3 ms·

There was a prize-winning photo of a lynx doing that to a rat, a few days ago. https://petapixel.com/2026/03/24/wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-peoples-choic

There was a prize-winning photo of a lynx doing that to a rat, a few days ago. https://petapixel.com/2026/03/24/wildlife-photographer-of-the-year-peoples-choice-award-2026/ https://petapixel.com/2026/03/24/wildlife-photographer-of-th... Then further down the page, "A sika deer carries the interlocked severed head of a rival male that had died after their battle". Nature, eh.

CalRobert 7mo ago
Sure but housecats aren’t nature
- card_zero 7mo ago
  They're totally doing that same lynx stuff, though. They're not not nature.
  - CalRobert 7mo ago
    Yeah but we’re not artificially inflating lynx populations because we think they’re cute…
    - card_zero 7mo ago
      That's an Iberian lynx. They were nearly extinct around the year 2000, but since then they've been reintroduced and relocated and nurtured with rabbits until the population grew 20 times bigger. Cuteness is not irrelevant to that in my opinion, but anyway it exists because humans decided it should, because it fits our idea of what nature would have done if we hadn't already interfered. Therefore ... it's OK that we arranged for it to be there torturing a rat, I guess. But it takes the edge off the guilt about domestic cats somewhat. The whole thing ends up being a battle about taste and aesthetics in the giant wildlife park we've inadvertantly created.
      - gf000 7mo ago
        Except there are like 600 million cats worldwide..
        card_zero 7mo ago
        Sure, but now we've strayed far from the starting point which was that cats are bad because they torture small animals. In fact most animals are bad. The question becomes which animals do we want around the place.
bitwize 7mo ago
That tracks for sika deer. Those are the "sacred deer" that used to be venerated in Nara, and are still protected under Japanese national treasure laws. They are allowed to roam free throughout Nara, and you face big penalties for hurting or messing with them. You are allowed to feed them special deer crackers which local shopkeepers sell, but woe betide you if a deer sees or smells deer crackers on your person! You will be followed or chased, and may be at risk of being gored on a buck's antlers, until you give up the goods. They're attitude on four cloven hooves, those deer.

CalRobert 7mo ago

Sure but housecats aren’t nature

card_zero 7mo ago
They're totally doing that same lynx stuff, though. They're not not nature.
- CalRobert 7mo ago
  Yeah but we’re not artificially inflating lynx populations because we think they’re cute…
  - card_zero 7mo ago
    That's an Iberian lynx. They were nearly extinct around the year 2000, but since then they've been reintroduced and relocated and nurtured with rabbits until the population grew 20 times bigger. Cuteness is not irrelevant to that in my opinion, but anyway it exists because humans decided it should, because it fits our idea of what nature would have done if we hadn't already interfered. Therefore ... it's OK that we arranged for it to be there torturing a rat, I guess. But it takes the edge off the guilt about domestic cats somewhat. The whole thing ends up being a battle about taste and aesthetics in the giant wildlife park we've inadvertantly created.
    - gf000 7mo ago
      Except there are like 600 million cats worldwide..
      - card_zero 7mo ago
        Sure, but now we've strayed far from the starting point which was that cats are bad because they torture small animals. In fact most animals are bad. The question becomes which animals do we want around the place.

bitwize 7mo ago

That tracks for sika deer. Those are the "sacred deer" that used to be venerated in Nara, and are still protected under Japanese national treasure laws. They are allowed to roam free throughout Nara, and you face big penalties for hurting or messing with them. You are allowed to feed them special deer crackers which local shopkeepers sell, but woe betide you if a deer sees or smells deer crackers on your person! You will be followed or chased, and may be at risk of being gored on a buck's antlers, until you give up the goods. They're attitude on four cloven hooves, those deer.