NYC should learn from Istanbul and accept their rodent cleaners.
The article says that the cats will hunt mice but rarely hunt rats.
Clearing 500k feral cats from New York’s streets
191–200 of 244 posts
Re: Clearing 500k feral cats from New York’s streets
#192Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article mentions that the cats may be responsible for control of mice population, but apparently attacks on the New York rats are relatively rare being far larger and more aggressive.
purely as a thought experiment, I wonder if given enough time, the NYC stray cat population would observe a genetic drift towards larger body size and start preying on the abundant local rat population? I never lived in NYC, and don't know how big the rats are there, but the rats I've seen (mostly at uni. biology labs) they grow to about 25cm in length (about the length from tip of index finger to tip of thumb with h…
And then the rodents will genetically drift to being larger as well and at some point in the future will have cats and rats as large as cars.
Re: Clearing 500k feral cats from New York’s streets
#193Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because there's a real danger of losing some of these bird species, and absolutely zero danger of losing domestic cats as a species?
This is absolutely untrue. Most studies on cat impact on bird species are ridden with incomplete and bad data. In Germany, estimates are around 200 million birds killed by cats every year. But since the total population of birds is estimated at 400 million that would be every second bird! That's insane and grounds for immediate skepticism. Well, it turns out that extrapolating local results to global scenarios does n…
You can come clear up the weekly dead birds in our garden throughout nesting season, killed by the local cats, then.
Re: Clearing 500k feral cats from New York’s streets
#194Re: Clearing 500k feral cats from New York’s streets
#195Earlier quoted context omitted.
here, they now give neutered cats a tattoo on the belly (~1cm green line) instead of clipping. this is a bit more humane and becoming more the standard nowadays i believe.
Not sure if it's changed here, but in Australia it's a tattoo on the inner ear (a circle with a line through it).
Pretty soon it'll be a full-sleeve and a nose ring.
Re: Clearing 500k feral cats from New York’s streets
#196Earlier quoted context omitted.
purely as a thought experiment, I wonder if given enough time, the NYC stray cat population would observe a genetic drift towards larger body size and start preying on the abundant local rat population? I never lived in NYC, and don't know how big the rats are there, but the rats I've seen (mostly at uni. biology labs) they grow to about 25cm in length (about the length from tip of index finger to tip of thumb with h…
And then the rodents will genetically drift to being larger as well and at some point in the future will have cats and rats as large as cars.
This will put pressure on having bigger cars and at some point in the future we'll have cars as big as the american ones
Re: Clearing 500k feral cats from New York’s streets
#197Earlier quoted context omitted.
There was a commenter, I'm not sure if it was here, slashot or reddit, he would start with interesting premise but then halfway he got distracted and finished different story with something mundane never finishing the interesting story. He was famous for it.
I was sure you were going to refer to u/shittymorph of reddit fame.
Like back in nineteen ninety eight when the undertaker threw mankind off hell in a cell and plummeted sixteen feet through an announcers table
Re: Clearing 500k feral cats from New York’s streets
#198Be careful what you wish for. It reminds me of the Four Pests campaign in China around 1960, especially the extermination of sparrows, one of the causes of the Great Chinese Famine. 500k feral cats: that's a lot of mice, pigeons and young rats! Without predators like feral cats, NY's rat problem could become even more, well, interesting.
The article mentions that the cats may be responsible for control of mice population, but apparently attacks on the New York rats are relatively rare being far larger and more aggressive.
NY could introduce coyotes that will take care of both the rats and cats. They mostly hunt at night here in SF.
Re: Clearing 500k feral cats from New York’s streets
#199Be careful what you wish for. It reminds me of the Four Pests campaign in China around 1960, especially the extermination of sparrows, one of the causes of the Great Chinese Famine. 500k feral cats: that's a lot of mice, pigeons and young rats! Without predators like feral cats, NY's rat problem could become even more, well, interesting.
Complete anecdata but this appears to have happened where I live. Urban-ish neighborhood (it'd be "urban" to most of the USA, but not to say someone living in Manhattan). The area in general has a lot of rat issues. But our little half block radius never did.
There was a feral cat colony that lived in an abandoned building right at the epicenter. Few years back that building was torn down and new condos went up, and the feral cat colony is no more.
Go figure, our little neck of the woods now has the same rat issues as everyone else near us.
Re: Clearing 500k feral cats from New York’s streets
#200Don’t we have a rat problem too? I live in Manhattan, send us some of these cats!
Having had (pet) rats as well as a cat (briefly), I don’t think that cats are generally sufficient for rats. Fully grown adult rats are too big for cats to handle and they only take 10 weeks to reach a size that will make them troublesome for average cat. Remember that a feral cat does not have access to health services. If they are injured trying to take down prey, they will probably be dead shortly after. That havi…
Rats generally avoid areas where cats live, though.