A New Book Called ‘Cat Wars’ Calls For Killing Free-Ranging Cats

[Warpy]

8. I'm all for keeping domesticated kitties indoors

Yes, they can be tough on songbird populations, but cars and predators can be tougher on the cats.

Feral cats are something else. TNR is a great program, allowing ferals to keep the rodent population down while ensuring that bumper crops of kittens aren't being born just do die in misery. The feral cats will be replaced by people who adopt kittens and throw them away when they're not kittens any longer.

Cats are not great predators when it comes to birds. I used to see mine stalking birds all the time back in New England, the birds escaping. There was little evidence of birds being eaten, so I have to assume they were able to catch only old, ill, or dumb birds. There were always rodent corpses around, so they were doing a much better job there.

Ailurophobes (cat averse extremists) will always be with us. I don't dump cats into their laps and will usually shut the cats into a bedroom so they're not made uncomfortable while they visit. However, declaring war on such an incredibly useful companion animal is beyond the pale. If these assholes care that much about songbirds, they need to start caring about the pesticides that poison their food source. DDT nearly wiped them out by interfering with shell formation. The poisons that replaced it are very likely to be having an adverse reaction on the birds they love so much.