Clearing 500k feral cats from New York’s streets • Hacker News Board

Re: Clearing 500k feral cats from New York’s streets

#241

Post by midoridensha » Mon, Jun 12, 2023, 12:40 AM UTC

clairity wrote: post #210

midoridensha wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's pretty normal for pet cats: mine are like this. However, I don't see how it's useful for stray cats. You can't just pick up a stray cat to look at its belly. A clipped ear you can see from a distance.

yes, i should clarify that LA has a pretty effective no-kill cat rescue network (even sending rescues to other states for adoption), so most cats here are neutered, chipped, vaccinated, and tattooed when rescued and adopted out (e.g., my sweet little rescue cat). but there are also dedicated TNR volunteers who strictly neuter and release stray cats and employ the ear-clipping method for that reason (easier to see fro…

>ear-clipping isn't foolproof though, since many feral cats will not sit still long enough or let you get close enough for you to observe a clipped ear.

Nothing is foolproof, but you can use binoculars to see feral cats' ears from a distance if you really have to. Most stray cats, in my experience, are NOT friendly at all; they won't let you come close enough to them to pick them up, and if you do they might fight you.

Re: Clearing 500k feral cats from New York’s streets

#242

Post by romwell » Mon, Jun 12, 2023, 7:05 PM UTC

adsfgiodsnrio wrote: post #240

romwell wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You are badly misrepresenting the content of your sources. If that's the case, so do you. >[1] do not blame only cats. [1] is a direct attack piece on Google's TNR program. The entire article is centered on that. To say that they "do not blame only cats" is laughable. Who they actually blame is Google's employees who ran the TNR program. >They also do not call for the killing of all cats Ah, but isn't it neat? They…

>[2] lists the following threats: Oops, you forgot one: - Predation by nonnative and/or nuisance species >And yes, after all of the above, cats may also present a threat. You seem to think it's very important this bullet point is last, but there is nothing in the source that suggests items are listed in order of importance. Even if there were the order is not consistent in all parts of the report. Why are you reading…

>You seem to think it's very important this bullet point is last

I think it's important to know that there are five other threats listed, all of them having to do with destruction of habitat.

That's to drive the point home that destruction of habitat has a much higher impact than anything else - including predators.

>There is nothing in the source that suggests items are listed in order of importance.

The content of the bullet points suggests that. They are listed in the order of impact on habitats.

The bullet point following the "predation" bullet point is "future possible threats".

>Why are you reading tea leaves when the authors say, explicitly and repeatedly, that cats are a serious threat?

Because the authorities don't provide any hard data on that.

But let's not read tea leaves, indeed. The most important point is that the gap between cats, in general, may be a threat to Google's specific cats are a threat has never been filled.

It's solid logic:

- Some cats threaten owls

- The animals fed by gCat TNR volunteers are cats

- Therefore, gCat threatens owls

Do you see a problem here?

Re: Clearing 500k feral cats from New York’s streets

#243

Post by romwell » Tue, Jun 13, 2023, 6:07 PM UTC

rcpt wrote: post #151

rendang wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course TNR is better than doing nothing, but if you trap the cats anyway why not just kill them then?

100% agree that euthanasia is the effective way to deal with the problem. But, someone in this thread made the very strong point that people will trap and collect cats for free if you're going to neuter and release them. Granted TNR hasn't worked at all, but at least it's possible to stay elected while the program exists.

>Granted TNR hasn't worked at all

[citation neeeded]

Re: Clearing 500k feral cats from New York’s streets

#244

Post by rcpt » Wed, Jun 14, 2023, 8:29 PM UTC

romwell wrote: post #243

rcpt wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% agree that euthanasia is the effective way to deal with the problem. But, someone in this thread made the very strong point that people will trap and collect cats for free if you're going to neuter and release them. Granted TNR hasn't worked at all, but at least it's possible to stay elected while the program exists.

>Granted TNR hasn't worked at all [citation neeeded]

50 to 70 million feral cats in the United States