A cat must live the life of a cat, not the life of a doll. And yes, life sometimes is risky, and there is death in life, and there is dirt and half mice. We better learn to deal with it instead to keep running towards an hyperpuritan, hypersensitive society, unable to stand the minimum amount of frustration or to make anybody happy.
To help birds, we plant trees and dense shrubs and wild hedges full of biodiversity and fruits and insects. We build nestboxes. We build ponds and birdbaths. We stop pruning like obsessed. We put seeds in winter. We know that birds and hedgehogs trive in areas full of cats. If they find any minimum refuge, this is unavoidable.
If there are none of that things around, is not cat's fault. Build it. Children need to be exposed to free animals to turn into healthy people.
The dead cats don't bother me as much as the dead birds. Introducing just one cat can completely change an entire ecosystem. Outdoor cats are a threat to global biodiversity.
I know it makes you feel better to allow your cats outdoors but please recognize that it affects the ecosystem on a larger scale.
The danger depends a lot on the area and month. There are more factors involved
Some ecosystems are resilient. Some wipe actively any cat. Some should ban entirely cats while in other places removing cats could in fact harm the birds by the rodent population explosion. It changes also if the bird is migrating or not, if is young or not...
It's my yard. It's not an ecosystem. It's my cat's one job to threaten my yard's biodiversity.
Birds are noisy. At 4:30 in the morning. Anything that wakes me up at 4:30 in the morning is a problem that needs to be dealt with immediately with whatever level of violence is necessary to stop the squawking.
You get all chirpy in my yard, you deal with Mr. Tiddlesworth. Same with the squirrels that get on the roof. Die!
Harvard biologist E. O. Wilson estimates that 30,000 species per year (or three species per hour) are being driven to extinction. Compare this to the natural background rate of one extinction per million species per year, and you can see why scientists refer to it as a crisis unparalleled in human history.[..]
I think my link speaks of a larger scale and humans are the super apex predator.
But in a smaller setting, there is a certain hierarchy of prey and predator. Cats are predator to birds. It is natural. Humans are not predators of soil or eco systems. Synthetic fertilizers are not even part of the natural eco system and are artificially introduced to destabilize the natural order.
I often think of Mao’s sparrows. Human were the destabilizers. Beyond a certain point, excess of vegetation caused more birds and rodents. Their population explosion was artificial because birds migrate and go in search of food sources. The demise of the sparrows was also due to an artificially induced agent, humans.
Think GMO mosquitoes. What could go wrong? Except mosquitoes are food source for amphibians..who are eaten by reptiles..enjoyed by raptors etc.
Humans are not part of this eco system but we have stylised ourself to be the super apex predator. As human population explodes, we are wiping out entire species at a much faster rate and replacing them with more of us. This is when trouble sets in…this is where we are..
We need insects and birds and fish and other mammals to know their place in the food chain and thrive so we can eat the end product as we can’t synthesize food ourselves.
All creatures need good soil, water and sunlight for survival because only plants can synthesize their own energy. None of us can eat soil or water or sunlight or any of the natural resources. It needs to be converted into calories by plant life through the magic of photosynthesis.
So without a balanced eco system, we are all toast. It is like cutting the trunk of a tree while sitting on the topmost branch. We will fall. And the tree dies. A cat eating a bird is doing its part by staying within the confines of the role it is meant to play. Humans disrupt the balance. We are not meant to replace all the small order species beneath us.
Your neighborhood didn't get a cat, you did. Your neighbors shouldn't be expected to take responsibility for limiting the damage your cat does.
The solution is not to make the world fit cats, the solution is for you to take personal responsibility for the animal you decide to host at your house. If you can't keep that animal at your house, then don't get an animal. It's simple.
Nobody would suggest if I buy a hyena that eats dogs that people should start putting their dogs in hyena proof armor so as to accommodate the preferences of the hyena owner and the inclinations of the hyena.
Why shouldn't the answer be don't own an animal that can't live happily while co-existing with the ecosystem around it? And if that's the case and you want a cat anyways, why shouldn't we require people to build/fund infrastructure to offset the effect it will have?
To help birds, we plant trees and dense shrubs and wild hedges full of biodiversity and fruits and insects. We build nestboxes. We build ponds and birdbaths. We stop pruning like obsessed. We put seeds in winter. We know that birds and hedgehogs trive in areas full of cats. If they find any minimum refuge, this is unavoidable.
If there are none of that things around, is not cat's fault. Build it. Children need to be exposed to free animals to turn into healthy people.