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Coyote feeder (media.kbin.social)
submitted 1 year ago by PugJesus@kbin.social to c/memes@sopuli.xyz
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[-] zdrvr@lemm.ee 32 points 1 year ago
[-] zephr_c@lemm.ee 23 points 1 year ago

How bad it is depends on where you live, but yeah, for a lot of reasons most of the world probably shouldn't have outdoor housecats. As the article you linked pointed out though, most of the damage is being done by feral cats, and well... that cat's out of the bag, so to speak.

[-] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 year ago

Feral cat populations are created and maintained by outdoor non-feral cats. Lots of people who don't keep their cats indoors also don't get their cats fixed either.

[-] chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com -1 points 1 year ago

This doesn't work as a general argument against having an outdoor cat, because you can just have them fixed.

[-] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

Many people don't have them fixed unfortunately.

[-] zephr_c@lemm.ee -1 points 1 year ago

Created yes. Maintained not so much. Feral cats can make more feral cats on their own just fine. In fact, outdoor housecats are really bad for feral cats, because they hunt prey, fight for territory, and contribute to overpopulation of small predators without having to deal with the constant dangers that an actual feral cat does.

[-] Kerb@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 1 year ago

then we should set out a bunch of coyotes,
to keep the feral cat population in check.

what could possibly go wrong?

[-] zephr_c@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago

Sure, we could try it in Australia first. They love that kind of thing. It always goes great for them.

[-] lowleveldata@programming.dev 7 points 1 year ago

Nah the coyotes would just all get eaten by the spiders

[-] son_named_bort@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Australia already has dingos, which are like coyotes except they eat babies instead of cats.

[-] moody@lemmings.world 8 points 1 year ago

You paint a whole house and nobody calls you a painter, but you eat one baby...

[-] pagshile@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago

"So, we set coyotes loose to catch the cats. Then what? We get a wolf to eat the coyotes? Then we get a tiger to eat the wolf!? WHAT EATS THE TIGER, DAD - TELL ME THAT!"

[-] Imgonnatrythis@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

I mean you are partially right. Bringing back wolves would help in NA. They are supposed to be a part of the ecosystem and might help keep coyotes in check to a degree at least and would certainly keep killer deer population is n check. They were eliminated more out of fear than legitimate threat and killer deer have now far exceeded human threat compared to wolves.

[-] PugJesus@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

I like the way you think

[-] halvo317@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

In Minnesota, we let five months of inhospitable winter do the dirty work for us.

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

I've got bad news if you think cats don't survive winter... And I'm living in a more northern region too...

[-] halvo317@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago

It definitely culls our local population.

[-] jerkface@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Or there is just more predation in the winter, more starvation, or more car strikes; you don't know it's the cold

[-] halvo317@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I don't understand your point. I'm saying the effects of an inhospitable winter environment does quite a bit of the dirty work for keeping feral cat populations in check. Were you agreeing with me?

[-] Chev@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

The number of birds killed by cats per year matches ironically the number of animals us humans kill per day for food if we include marine animals. 😄

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 year ago

Yep, I can't believe the hypocrisy either, pretty much all major cities require that dogs be on a leash or in a yard. Cats though? Can't have them on a leash! Are you crazy!?! 😱

[-] halvo317@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago

It's almost like cats and dogs are different animals or something.

[-] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah, dogs tend to have larger territories than cats when allowed to free-roam, so cats have an easier time adapting a smaller space, hence why they tend to make better apartment pets. Feral cat colonies (which are caused and maintained by non-feral outdoor cats that haven't been fixed) are also larger on average than feral dog packs when they form, amplifying their negative effects on the local ecosystem further. Free roaming cats also have a huge environmental impact, are a major threat to native wildlife, and are the most invasive species in the world. While free-roam dogs do hunt and do also have an impact on the environment, they don't kill native animals on the same scale as cats. Cats will kill even if they're not hungry and don't intend to eat, and free roam cats eat more often in a day than free roam dogs do (up to ~12 times a day for cats, while dogs might eat once a day or even once every 2 to 3 days depending on food availability). Even more reason why we should keep both dogs AND cats inside.

If you want to give your cat more space to work with then leash training, catios, and cat-proof yards are great options! In my neighbourhood a lot of people tie their cats out on leads in their front yards as well. Everything we do for dogs to give them more space without letting them roam free we can do for cats as well, because even though they're different animals, they're both capable of being trained, supervised, or kept in some sort of enclosure.

[-] halvo317@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 year ago

Dogs kill 25,000 people annually. How many do housecats kill? It's not a 1-to-1 comparison.

