There is a new view in biology that accepts that humans have introduced new species and there are many examples where mass killing just won't work anymore.
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/courting_controversy_with_a_new...
It's too late to go and kill all the cats. It's been tried in Australia for decades and it's a dismal failure.
It's arguable that trying to kill cats or rabbits or whatever now is just species Xenophobia.
Just stop. Stop bickering about cats being the problem. The problem is humans... We are the problem. Their existence is due to us. Their domestication is due to us.
Re:The Killer Cats Are Winning
by smallnamespace on Tuesday October 11, 2016 @01:48PM
(#12686701)
Certainly. So what should humans do about the cats?
Re:The Killer Cats Are Winning
by ferentchak on Tuesday October 11, 2016 @02:45PM
(#12687363)
In practice it seems bring them snacks and put them in cute sweaters.
Spay/neuter your pet. It's the most effective thing to do.
I did some back-of-the-envelope math a while back that showed that if we wanted to make demand-of-pets match the supply-of-cats-and-dogs in the US, we'd basically each have to have one pet, at all times, for our entire lives. So, a family of four would need four pets. New baby: additional pet. Pet dies: get a new pet. One for each person at all times.
Barring that, if you want to minimize suffering of future stray cats/dogs (or limit environmental impact), it makes sense to do a one-time massive nationwide effort of scooping up all stray cats and dogs, and either spaying/neutering them, or culling them.
Get out of the way and let cats solve the problem! We're the problem, let them solve us!
I love comments like this for reminding me to do something more productive with my life.
Re:The Killer Cats Are Winning
by eli_gottlieb on Wednesday October 12, 2016 @09:17AM
(#12692498)
Allow people to own dogs? I know where I live, many pet-owners who could have gone either way choose a cat just because there are almost no landlords who allow dogs.
Probably just have fewer cats
It seems this thread is filled with defensive cat-lovers who have no argument other than to bury heads in the sand.
Citing the historical reasons for their existence doesn't really help the case that they aren't a problem now because the exact reason that it's now and not then. Cats may have had a purpose when they were introduced but in most cases they don't actually serve that purpose anymore. And we can ignore that point entirely because feral cats don't even fit the definition of animals with a job to begin with. They aren't owned by anyone, they are just another animal in the environment. One that happens to be an invasive species causing extraordinary damage to the environment.