61–70 of 244 posts
So the amount of places that rats nest will increase.
Does increased nesting come with increased disease?
Do they breed significantly more when they have found nesting places they are comfortable with, and if so, by what factor?
Bring in a cat and you get a burger! After a while the hamburger's will taste different. That's the point when you will surely know the program became self sufficient... lol
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sorry, but you seem to be ignorant of the facts. I have provided extensive references for everything I said. Please read them before typing out your gut response. While cats, in general, are a threat to birds, these particular cats were not a threat to these particular birds.
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Please read these points carefully:
1. While cats, in general, are a threat to birds, the cats managed by the TNR program on Google Campus were not a threat to burrowing owls in the Shoreline park;
2. Shutdown of the TNR program resulted in the increase of the feral cat population, and had no positive impact on the owls;
3. The primary threat to the burrowing owls is human interference and destruction of habitat. These birds are not particularly threatened by stray cats in the first place.
4. Saying that the general statement applies to a particular case without looking at the facts is a fallacy.
TL;DR: "cats are a threat to birds" doesn't imply that my house cat in the US is a threat to kiwis in New Zealand.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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I repeat my request to actually read the words that I wrote, along with the references, and respond to that instead of the emotions you're feeling. Please read these points carefully: 1. While cats, in general, are a threat to birds, the cats managed by the TNR program on Google Campus were not a threat to burrowing owls in the Shoreline park; 2. Shutdown of the TNR program resulted in the increase of the feral cat p…
Do you think that you can somehow generalize from that to NYC?
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During the pandemic irresponsible morons adopted cats to alleviate the loneliness only to abandon their new friends on the street once the restrictions waned. This inhumane treatment has resulted in thousands of feral cats added to city streets. This is not good for the city or the cats.
This smells like a moralism that has very little real impact on the population (which is driven by food supply and neutering efforts). My guess is that the lockdown halting spaying/neutering operations was 100x as impactful as additional abandoned cats.
> the Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology oppose [trap, neuter, release], holding that cats are a highly destructive invasive species that should not be allowed to live outdoors at all The only option that leaves, really, is extermination. But nobody is going to do that (not on a scale to have an impact, anyway) because (1) it costs money and (2) people would flip out because they love cats. Is the the…
I can't imagine that euthanasia is more expensive than TNR.
> the Audubon Society and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology oppose [trap, neuter, release], holding that cats are a highly destructive invasive species that should not be allowed to live outdoors at all The only option that leaves, really, is extermination. But nobody is going to do that (not on a scale to have an impact, anyway) because (1) it costs money and (2) people would flip out because they love cats. Is the the…
> it costs money I can't imagine that euthanasia is more expensive than TNR.
And the overall effort isn’t that different.
With TNR you trap, neuter, release.
With extermination you trap, kill, dispose. (I don’t think you can leave a bunch of dead cats and poison traps laying around).
Neutering is a lot more effort than killing, but disposing is more effort than releasing (you can’t just throw piles and piles of dead cats in a dumpster).
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I'm gonna guess the main problem is the rats are smart and will stay in sewers and other places cats can't get to them.
Well the obvious solution is bigger sewers that cats can get into, and meaner cats.
Given that the article is also kind of a PSA for New Yorkers, I'm surprised that it didn't mention ear clipping. If a feral cat has already been spayed or neutered, its left ear is clipped so that people know to leave it alone and not trap it again.