Cats everywhere!

[GoldfinchFeather]

Since we have plenty of threads to moan about dogs and dog owners, how about a bit of balance and a thread for the same about cats?

I, for one, am not a fan of the things and think there are too many around. And sure, while the problems they cause may be less obvious than dogs/dog ownership, I personally think they're worse in many ways. Particularly for the terrible effect they have on local wildlife and birds in particular.

On numerous occasions I've had the misfortune to come across birds and animals that have clearly been attacked by cats. One distressing incident occurred just a few weeks ago - on an evening walk I came across a domestic cat that had just attacked a tiny baby wild rabbit. Despite shooing the cat off and it still being alive when I got to it, it didn't survive.

Seeing that made me just want to go and give the bloody thing a boot up the backside.

Yet many cat owners seem to find this behaviour either a mildly amusing part of their cat ownership ("you'll never guess what my Tiddles caught the other day!"), or have no qualms about letting their cats roam freely and slowly kill all wildlife within a several mile radius. When really, they should just be kept indoors.

And if they were, there'd be far less of them that were always going bloody missing or being stupid enough to get themselves run over on the road.

Surely I can't be alone in my hatred of cats?!

Of course it’s their nature to hunt and kill

we are not training them to hunt

They excel in hunting they are intelligent, magnificent creatures their speed, how agile they are how they understand their prey is incredible

no one complains about the mouse population (or rats in some cases) being controlled slightly apart from a few moaning minnies on MN

birds maybe but humans are doing the better job at keeping the bird population down

thankfully we are all cat lovers (and dog lovers) around here

And dogs don’t run & kill wildlife, livestock (lambs etc), baby rabbits, cats, people, children, other dogs?

snd people are never cruel & treat animals badly?

really?

Wow, you’re going to be horrified when you discover how many animals are killed by humans.

What about feral cats? They need to eat.

Cats aren’t great for wildlife. But neither are cars, wind turbines, urban development, pollution… etc etc etc. at least cats are just doing what their instincts tell them. The rest is on us.

It’s different as humans are the only species with a self-awareness and a consciousness that’s complex enough to think of alternative choices. Animals rely heavily on instinct and the world around them in real time. So the comparison there is a poor one.

Do we need to kill to eat? Is a cat playing with a bird (a horrible thing I agree) really so much worse than a mother animal having her young taken away and being kept in a concrete pen?

Errr, you know that rabbits are a man-made problem too? They aren’t native to the UK, they were introduced by the Romans. They are certainly a man-made problem in the UK so surely by your logic killing a rabbit, or other species introduced by humans such as get squirrel, is fair game?

A dog recently chased pregnant sheep in a field near me. The ewes, and the lambs they were carrying, were viciously slaughtered. The dog was doing it for fun - it wasn’t going to eat them.
The farmer was devastated- financially and emotionally.
The farmer put up a sign some months later, saying Keep Dogs on a Lead, and that out of control dogs could be shot. A dog owner defaced the sign.
Dogs have killed many humans, including lots of children.
I have never had a cat jump up at me when I am out on a walk minding my own business, I have never had a cat wipe drool on my clothes whilst I am in a cafe eating, I have never had a cat take food from out of my children’s hands when they are sat eating a picnic in a park having a picnic.
I don’t think cats are anywhere near the problem dogs are…

Many wild predators kill when they don’t need to as well, surplus killing is very common. Foxes will kill even when they don’t need to eat if they are met with a prey animal. So will many birds of prey and animals such as weasels. Killing prey when they’re not hungry/ don’t need to eat is not a behaviour unique to cats and there are plenty of wild animals in the UK who kill surplus to their nutritional needs.

I think we found the cat murderer folks

We humans can all survive without eating animals.
So there isn’t an actual purpose to it. Just a disire

People desire eating animals, cats desire killing them. Theres No difference.

Agree
My last trip down the A303 eastbound and there were 22 dead dear killed by cars!
22 !!
and I stopped counting before I got to the end.

Not all cats are pets. Where do you get that idea from? And the biology is the same with pet cats and non pet cats

My cat said you kill more animals than he does. You kill for food, cheap clothes, electronics, shoes, car interiors, furniture, cosmetics testing….

Let he without sin cast the first kill

I prefer cats to DOG-PEOPLE ... bleugh

My brother's dog has attacked, and sometimes killed, rabbits, mountjac deer, chickens, pheasants and a swan. He's an absolute menace who will probably (and justifiably) get shot by a farmer one day. I don't buy this idea that cats are unique in killing when not hungry.

Your brother is the problem.

I completely agree.

You go on and on about cats killing wildlife, but the biggest destroyer is staring back in the mirror. Us. Humans. Do you eat meat? If so, imagine the fear and horror a cow, lamb etc feels with the stench of death knowing they will be next to die. You eat that animal and then say about a baby bunny being killed by a cat. We pollute, chop down habitats, build on them and hunt. Cats have sadly affected bird etc population, but humans do far worse. I have a male cat who is 13 and he is an indoor one. He killed some flies and mice once that got in where we lived due to neighbours having hens and mice are attracted to hen droppings! I love my cat and do see some domestic and strays about and worry they are outdoors. I don't hate any animsl but am scared of a few like sharks, snakes etc.

You are entitled to your opinion but in reality the damage by cats far far less than damage by dogs. And simple prevention measures like putting a collar with a bell on your cat decrease damage completely.
Then cats don’t bother you and just go around their life. As many people pointed out cats don’t jump on you, don’t ask to take them into shops and cafes and don’t shit on pavement.

Fucking hell. No wonder there is no peace on earth with all the hate cats, love dogs v hate dogs, love cats opinions.

Dogs do far more damage to ground nesting birds than a hunting cat. Even with signage to keep dogs on short leads I often see them rushing through undergrowth off lead or on an extendable. Most owners seem to think it's lovely to watch their pet having fun chasing the birds.
Irresponsible ownership of both species is the problem, not the animals themselves.

Your quote seems incomplete. Let me finish it for you:

Studies show that domestic cats in the UK interact significantly with wildlife, catching and killing between 160 to 275 million animals annually*.

*Note: The statistics quoted are based on studies and surveys conducted by various organizations and charities, rather than official UK government estimates.

While I'm not denying domestic cats kills wildlife (mine certainly do despite being well fed), I'm not going to place much credence on these statistics 😉

Humans don't need meat to survive - they can live perfectly well as vegetarians or vegans, so that is a total straw man argument.

Loss of habitat and climate change are a much much bigger threat to wildlife. Wetland drainage is a huge risk to ground nesting birds and destroys entire ecosystems - the threat from cats is localised and short term

Humans who fly anywhere, drive cars or buy anything that is imported (contributing to climate change), buy new build houses, have concreted over their garden or eat anything that isn't organic (contributing to habitat loss) are much more of a threat to wildlife as the destruction wrought by all of that is bigger and more long term than anything cats could ever do.