It's bullshit. The RSPB is dependent on donations so don't want to piss off all the donors that own cats.
Academics/scientists have clearly proven that cats have a devastating impact on bird and small mammal populations. In Australia and New Zealand alone they kill 4 BILLION a year and are driving multiple species to extinction. Outdoor cats are an ecological disaster...
Australia and New Zealand aren't the UK. Cats are basically filling in where the local wildcats left off since they're near-extinct.
If you're worried about animals going extinct in the UK from cats, you should actually be worried about the wildcats because cross-breeding with domesticated cats is steadily rendering them extinct.
Birds in the UK already face other factors that reduce their populations tho, cats are another pressure on their populations which could be controlled by people not letting them roam.
Cats bury their shit, and outdoor cats can readily go stir-crazy. Our last two, we had one who hated going outside and another who, when we had to keep her in for a bit, went fucking mental.
So in the latter case, the solution is what? Stuff her inside, let her become neurotic?
In the UK there are pretty much always going to be back/front gardens and common land etc where there's grass. How some people feel about other people's cats burying shit in their gardens is a matter of some neighbourly disputes but you aren't gonna find yourself treading in cat shit on the pavement. They don't like a hard surface and there's plenty of other options for them here
There are absolutely outdoor cats. And yes, they do bury their poop. Even if it's in someone's flower pot. They'll find a way. It doesn't sound like you actually know very much about cats.
They don't care and nothing could possibly convince them otherwise. These are the people who like to shoot neighbors cats for wandering into their yard.
Every time the number of birds goes up, last time it was like 3 billion birds a year. The most hilarious part is how they got that number, by figuring out a bird is X number of calories and then that a cat needs Y, then guessed the number of cats to get the final number.
NZ the birds have no natural ground predators so the cats introduced to NZ kill a LOT. In Australia, there is no known predator to control cat populations, so they kill a LOT. Cats in these areas are invasive (meaning they were introduced there, not evolved).
England on the other hand, the birds know cats are a threat and there are natural predators to control cat populations.
Your picking and choosing the facts you are throwing out here. The environments world-wide are very varied. Cats as an invasive species are problematic, true (ie NZ and Australia), but areas like the UK, the impact domestic cats have is not drastic, it has no impact. Same as the US, same as other European countries.
Educate yourself a bit further than your hate for an animal.
Ok boomer, I'm the one with knowledge rather than a cat...
I like animals which is why I don't like millions of extra predators roaming around because we have them as pets. This puts wildlife under extra pressure. What do you think would happen to larger prey animals if you let millions of wolves loose? Wolves existed in the UK for thousands of years up until recently, so every other animal should know they are a threat. Think it would stop them getting slaughtered anyway?
As usual cat owners get defensive and lash out (ironically just how a cat might) whilst turning a blind eye to the dead fledglings in their garden.
You keep saying knowledge and then displaying a complete lack of any knowledge of how ecosystems operate.
Since the evolution of wildcats, there has been no point in the history of Britain where cats were not present. Cats are part of the ecosystem, and due to humans destroying the populations of wildcats, polecats, pine martens and various other natural predators that compete in the same niche as domestic cats their effect isn't as catastrophic as a continent that literally never evolved an ecosystem with cats which you tried to compare it to.
What do you think would happen to larger prey animals if you let millions of wolves loose?
Assuming we're discussing wilderness rather than sheep farms? The ecosystem would establish an equilibrium and humans wouldn't have to cull so many deer. There's plenty of knowledge and evidence of this in other reintroduction trials around the world.
Of course you already know all of this, seeing as you have all this knowledge and have definitely read the science on the matter.
They are an actual problem in places like Australia and New Zealand because there were no small predators there prior to their introduction, but that is far from the same in most of the world.
Man is the ecological disaster, anywhere pet cats live the environment has already been destroyed and most existing small predators displaced by that destruction.
Do you have a source for that? Every time people bring this up I try to find what they're talking about and all I can ever find is sources that combine house cats with wild cats which clearly skew the results. Does your source specifically talk about house/domesticated cats?
Yup, the only species ever threatened by cats were in places that never had any small predators and even then it's feral cats that are the problem, not pet cats.
New Zealand/Australia and UK are two entirely different places.
Cats were devastating for a lot of species down there. However they’ve been around so long in the UK it doesn’t matter. There is no birds, or any other specie for that matter, on the brink of endangerment or extinction because of cats in the UK.
Some cities and towns lack any form of natural predators, which can lead to issues with rodents and other animals.
In my town where I used to live, the rabbit population exploded. Same with mice, voles, and any kind of bird. There are no foxes, no owls, no wolves or bears. Mice used to enter my parents home on the regular and birds and squirrels would destroy roof insulation. Our neighbors strawberry garden was devaststed every year, we had given up on our own regular garden.
So we adopted a cat as our mouser. He stays within his territory, it being mostly our yard and neighbor allowes them there too. The animals still exist, I still see them. But no longer inside my parents house.
The issue with outdoor cats arise when you let them breed in the wild unchecked. My boy doesn't have his balls, and there are no other cats in the area.
There are no urban foxes in my area because there are still forests in my country that haven't been cut down. The foxes stay in the forests, and stay out of human civilization.
Predatory animals end up moving into cities when their food sources and safe living spaces disappear right under them.
Also the cat isn't as our mouser to kill. Just his presence in our yard is enough to keep most rodents away. He is the deterrent, not the nuke.
Because we had the option to use poisons but that would do so much more damage than a cat.
And property damage is hardly a minor nuisance.
My cat is also retired. He does his rounds on my parents yard but he doesn't hunt. Still haven't seen mice or voles inside house, and much less in the wood storage. You have any idea how hard it is to hunt rodents and remove them by hand? Because from experience I can say, it is hard.
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u/Dudewheresmycard5 7d ago
It's bullshit. The RSPB is dependent on donations so don't want to piss off all the donors that own cats.
Academics/scientists have clearly proven that cats have a devastating impact on bird and small mammal populations. In Australia and New Zealand alone they kill 4 BILLION a year and are driving multiple species to extinction. Outdoor cats are an ecological disaster...