11mo ago

"Outdoor Cat vs Indoor Cat" by Sarah Andersen

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Except one side is backed up with science, studies, and facts, the other is backed up by.... Tradition.
- Which is which? Because I've seen some show science for keeping cats indoors but I've shared two studies based in the UK that show cats are better outdoors. Like I say it's based on geography too. As some people have pointed out cats have been a wild species in the UK for millenia. So them being outdoors here isn't an issue.
  Stop being a dick.
  
  You can't compare the impact of actual native wild cats with the impact of domestic cats. It's such a huge difference in numbers.
  As you said, some areas have wild cats and the ecosystem is tuned to that. But even in those areas the comparable extremely high numbers of additional predators (domesticated cats) is damaging to the wildlife.
  
  The RSPB says outdoor cats aren't a problem and I linked to a study done by Bristol University in another comment that states they aren't a problem.
  Feel free to fuck off and read them and stop talking like your rules are universal across the globe.
  
  I don't know where the hostility comes from, but here is a good review article that has a global overview of the impact free-ranging cats have: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pan3.10073
  It calls out several studies from the UK that do highlight the impact of cats on the wildlife.
  An additional interesting point is chapter 4.4 "The interest of cat owners":
  Studies show that many cat owners are opposed to banning the free roaming of domestic cats, although the degree of this opposition varies between countries (Ash & Adams, 2003; Crowley et al., 2019; Lilith et al., 2006; McDonald, Maclean, Evans, & Hodgson, 2015; Thomas et al., 2012). Several UK studies are particularly illustrative. According to Crowley et al. (2019, p. 18), cat owners ‘rarely perceived a strong individual responsibility for preventing or reducing’ predation by their pets. Likewise, McDonald et al. (2015, p. 2751) found that many owners ‘do not accept that cats are harmful’, including owners of highly predatory cats, and moreover found that providing owners with ecological information regarding cats’ wildlife impacts does little or nothing to change their views.
  
  Like I said - feel free to fuck off,
- Yeah, and it is not the side that you think it is.

420 comments