Cats are furry. Cuddly. Cute. Funny. And pest controllers. All of these things tend to make them all that common accross the world. Many different breeds have been made, most of which have lost the ‘moggie touch’ and are pampered little creatures who can’t survive out of doors.
Such sit-in cats barely have any impact on the local nature of the area. But cats are notorious for having killed many different species of birds that have gone extinct or critically endangered, just because cats, usually strays, hunt and kill them off.
Therefore, many campaigns have started recently to keep your cat indoors or we will kill it. In many countries this has began where people gather all outdoor roaming family cats and strays combined and then dump them in a huge, rolling gas chamber.
While I personally disagree on doing that, I do agree that something must be done about the amout of wildlife cats can kill in a short time period.
Most family pets are not responsible for that and the reason is, they’re not hungry. They’re always well fed (atleast, I hope so), thus even if they do hunt birds and wildlife, they’re not hunting for dire survival.
Humans contributed majorly to making cats little balls of danger for native wildlife and birds. Because we first killed or chased away natures pest controllers, like genets in Africa, coyotes and foxes in America, etc… and therefore caused pests, like rats and mice, to flourish. Then, we discovered a pet that controls pests. It is tame. It is pretty, rough, tough, ultimate pest controller. Ship them all over the world and be happy.
Okay, so that damage is done. But people then bred lots of moggies, which by the way, are the normal house cats, no pedigree and leaning more towards half-stray half-domesticated. So they bred lots of moggies and shipped them everywhere. They eventually ended up on the streets, unwanted. Unable to find the food, they became vile hunters, killing off birds and other small wildlife that is essential for the food chain and web to operate.
Despite this, according to me, killing the cats is not the sulotion. And don’t think I am saying this just because I love cats. Because if just go and read further, you’ll end up discovering that I am giving a more humane solution to protect cats and wildlife and birds, all of them together without culling.
So the best way to go about this issue, for me, is to just go ahead and adopt cats from shelters. Majority of those are rescued strays and those that are dumped by families remain in the minority. Adopting instead of buying them from breeders will eventually force them to breed less cats because of the great drop in their demand.
That will also convert strays into family pets, who once well fed, will stop hunting for their very survival. If over time, all the strays are converted into well fed family pets and everyone spays and neuters their cats, leaving no room for more strays to be formed, then aroung two or three cats per garden will hunt down a few birds, but cannot make whole species extinct. They will also keep pests under control, producing a fully packed deal that is satisfactory to humans, cats, birds, and wildlife, all together.