It seems like this is just narrative based judgment. Everyone is all about how reintroduced wolves are so great for XYZ because predators do so many good things for environments and prey dynamics but cats in the environment are bad for ABC and they kill all the birds, etc.
Most of the places which aren’t islands had predators in roughly the housecat niche before human civilization and many of those are lost.
I think it’s just the opposition by agriculture for wolves and the fact that people aren’t as affectionate for their prey which makes the “wolves good” narrative and people like birds and feel good about blaming humans so there’s “cats bad” narrative.
It probably doesn’t matter, your suburban cats are killing birds in a habitat that humans already destroyed by putting a suburb there.
If you want to make a difference to offset some cat activity plant native pollinator friendly plants and trees and shrubs that bear fruit for birds. You’ll make much more difference building habitat than complaining into the void.
There's a lot going on here to try and avoid the statement that introducing predators to a given area's biome changes the balance of things.
This is especially true when you prop up that predator's existence by feeding it (and not letting its population remain harmonious with available food supply/prey).
colechristensen|4 years ago
Most of the places which aren’t islands had predators in roughly the housecat niche before human civilization and many of those are lost.
I think it’s just the opposition by agriculture for wolves and the fact that people aren’t as affectionate for their prey which makes the “wolves good” narrative and people like birds and feel good about blaming humans so there’s “cats bad” narrative.
It probably doesn’t matter, your suburban cats are killing birds in a habitat that humans already destroyed by putting a suburb there.
If you want to make a difference to offset some cat activity plant native pollinator friendly plants and trees and shrubs that bear fruit for birds. You’ll make much more difference building habitat than complaining into the void.
MAGZine|4 years ago
This is especially true when you prop up that predator's existence by feeding it (and not letting its population remain harmonious with available food supply/prey).