> What kind of people adopt a pet, and then release it into the wild?

Have you seen how much litter people throw on the ground? I think you might be giving the average person too much credit.

I'm not talking about cat litter I'm talking about litters of kittens. Who gives a fuck about litter?

Unless you're talking about litter as in garbage.

But if you think dumping helpless animals under your care to fend for themselves is morally equivalent to littering, I'm not even sure what to say to that. It's not even in the same ballpark.

I'm fairly confident that they meant garbage, yes.

Without commenting on the amount of badness, the point is that they're both bad things that people nonetheless manage to regularly do.

I know commenting on downvotes isn't kosher but I really wish downvoters would leave a comment on why. It could be 3 words: downvoted for x.

I'm really not sure what is so objectionable about asserting that animal abuse is not the same thing as littering.

Since you asked nicely: downvoted for using a specific type of language.

It’s the first part in the HN guidelines for comments:

“Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community.”

Thank you. Yeah, I kind of misunderstood GGP as a deliberate misinterpretation of my usage of the countable noun "litter". And it ticked me off. Having grown up on 4chan and IRC, I'm often a bit surprised by what's considered snark on HN vs other parts of the internet. I'll try to adjust my weights in future.

I think that animal abuse is not the same thing as littering but that the type of people who litter are also the same type on irresponsible people who will think that leaving a rabbit to fend for themselves is no big deal. Either they are clueless and think that rabbits can fend for themselves or they do not care about the consequences of their actions as proven by littering.

Sure. But there is something very different about the animal case because most normal people make emotional connections with their pets.

I own a Norwegian forest cat he was a stray and then found and neutered as an adult. I pretty much know that he could survive just fine on his own by hunting rodents, which he sometimes does anyway. But I still wouldn't leave him to fend for himself because I know he's much happier as a pet and I also just don't want him to leave. That's the part I don't really get. And I'm not some bleeding heart animals should have human rights type person either. Even though squirrels are cute, I'm not shedding tears while cleaning one up that the cat brought in. It's a wild animal that got killed by a predator. That's just nature.

I don't understand the emotional calculus of doing thing to an animal you've lived with and taken care of for months. And I really don't think that is normal at all.

I'm really glad people don't leave comments for downvoting. Then this forum would be littered (heh) with completely useless 3-word comments "downvoted for x".

Be less concerned with your internet points.

It's not that I'm so conserned with my points really. Just sometimes it sucks if people disapprove of what you said and you're not sure why. It's usually enough if just one person leaves a comment. Sometimes these things are just hard for me to interpret and it frustrates me a bit.

> if people disapprove of what you said and you're not sure why

Good point, I've been mildly about about that me too in some cases (I'm sbd else)

>What kind of people adopt a pet, and then release it into the wild?

I have a friend who just acquired a ball python because the frat house behind her left the snake tank, with the snake inside it, out with the trash can. Many people have no regard for animals and even less regard for their impact on the world around them.

A large number of invasive species in many countries are pets that were released in the wild. Snakes and gold fish are probably the most well known among them. Most humans are selfish I think people doing the right thing in private is a lot less common than people assume hence when someone does something unselfish it is celebrated.

Goldfish, turtles, snakes, lizards, rabbits, etc are all animals people bought for pets and then decided that they didn't want them and released them into the "wild" to be "free" without considering the consequences for the animal or the environment.

Fish and turtles immediately come to mind. I knew of somebody who released Siberian dwarf hamsters and for a brief period they multiplied in their backyard before the local red tailed hawk caught wind

This!

where i live there are wild rabbits and in previous years the population has literally exploded.

The Rabbits are smart, they build a den under my deck knowing the dog cant reach them and the dog keeps other predators away.

Then a red tailed fox moved into the area... and now instead of finding whole rabbits roaming the neighbourhood, you find the odd rabbit component. Maybe a rear quarter here, or a front limb there.