• presoak@lazysoci.al
    49·
    20 hours ago

    Cars kill 1000000x more than cats. If you care about wildlife, that’s where you’ll put your dent.

    I have 3 outdoor cats. The older 2 take out 1 mole, 1 mouse and 0.3 birds a week. Combined.

    The younger is a terror tho. 2 birds, 2 moles, 2 mice, a week.

    Rural

    • ozymandias@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      6·
      14 hours ago

      a: not even kinda true.
      b: one thing being bad for wildlife doesn’t make another thing that’s bad for wildlife stop also being bad.
      c: they take out way more than that, they just bring back a mole as a tip for you. Scientists have tracked and followed cats and they kill for fun, all day.
      e: check out Toxoplasma Gondii, the cat-rat brain parasite that infects human brains too… the reason pregnant women aren’t supposed to change litter boxes…
      i love cats and grew up with outdoor cats and i love seeing them enjoy it and go on little adventures. However, it’s terrible for your local wildlife. With farms and pesticides everywhere, humans’ yards have become a lot more important.

      • presoak@lazysoci.al
        16·
        13 hours ago

        Actually it’s true, about the death thing.

        And your argument seems to be more “letting your cats out is bad”. I disagree.

          • presoak@lazysoci.al
            11·
            13 hours ago

            And bad for the cats (pesticides) and pregnant women (toxoplasmosis). Right?

            But ya, they hunt for fun. As for how much success they meet, it depends.

            • ozymandias@lemmy.dbzer0.com
              1·
              11 hours ago

              toxoplasmosis is a particular syndrome. In pregnant women toxoplasma gondii it will completely destroy the fetus’s brain (no immune system yet).

              in healthy people it does all sorts of weird things to your personality… some links to schizophrenia but the jury is out on that.