Here's an article claiming that outdoor cats are bad for the environment. I think this is basically true, and unfortunately TNR (trap-neuter-return) can't work (reduce feral overpopulation) without very high compliance which is never going to happen.
Meanwhile, I've agreed to let my friend adopt an outdoor cat in my back yard. It has been going pretty well so far in temperate autumn weather. The cat is just now becoming old enough to be neutered, and will be neutered next weekend. So we are doing our part, according to TNR dogma, but since I already know it isn't enough, have I become the Bird Killer?
Well, yes, but then like most people I already was. I think the way to think about this is something like "Everything in Moderation." Nearly everything we do hurts something, so harm is reduced by not doing much. One cat is "not much" I still believe. So I'm not going to feel very guilty for just one outdoor cat.
If I were feeding a colony of strays…that would not be good at all.
For what it's worth, I also have a little rationalization. My pet free back yard had become something like club med for stray cats, who loved to lay on my patio, and over the past 10 years, I've found a few dead birds in my back yard. All without feeding a cat myself.
So anyway, assuming my back yard had already become a killing field (or at least shooting gallery) for cats killing birds, having a permanent outdoor cat wouldn't increase the bird killing much. It might actually reduce the bird killing if my friend's cat kills fewer birds than the previous hordes of strays, and if my friend's cat keeps the strays away..which it already seems to be doing. There is a cat fight every other day or so, and it seems that other cats are more and more being kept away by my friend's cat's instinctual territoriality, plus the fed cat has not only a territory but a feeding system to defend. My theory has been that other cats will quickly give up, as they were never getting that much from my yard anyway.
So as far as bird killing goes, if you can restrict your feeding to just one outdoor cat, and keep it reasonably well fed, in a territory it defends from other cats, it's probably a wash.
Maybe I don't really have an "outdoor cat" in my back yard. What I really have is a back yard cat, and that's different, as I just described. I suppose he isn't actually being restricted to my back yard, but in the long run, it's the only really defensable and worth defending territory he has, and he hasn't gone much farther yet.
I'm also fine with a few coyotes around (not many and not too close) to keep the excess stray cat population down. As long as back yard cats stay in their place, they will be fine. Many environmentalists praise the role of coyotes in the wild as the bird's best friends.
My friend doesn't think so highly of coyotes as I do.
Meanwhile, I've agreed to let my friend adopt an outdoor cat in my back yard. It has been going pretty well so far in temperate autumn weather. The cat is just now becoming old enough to be neutered, and will be neutered next weekend. So we are doing our part, according to TNR dogma, but since I already know it isn't enough, have I become the Bird Killer?
Well, yes, but then like most people I already was. I think the way to think about this is something like "Everything in Moderation." Nearly everything we do hurts something, so harm is reduced by not doing much. One cat is "not much" I still believe. So I'm not going to feel very guilty for just one outdoor cat.
If I were feeding a colony of strays…that would not be good at all.
For what it's worth, I also have a little rationalization. My pet free back yard had become something like club med for stray cats, who loved to lay on my patio, and over the past 10 years, I've found a few dead birds in my back yard. All without feeding a cat myself.
So anyway, assuming my back yard had already become a killing field (or at least shooting gallery) for cats killing birds, having a permanent outdoor cat wouldn't increase the bird killing much. It might actually reduce the bird killing if my friend's cat kills fewer birds than the previous hordes of strays, and if my friend's cat keeps the strays away..which it already seems to be doing. There is a cat fight every other day or so, and it seems that other cats are more and more being kept away by my friend's cat's instinctual territoriality, plus the fed cat has not only a territory but a feeding system to defend. My theory has been that other cats will quickly give up, as they were never getting that much from my yard anyway.
So as far as bird killing goes, if you can restrict your feeding to just one outdoor cat, and keep it reasonably well fed, in a territory it defends from other cats, it's probably a wash.
Maybe I don't really have an "outdoor cat" in my back yard. What I really have is a back yard cat, and that's different, as I just described. I suppose he isn't actually being restricted to my back yard, but in the long run, it's the only really defensable and worth defending territory he has, and he hasn't gone much farther yet.
I'm also fine with a few coyotes around (not many and not too close) to keep the excess stray cat population down. As long as back yard cats stay in their place, they will be fine. Many environmentalists praise the role of coyotes in the wild as the bird's best friends.
My friend doesn't think so highly of coyotes as I do.
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