My cat throws herself through the doorway as soon as anyone gets home. She will chew through window screens. She breaks the catio whenever we put it up. If we don't let her out, she will scream non-stop all night. She will fight with the other animals. She will resent us if we don't let her out. When, not if, she does get out, she'll stay away for longer if we haven't been letting her out. She'll disappear for days.

Meanwhile, if I let her out, she will usually sit on the patio or patrol the yard at night. She kills vermin such as voles, moles, and rats. She is territorial about our yard such that she has managed to push the colony of feral cats out of my yard. She gets regular checkups along with flea and tick treatment. She is 14 and happier than she's ever been. I'm going to let her live her best life.

[-] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I don't see what that has to do with anything. I'm not saying dogs should be allowed to roam free while cats are kept inside. I'm saying they BOTH shouldn't be allowed to wander freely. Dogs being a danger to humans is just another reason why. I'm just listing some of the reasons why cats also shouldn't be allowed to free roam. Danger to humans isn't the only reason to keep an animal indoors or in an enclosure unless on a leash or supervised.

Dogs also become destructive when kept inside without being exercised or entertained. Dog owners are expected to provide those things instead of just letting their dogs roam loose around the neighbourhood to entertain themselves. Your cat isn't some super special exception among cats who never kills any native animals that aren't pests. You can cat-proof your yard to provide a safe outdoor space for her, or leash train her and take her on regular walks to drain her energy and satisfy her desire to roam, or make her an enclosure that she can stay in outside without being given complete unsupervised freedom, but of course those solutions would all take actual effort. So it's up to you to decide, would you rather put in the effort to provide an appropriate environment for your pet, including enrichment and training and exercise, like dog owners are expected to do? Or would you rather shrug and toss your cat outside to contend with cars, coyotes, and all manner of toxic plants and chemicals and diseases and parasites, and allow her to continue to contribute to the destruction of the local ecosystem?

Because it's not really about what makes your cat happy, that's just the easiest excuse to convince yourself that you don't have to change things. After all, if you did your due diligence she could be both happy and safe, and living her best life without having to be let outside unsupervised. What it's really about is whether you're willing to put in the work to make that happen as a responsible pet owner.

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[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

You're right, dogs don't kill billions of birds a year!

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[-] YooBitches@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

I agree cats shouldn't be let out roam freely like that anywhere and anytime but it's better cats than dogs. Cats in general are smaller and less aggressive to humans. Like how many large dogs you could find in 100 dogs and how many big cats you could find in same amount of cats?

[-] Laticauda@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

It doesn't have to be one or the other. Neither should be allowed to roam freely.

[-] Stuka@lemmy.ml -1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Do you know the difference between being taken for a walk and living outside? It doesn't sound like you do

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 3 points 1 year ago

How does that not apply to dogs then?

Again, pure hypocrisy from cat owners.

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[-] 6mementomori@lemm.ee -1 points 1 year ago

let's arrest cats living as cats!

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Alright then, people should be allowed to let their dog be free so they can live as dogs.

Also, people aren't allowed to adopt cats anymore and house cats need to be exterminated on the American continent and in Oceania.

You know... So cats live as cats historically did?

[-] halvo317@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

You are saying my 10 pound cat who avoids people while killing the voles that plague my yard should follow the same rules my 85 pound golden retriever with stranger danger anxiety does?

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Funny you should say that because there's a cat that's attacking people (including a kid), dogs and cats in a neighborhood around where I live and authorities are saying "Can't do anything about it, people are free to let their cat roam free and it's registered so it's not considered a stray 🤷"

[-] MiddleWeigh@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

That is pretty funny to think about. Dangerous, but amusing.

I know when my cat bites my partner for food or attention she just let's him do it. Then she'll freak out all flustered, I'm like ya your literally letting him do it. Throw him out of the bathroom ffs!

[-] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

In this case a kid and an adult had to go to the hospital and a dog to the vet.

It's very aggressive and they can't identify the owner because they can't approach it!

[-] halvo317@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 year ago

That cat better be the size of a cougar

[-] Imgonnatrythis@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Can i rent your cat? Fucking voles. Actually I think mine are full on moles. Maybe if cat is hungry enough though??

[-] halvo317@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago

Worth a shot. That's why domestic cats exist.

[-] jerkface@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Or, or, or -- instead of doing that fucking absurd thing you suggested to try to ignore the valid points other people are making, we deal with them the same way we deal with other ecologically disastrous invasive species.

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this post was submitted on 08 Aug 2023
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