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Feeding local wildlife (lemmy.world)
submitted 11 months ago by to c/whitepeopletwitter@sh.itjust.works
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Screenshot of a tweet by Mike Primavera (@primawesome). It reads, "My neighbor told me coyotes keep eating his outdoor cats so I asked how many cats he has and he said he just goes to the shelter and gets a new cat afterwards so I said it sounds like he's just feeding shelter cats to coyotes and then his daughter started crying."
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[–] 2 points 11 months ago (7 children)

If the concept of an invasive species is an insufficient response in your eyes, then I maintain that my prior response is not insult, but observation.

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  • [–] -3 points 11 months ago (6 children)

    Humans are an invasive species, and many of the species that cats kill are also invasive.

    My comments are criticizing the notion that cats are somehow uniquely or critically dangerous. If it were up to me I’d get rid over all the imported species, including humans.

    Cats are dangerous to birds that show up at bird feeders because humans killed all their natural predators like owls. It’s not a huge issue…it’s a symptom of a much larger problem.

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  • [–] 5 points 11 months ago (5 children)

    I wholeheartedly agree that humans are invasive, but one need only look at a place like New Zealand to see how one of homo sapiens' most environmentally-damaging qualities is that it brings other invasive species with it. Treating birds at bird feeders as if they're all invasive is deeply reductive and objectively wrong. Animals migrate in some cases hundreds of miles in a day.

    Cats are universally deeply invasive once feral, and humans letting those cats (and dogs) get out has been the primary threat to the wildlife of New Zealand. Not humanity itself. This is almost universally true on any island, from islands that have been completely taken over by rats, to the Spaniards' tendency to leave behind feral hogs that outcompete even the most deadly of predators within a couple generations. But in only one case does everyone treat this like it's some endearing quality: outdoor cats.

    Just because there's a much bigger problem doesn't mean that the small one doesn't exist. That's just whataboutism. ALL of these need to be dealt with, but you know which one is the easiest to tackle FIRST? (Hint: it's not the pigs)

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  • [–] -2 points 11 months ago (4 children)

    I never treated all or any birds at bird feeders as invasive. I said that they have no predators because we killed them all. I haven’t seen any data on how many birds a cat can kill vs an owl…I suspect an owl is more effective. I haven’t seen any data that suggests that cats are threatening any bird populations.

    It just sounds like something that need to be managed…and we should consider something other than the cute birds we want at bird feeders.

    Humans brought rodents, and killed their predators. Are cats killing more rats and mice than a weasel could? Unlikely.

    Some edge case about a cat wiping out a bird population on an island 100 years ago doesn’t interest me.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (3 children)

    100 years ago? Really? Why are you assuming I'm talking about the past? Educate yourself.

    Also, here's a scientific study completely disproving your unfounded suppositions

    Note that while domestic cats are unlikely to venture far, they don't need to, as native birds fly into residential neighbourhoods without issue. Regardless, they are between 10 and 100 times more effective at killing wildlife than a comparable predator such as a weasel or owl.

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  • [–] 0 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    Yeah, it doesn’t. Despite you using the term “wildlife”, there’s nothing wild about the habitat of cats. If cats lived in a place with natural predators and without humans protecting them, there’d be barely any cats.

    I get it…you’re an anti-cat crusader. You got radicalized about a minor problem amidst all the major problem of human behaviour destroying habitat and wiping out species. I empathize…I hate invasive species, including humans.

    I propose that you do something meaningful, like opposing materialism as a lifestyle, rather that getting outraged about some boutique issue. Sure, if it comes up, don’t own a cat or encourage people to get one if you don’t have livestock.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (1 child)

    Bold to assume I cannot be angry about multiple things. Bolder to assume I hate cats. What I am "crusading" against is your inability to understand basic biological concepts or acknowledge simple evidence. Since you cannot even be bothered to comprehend actual refutations when they are labeled on a platter, I return to my first comment:

    Mind like an ocean, indeed.

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  • [–] 0 points 11 months ago*

    You’re projecting and seem to be more concerned with owning me and changing the subject to things you’re technically correct about.

    I’m all for a conversation about eliminating cats…but the way to do that isn’t to waste your time on the cats themselves, but rather the overarching impulses. If you have an indoor cat, the problems you’re going to cause to the environment just buying things for your stupid cat is going to be more harmful than having an outdoor cat. Git it?

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