• UserFlairOptional@lemmynsfw.com
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    10 months ago

    Cats survived before us by hunting small mammals and small birds, and they are very effective at getting fed.

    The motivation at the core of naming owners of outdoor cats as irresponsible is a sharp decline in songbird populations in direct proportion to the increase in outdoor cat population.

    • emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works
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      10 months ago

      Cats survived before us by hunting small mammals and small birds, and they are very effective at getting fed.

      And, conversely, the prey evolved to avoid cats. So it is only a problem if you take cats to a place that historically did not have them. In fact, removing a predator from an ecosystem it used to keep under check can be just as devastating as introducing a foreign species.

        • emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works
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          10 months ago

          As you yourself said, cats have been living across most of Africa, Asia and Europe for over a thousand years. So unless you are talking about Australia, the Americas, or a few corners of the old world, cats are either native or naturalised enough that they are now a part of the ecosystem.

            • emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works
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              10 months ago

              It depends on the ecosystem. Pollution famously caused certain moths to shift from being mostly light-coloured to mostly dark-coloured in a matter of years. The removal and reintroduction of wolves in Yellowstone caused observable changes in prey behaviour within a decade or so. Of course longer-lived species like trees take much longer to adapt, but we’re talking about birds, geckos and rodents here.

              Edit: Also, most geckos, birds and rodents are r-strategists, meaning they are limited more by food than by predation.

          • XIIIesq@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            The absolute brain-dead mentality of the people who will just downvote anything that doesn’t fit their predetermined conclusion.

    • XIIIesq@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      There’s no evidence of this. Pet cats mostly take weakened or frail prey.