction have native species that live in towns and cities that are vulnerable? Some places are different than others. In some places the typical small city bird may even be an introduced species. In New Zealand for example yes absolutely. Other places maybe not so much... It is absolutely wild to me how laissez faire Kiwis are about the right to have their cats roam while at the same time being so militant against other mammals (including dogs!).

11235813213455 7y ago
> Other places maybe not so much... You probably don't notice them, all little birds, insects, lizards, hedgehogs (I saw a cat mauling one once, same with lizards and birds),.. Actually, in my city, near woods, there's a small outdoor refuge for "wild cats" as the woman I talked to call them. She was feeding them, so I wonder how wild they are and how much they harm the local ecosystem, on top of all the other pets I think there's an unhealthy addiction and love for pets. If you like animals, you could let them live normally in their natural habitat, and observe them once in a while. I hope this mentality will change
- __s 7y ago
  Domestic cats have a natural habitat in households. Owners who keep their cats indoors or on leash outside don't impact wildlife. Cultural education of not letting cats roam is likely to have more progress than arguing for banning pets. Besides, staying indoors is healthier for cats anyways
  - leetcrew 7y ago
    it's kind of weird to talk about the "natural habitat" of an animal that has been domesticated over thousands of years. it doesn't seem obvious that the modern cat (or especially dog) would be better off in the "wild" than living with humans.
    - chepaslaaa 7y ago
      Humans are better off with household cats than with rodent infestations.
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
- Tiktaalik 7y ago
  What I mean is like, if your cat kills a house finch that means something different depending on where you live. In you're in Western NA your cat killed a native bird, but if you're in Eastern NA or Hawaii, it killed an introduced bird which competes with native birds. In the worst cases (ie. NZ) your cat may be killing literally endangered birds.
x86_64Ubuntu 7y ago
As someone else mentioned, dogs can harm a human quite easily while cats couldn't care less about us.
- bangonkeyboard 7y ago
  https://xkcd.com/1775/ https://xkcd.com/1775/ "How easy it is to grow up without learning [that cat bites are really serious and if bitten you need to wash the bite and call a doctor immediately]"
  - praptak 7y ago
    Getting bitten by a cat is possible but extremely unlikely, unless you choose to handle one. Also, they cannot really kill you. Dogs do sometimes get aggressive towards random passers by and they do kill people.
- klyrs 7y ago
  I've been bitten badly by a cat -- he gets angry when he's hungry. When I got up to pee at 4am, he was all friendly -- when I went back to bed, he lunged at my foot and chomp. That was like the first or second time I spent the night; only my gf can actually touch him without getting slashed up. I got lucky, but cat mouths are nasty and bites typically get very badly infected. True, most cats are very prudent about human interaction -- most strays will avoid you. But if a stray has been taught to expect food, or gets cornered, they can do a surprising amount of damage
  - BostonFern 7y ago
    "cat mouths are nasty and bites typically get very badly infected." What are you basing this on? Are you implying a cat bite is worse than, say, a dog bite?
    - brewdad 7y ago
      https://www.amcny.org/blog/2014/05/14/is-a-cat-bite-worse-than-a-dog-bite https://www.amcny.org/blog/2014/05/14/is-a-cat-bite-worse-th... Cat bites are more likely to cause infection. Dog bites usually cause more physical damage.
willis936 7y ago
I live in a city that has a large wild rabbit population. It surprised me when I first moved here. They are very cute and pose no threat to anything besides weeds/grass. The city also has a large variety of songbirds, which people generally like. On a low level, I don't mind when I see cats patrolling the block. They're little human friends. They sometimes sit with me on the porch. However, I do think it's a bad practice to have an outdoor cat. I adopted a cat very recently and I will be keeping it indoors (against its wishes). It will have to be content killing virtual prey.
cjensen 7y ago
Yes. Here's a concrete example: Google has (or had) a stray cat feeding station at the Plex. When birders complained, the security threatened the birders if "anything happened to the cats." The Plex is located next door to wetlands containing two endangered species that are at risk of predation.
paleogizmo 7y ago
Something I haven't seen data on is how much domestic cat predation compares with population change from habitat loss/modification. The population density of some bird species increases in suburban areas where domestic cats are likely to be present. I suspect the impact of outdoor cats (at least on North American songbirds) is overstated.

