111–120 of 244 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm sorry but you're dreaming of you think that feral cats aren't destroying local bird populations.
Why do I care about the bird population over the cat population? Who's playing god?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Poor people aren't the problem here, it's the relatively wealthy who feel that responsible pet ownership laws don't apply to them.
So we'll solve it with more laws. Brilliant! Just outlaw murder while you are at it too!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why do I care about the bird population over the cat population? Who's playing god?
We are way past this point. This huge population of cats exists solely because we are breeding cats. Besides that, we are killing lots of other, apparently lesser animals, in order to feed them to our cats. What do you call this, if not playing god?
I don't know of any "cat breeders". They are just a resilient species.
I suppose we could make some sort of "equity" system for species based on an arbitrary metric, but that's closer to playing God.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've seen NYC subway rats and I'd wager most cats wouldn't take them on.
This really depends on how hungry the cat is. Feral cats commonly kill mammals larger than NYC rats, although they prefer smaller game. In general, you can expect a feline to be able to kill prey over twice it's body weight. In many habitats felines are the apex predator, and even feral cats are apex predators of some habitats. The biggest issue is that NYC rats, the non-native species that have evolved in urban envi…
That cat was an amazing cat in so many ways.
The article is making it seem like trap-neuter-release is a completely new strategy, but groups in NYC and elsewhere have been employing it for a long time. What's new is that Flatbush Cats is building a new vet clinic to provide more spaying / neutering capacity.
NYT seems to be running an anti-cat agenda. This article calls trap-neuter-release (TNR) a "controversial" practice, whereas it's well established and proven to be effective (something even this article says). A few years back, they ran a full-blown frontal assault[1] on Google's volunteer-ran TNR program, gCat, blaming the TNR program (and only the TNR program) for the decline of the local burrowing owl population.…
The article is making it seem like trap-neuter-release is a completely new strategy, but groups in NYC and elsewhere have been employing it for a long time. What's new is that Flatbush Cats is building a new vet clinic to provide more spaying / neutering capacity.
NYT seems to be running an anti-cat agenda. This article calls trap-neuter-release (TNR) a "controversial" practice, whereas it's well established and proven to be effective (something even this article says). A few years back, they ran a full-blown frontal assault[1] on Google's volunteer-ran TNR program, gCat, blaming the TNR program (and only the TNR program) for the decline of the local burrowing owl population.…
[1] says:
>The owls are endangered from many sides. One of the biggest threats uses the Shoreline golf course. A bleak Mountain View report three months ago noted there have been deaths “due to direct contact between golf balls and burrowing owls.”
They do not blame only cats. They discuss cats in particular but do mention there are other threats. I will grant that this one confusingly-worded paragraph is not enough background.
They also do not call for the killing of all cats. The article mostly criticizes the practice of feeding cats, not TNR or adoption.
[2] says:
>Feral cats are supreme predators and actively prey upon burrowing owls. One study in Florida found owl mortality by cats accounted for 30 percent of deaths (Millsap and Bear, 1988). Cats also impact burrowing owls indirectly by decimating small bird and rodent populations, reducing the available food supply for burrowing owls.
One suggested solution is to:
>Proactively discourage all feeding of cats in Shoreline
It is exactly the same message as the NYT article.
[3] calls out the threat of cats first and foremost.
>There are many factors that could explain the low numbers. The owls are ground-nesting, living in holes hollowed out by squirrels. That can leave them vulnerable to a long list of predators, including foxes, skunks and raccoons. Feral cats are considered the worst of the lot, preying on owls as well as the small birds and rodents that make up the owls' main food supply. In fact, a released cat last year ended up mauling one prolific male owl, Kleinhaus said.
>In the aftermath of the shutdown, the local feral cat population predictably exploded[8], and the burrowing owl population at Shoreline Park went down to zero[9].
You seem to acknowledge that the large cat population was in fact a threat to owls, but still object to the NYT story.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
NYT seems to be running an anti-cat agenda. This article calls trap-neuter-release (TNR) a "controversial" practice, whereas it's well established and proven to be effective (something even this article says). A few years back, they ran a full-blown frontal assault[1] on Google's volunteer-ran TNR program, gCat, blaming the TNR program (and only the TNR program) for the decline of the local burrowing owl population.…
Of course TNR is better than doing nothing, but if you trap the cats anyway why not just kill them then?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We are way past this point. This huge population of cats exists solely because we are breeding cats. Besides that, we are killing lots of other, apparently lesser animals, in order to feed them to our cats. What do you call this, if not playing god?
Cats don't need help breeding. GP even said "feral cat". I don't know of any "cat breeders". They are just a resilient species. I suppose we could make some sort of "equity" system for species based on an arbitrary metric, but that's closer to playing God.
This definitely isn't new. I had an apartment in Bushwick through the 2000s, and due to construction in the surrounding area, the rats on our block and occasionally in our building were huge and relentless. Then my neighbor moved in. She was a pet photographer by trade, but also cared for all the neighborhood cats as well as all the area bodega cats - making sure they all had their shots and were spayed / neutered. S…
melrose st?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cats don't need help breeding. GP even said "feral cat". I don't know of any "cat breeders". They are just a resilient species. I suppose we could make some sort of "equity" system for species based on an arbitrary metric, but that's closer to playing God.
Domestic cats as a species had been introduced to America by humans, and still are explicitly kept and feed by humans. I'd call that breeding. This also sets an easy and natural metric of how many cats should be there: 0.
Birds can fly, not really fair to the feline species concerning which places it's allowed, eh?
Zero cats should be allowed to exist in NA?
No open borders for cats!?