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How to stop cats from exterminating wildlife?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: How to stop cats from exterminating wildlife?

#11

Post by logicalmonster »

1) How is cats killing animals such as birds and mice actually a problem? Do we have a shortage of birds or mice? For the most part, even if they're domesticated, I'd consider cats eating things as part of the natural food chain in the way that nature designed.

2) Suppose you could solve this "problem" and you could design a device that emits some sound and makes cats' hunting fail. Have you considered the far reaching environmental consequences of this? What are the second order effects on the insect populations and human crops?

Re: How to stop cats from exterminating wildlife?

#12

Post by t-3 »

"Billions" of birds and mice isn't specific enough to care about. Cats are not even very good at hunting birds, being extremely specialized for hunting rodents - do you have any numbers that are not grotesquely extrapolated projections?

Re: How to stop cats from exterminating wildlife?

#14

Post by moistly »

My cat is leashed. She has the run of about 80’ of my back yard. She is a perfectly happy old cat, except during the winter when she finds it too cold to spend her entire day outside.

More importantly than preventing her from hunting wildlife, being leashed prevents her from shitting in anyone’s garden.

Re: How to stop cats from exterminating wildlife?

#15

Post by moistly »

aristofun wrote: post #13

I wonder how such a joke questions sometime end up in the top of Ask HN. While serious and relevant ones (like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33693376 And others much better) drown with near zero attention.

It’s becoming worse over time, IMO.

Re: How to stop cats from exterminating wildlife?

#16

Post by qwytw »

adrienchauvet wrote: post #8
mytailorisrich wrote: post #4

Keep in mind that many of the mammals killed by cats are mice and rats that we want to kill anyway. I think a bell goes a long way, as already suggested.

Wild predators already have this job. By raising millions of cats in each countries, the pressure on wild rodents becomes huge. Without talking about wild birds whose populations are plummeting.

Mice and rats that live in urban and semi-urban areas are not really that more wild than cats. Their populations collapse if they lost access to their food sources which are provided by humans.

Re: How to stop cats from exterminating wildlife?

#17

Post by is_true »

logicalmonster wrote: post #11

1) How is cats killing animals such as birds and mice actually a problem? Do we have a shortage of birds or mice? For the most part, even if they're domesticated, I'd consider cats eating things as part of the natural food chain in the way that nature designed. 2) Suppose you could solve this "problem" and you could design a device that emits some sound and makes cats' hunting fail. Have you considered the far reachi…

A cat is a startup with VC money competing with a bootstrapped business.

Re: How to stop cats from exterminating wildlife?

#18

Post by is_true »

aristofun wrote: post #13

I wonder how such a joke questions sometime end up in the top of Ask HN. While serious and relevant ones (like https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33693376 And others much better) drown with near zero attention.

It's an interesting problem.

Also, dogs can bark above 100dB which can disturb people hundred of meters away.

Our society should evaluate it's pets choices

Re: How to stop cats from exterminating wildlife?

#19

Post by salad-fan »

LinuxBender wrote: post #9

Cats are hard wired to hunt. It isn't their fault. The fault lies with the owners. People in cities can reduce the problem by getting their cat fixed unless their goal is to sell kittens. Having an indoor/outdoor cat is a choice but I believe it is an unhealthy and risky choice as the cat will pick up all manor of infestation which then has to be countered with chemicals that are not safe for the cat or the humans de…

If you’re in California know that feeding wildlife is illegal. And regardless of where you are it’s a bad idea as it habituates them to humans and attracting prey animals (like deer) will also attract their predators.

Re: How to stop cats from exterminating wildlife?

#20

Post by LinuxBender »

salad-fan wrote: post #19
LinuxBender wrote: post #9

Cats are hard wired to hunt. It isn't their fault. The fault lies with the owners. People in cities can reduce the problem by getting their cat fixed unless their goal is to sell kittens. Having an indoor/outdoor cat is a choice but I believe it is an unhealthy and risky choice as the cat will pick up all manor of infestation which then has to be countered with chemicals that are not safe for the cat or the humans de…

If you’re in California know that feeding wildlife is illegal. And regardless of where you are it’s a bad idea as it habituates them to humans and attracting prey animals (like deer) will also attract their predators.

I left Cali, too many laws for me. The game warden and Sheriff here are quite happy that I and others feed the deer. It helps repopulate the wilderness behind my property. Bird lovers also appreciate that I feed all the birds. Nobody aside from me seem to care about the chipmunks. I am working towards unlocking the Crazy Chipmunk Dude title and achievement.

I am happy to attract the coyotes. It keeps them away from town and away from peoples children. My only gripe with them is when they are mating, they always choose 3am to do there little mating noises but that is only for a few weeks per year. They and the eagles clean up after the deer that get hit by cars i.e. the Circle of Life or nothing left to waste. I keep the coyotes, wolves and bears away from the house with vinegar. My high powered LED lights appear to be keeping the mountain lions away.

All of that said, I am working on making things safer for the deer and the officials here appreciate it as it reduces car accidents. By next spring I should have enough fences and high voltage in place to corral them into a little sanctuary. Every year about 25 to 30 mule deer live in my yard and peek into my windows when they are hungry or their heated water buckets are empty.

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