11235813213455 7y ago

> Other places maybe not so much... You probably don't notice them, all little birds, insects, lizards, hedgehogs (I saw a cat mauling one once, same with lizards and birds),.. Actually, in my city, near woods, there's a small outdoor refuge for "wild cats" as the woman I talked to call them. She was feeding them, so I wonder how wild they are and how much they harm the local ecosystem, on top of all the other pets I think there's an unhealthy addiction and love for pets. If you like animals, you could let them live normally in their natural habitat, and observe them once in a while. I hope this mentality will change

__s 7y ago
Domestic cats have a natural habitat in households. Owners who keep their cats indoors or on leash outside don't impact wildlife. Cultural education of not letting cats roam is likely to have more progress than arguing for banning pets. Besides, staying indoors is healthier for cats anyways
- leetcrew 7y ago
  it's kind of weird to talk about the "natural habitat" of an animal that has been domesticated over thousands of years. it doesn't seem obvious that the modern cat (or especially dog) would be better off in the "wild" than living with humans.
  - chepaslaaa 7y ago
    Humans are better off with household cats than with rodent infestations.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
Tiktaalik 7y ago
What I mean is like, if your cat kills a house finch that means something different depending on where you live. In you're in Western NA your cat killed a native bird, but if you're in Eastern NA or Hawaii, it killed an introduced bird which competes with native birds. In the worst cases (ie. NZ) your cat may be killing literally endangered birds.

x86_64Ubuntu 7y ago

As someone else mentioned, dogs can harm a human quite easily while cats couldn't care less about us.

bangonkeyboard 7y ago
https://xkcd.com/1775/ https://xkcd.com/1775/ "How easy it is to grow up without learning [that cat bites are really serious and if bitten you need to wash the bite and call a doctor immediately]"
- praptak 7y ago
  Getting bitten by a cat is possible but extremely unlikely, unless you choose to handle one. Also, they cannot really kill you. Dogs do sometimes get aggressive towards random passers by and they do kill people.
klyrs 7y ago
I've been bitten badly by a cat -- he gets angry when he's hungry. When I got up to pee at 4am, he was all friendly -- when I went back to bed, he lunged at my foot and chomp. That was like the first or second time I spent the night; only my gf can actually touch him without getting slashed up. I got lucky, but cat mouths are nasty and bites typically get very badly infected. True, most cats are very prudent about human interaction -- most strays will avoid you. But if a stray has been taught to expect food, or gets cornered, they can do a surprising amount of damage
- BostonFern 7y ago
  "cat mouths are nasty and bites typically get very badly infected." What are you basing this on? Are you implying a cat bite is worse than, say, a dog bite?
  - brewdad 7y ago
    https://www.amcny.org/blog/2014/05/14/is-a-cat-bite-worse-than-a-dog-bite https://www.amcny.org/blog/2014/05/14/is-a-cat-bite-worse-th... Cat bites are more likely to cause infection. Dog bites usually cause more physical damage.

willis936 7y ago

I live in a city that has a large wild rabbit population. It surprised me when I first moved here. They are very cute and pose no threat to anything besides weeds/grass. The city also has a large variety of songbirds, which people generally like. On a low level, I don't mind when I see cats patrolling the block. They're little human friends. They sometimes sit with me on the porch. However, I do think it's a bad practice to have an outdoor cat. I adopted a cat very recently and I will be keeping it indoors (against its wishes). It will have to be content killing virtual prey.

cjensen 7y ago

Yes. Here's a concrete example: Google has (or had) a stray cat feeding station at the Plex. When birders complained, the security threatened the birders if "anything happened to the cats." The Plex is located next door to wetlands containing two endangered species that are at risk of predation.

paleogizmo 7y ago

Something I haven't seen data on is how much domestic cat predation compares with population change from habitat loss/modification. The population density of some bird species increases in suburban areas where domestic cats are likely to be present. I suspect the impact of outdoor cats (at least on North American songbirds) is overstated.