3 ms·

Didn't New York just create a "Rat Tsar"? Surely you solve both problems by stopping feeding the cats.

swarnie 3y ago
Go one step higher on the chain and develop a refuge system appropriate for the 21st century then you can knock out three in one go. I dont know who this depressed but throwing trash bags on the street is something the modern world solved many years ago.
bluedino 3y ago
Some of those rats are the same size of the cats.
asdajksah2123 3y ago
As the article points out, cats are not very good rat predators. They will find other food far more easily.
- Animats 3y ago
  Sort of. You have to feed them about half what they need to get them to hunt. That was the official policy of the General Post Office in the UK at one time. Stanford once had something known as the Stanford Cat Network, now called the Feral Friends Network, which sounds like something from the Camp Wedontwantcha comic. This group caught feral cats left on campus and tried to find them homes. Some of the cats that were too feral to become cats ended up at the Stanford horse barn. Some of the barn cats would hunt. I've been presented with a dead mouse. Others managed to get people to overfeed them, and they'd get fat and lazy. Once I saw a mouse, found a cat, and put the cat down near the mouse. The cat did nothing. Useless cats accustomed to free food were sometimes placed as house cats and replaced with new hunters. About four good hunting cats could clear the entire property of vermin. You have to manage the cats to get results.
  - adsfgiodsnrio 3y ago
    Cats are ferocious predators of mice and birds and other small animals. Maybe management is helpful, but even supposedly indolent cats do a lot of hunting. They aren't good at hunting rats in particular. Rats are big and cats are scared to fight them.
dundarious 3y ago
From the article: > Do feline predatory instincts have an upside? While New York’s feral cats kill lots of mice, they are no match for the city’s rats, which greatly outnumber them. Popular notions aside, cats rarely attack rats, though rodents do avoid nesting near often-pungent cat colonies.
George83728 3y ago
Dogs are a lot better at hunting rats. The city should breed and release thousands of rat terriers if they mean to get serious about their rat problem.
DonHopkins 3y ago
Not to be confused with a "Rat King". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_king https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_king

Go one step higher on the chain and develop a refuge system appropriate for the 21st century then you can knock out three in one go. I dont know who this depressed but throwing trash bags on the street is something the modern world solved many years ago.

bluedino 3y ago

Some of those rats are the same size of the cats.

asdajksah2123 3y ago

As the article points out, cats are not very good rat predators. They will find other food far more easily.

Animats 3y ago
Sort of. You have to feed them about half what they need to get them to hunt. That was the official policy of the General Post Office in the UK at one time. Stanford once had something known as the Stanford Cat Network, now called the Feral Friends Network, which sounds like something from the Camp Wedontwantcha comic. This group caught feral cats left on campus and tried to find them homes. Some of the cats that were too feral to become cats ended up at the Stanford horse barn. Some of the barn cats would hunt. I've been presented with a dead mouse. Others managed to get people to overfeed them, and they'd get fat and lazy. Once I saw a mouse, found a cat, and put the cat down near the mouse. The cat did nothing. Useless cats accustomed to free food were sometimes placed as house cats and replaced with new hunters. About four good hunting cats could clear the entire property of vermin. You have to manage the cats to get results.
- adsfgiodsnrio 3y ago
  Cats are ferocious predators of mice and birds and other small animals. Maybe management is helpful, but even supposedly indolent cats do a lot of hunting. They aren't good at hunting rats in particular. Rats are big and cats are scared to fight them.

dundarious 3y ago

From the article: > Do feline predatory instincts have an upside? While New York’s feral cats kill lots of mice, they are no match for the city’s rats, which greatly outnumber them. Popular notions aside, cats rarely attack rats, though rodents do avoid nesting near often-pungent cat colonies.

George83728 3y ago

Dogs are a lot better at hunting rats. The city should breed and release thousands of rat terriers if they mean to get serious about their rat problem.

DonHopkins 3y ago

Not to be confused with a "Rat King". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_king https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_king