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Cats are no match for New York City's rats (2018)
- zabzonk 3y agook, what is the optimal predator for rats?
- cudgy 3y agoHumans
- Emma_Goldman 3y agoProbably raptors and owls. But the problem, for any predator, is that rats live within buildings and the city's subterranean.
- maximilianburke 3y agoRat Terriers? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Terrier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Terrier
- zabzonk 3y agodogs tend to need a lot of looking after, though, unless they become a problem. cats not so much. those do like nice doggies, though.
- halJordan 3y agoThey don't need looking after more or less than cats and rats.
- jnwatson 3y agoDC has been experimenting with these. It requires a lot more human labor to manage them, but holy smokes are they effective.
- automatic6131 3y agoSmall dogs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrier
- kleton 3y agoIn spaces tighter than a terrier, mink.
- ajb 3y agoWell, ferrets were used historically, eg see "Full Revelations of a Professional Rat-Catcher, after 25 Years’ Experience" by Ike Matthews (1898) https://www.gutenberg.org/files/17243/17243-h/17243-h.htm https://www.gutenberg.org/files/17243/17243-h/17243-h.htm
- namdnay 3y agoDwarves
- jetrink 3y agoChicago has an estimated 4000 coyotes living in the urban area. I would occasionally see them in parks and graveyards when I was out walking at dawn, but otherwise they are almost invisible. Rodents, including rats, make up about 75% of a coyote's diet and a single coyote can eat about 1800 per year. They are a welcome predator in the city as they keep a very low profile and keep to themselves, except for the rare instance where they make the news, like when one visited a Quiznos and took a nap in the beverage cooler. 1. https://www.wistv.com/story/6324187/coyote-stops-by-chicago-quiznos/ https://www.wistv.com/story/6324187/coyote-stops-by-chicago-...
- mnemotronic 3y agoHow about transplanting some badgers or wolverines? Yea. Into Manhattan. Just an idea.
- JaDogg 3y agoYes and rats eat kittens.
- rstarast 3y agohttps://archive.is/8kgll https://archive.is/8kgll
- jhbadger 3y agoCats were traditionally used as mousers (as Larry the cat as the UK's Chief Mouser performs to this day at 10 Downing Street), but rats traditionally were handled by dogs, particularly terriers, who were bred originally to hunt rats and other vermin.
- tromp 3y agoThe title gives the impression that cats got into a losing fight with rats, but the article makes clear that is not the case. The cats just rarely bother with the rats, having plenty other, lazier, food options.
- jncfhnb 3y agoThat is not accurate. Rats are much bigger and more dangerous. “Not bother” is misleading. Cats are not able to reliably hunt rats and are at risk of being injured
- BurningFrog 3y agoI get it. I am much bigger and stronger than a cat and lost my only fight with a rat. They bite HARD!
- jacquesm 3y agoYou'd lose a fight with a cat just the same. I've seen a very beefy adult man utterly filleted by an angry cat. And it wasn't even a particularly big cat, it just didn't feel like being evicted from the barn that it had been living in. I've rarely seen that much blood on a human being and the fight didn't last for more than 10 seconds.
- techterrier 3y agowhat New York needs is a few dozen Patterdales[1]... [1] https://preview.redd.it/meet-billy-the-8-y-o-patterdale-terrier-v0-uenyp593giva1.jpg?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=c3d7a9114fc3800b1461deec0b5cf7c9df583d8e https://preview.redd.it/meet-billy-the-8-y-o-patterdale-terr...
- elzbardico 3y agoIn any modern city there is food enough for a feral cat not need to hunt mouses. Even when they hunt birds, is more for the play aspects, the thrill, than to feed themselves. If we want to control rats in our cities, we need to deal with the issue of rampant food waste.
- corethree 3y agoMaybe selective breeding can work. Create cats with high prey drive, who are stronger and fiercer and still tame. Evolution made NYC rats big, one can do it artificially for cats.
- elzbardico 3y agoIt doesn't matter, as long as there is waste food, any hunter will go the path of least effort and energy once they figure out they can get a free meal out of a trash can. Case in point: Bears. The dictionary definition of an Apex Predator, and yet, once they figure out that trash cans are an all you can eat buffet, it is all downhill from there.
- RecycledEle 3y agoI suspect the feral cat gene pool is constantly sabotaged by the human-directed elimination of any cat that is not soft, friendly, and cuddly. Human-directed breeding also plays a huge role. Feral cats will almost never beat wild rats.
- corethree 3y agoOh as a business or endeavor these cats will be sterile and used as tools. They won't be used to change the population of feral cats
- RecycledEle 3y agoYou are correct. That is one more reason natural selection favors rats that eat cats over cats that eat rats in the long term.
- Throwfi44 3y agoFeral cats are very similar to rats. They eat garbage, spread disease and destroy wildlife.
- doublerabbit 3y agoTime to upgrade to tigers.
- ratsmack 3y agoThey train mink to kill rats shown here[1], but the NY rats may be a larger variety. [1] https://youtu.be/48dlAlrGNj8 https://youtu.be/48dlAlrGNj8