OK, sure. They're cold-blooded killers. But so are we. Farming is nothing but killing once you've planted the seeds. Ants, voles, field mice, crows, invasive species, they're all the enemy of the one particular thing you wanted to grow.
Nature doesn't care, but kitty does. So do we. It's why we have them. The dogs are to ride herd on them because unlike dogs, cats can't be trusted.
cats can't be trusted
ReplyDeleteMFWIC was entirely trustworthy. At least in the sense that you could accurately predict what he would do. He once brought into the house a jack as big as he was and set it down in a corner of our bedroom. An hour later, the jack was still there, paralyzed with fear, and MFWIC was on his back, four paws to the four corners of the compass, snoring.
MFWIC was an excellent hunter, but you knew he had not a clue of what to do with his catch.
Eric Hines
Well, if that's what you mean by trustworthy, so am I. :)
ReplyDeleteI (for one) never thought you weren't, Grim.
ReplyDeleteI think this report (which I also heard about on the radio this morning) was far too breathless and overwrought. Yes, cats kill prey. And if I were worried about the extinction of squirrels and field mice, I might actually care. I'm more sympathetic to the argument about keeping pets safe by limiting their range and access to get into danger. But the fears that "we're feeding colonies of feral cats and they're slaughtering excessive numbers of small mammals and birds" don't phase me at all. Because we're feeding the small mammals and birds (intentionally or not) as well. The fact is, none of this is happening in a vacuum. Rat populations are only as high as they are because of human civilization. The population of starlings in North America is only due to human intervention. I get it, we throw ecosystems out of whack. But we would throw them out of whack regardless of what we do. Short of making ourselves extinct (as I am aware some wish devoutly for), there's no way to fix it. So I say, do what you can to be a good steward (spay and neuter strays, don't abandon animals, etc) and don't worry about it. It will eventually find equilibrium.
But we would throw them out of whack regardless of what we do. Short of making ourselves extinct...there's no way to fix it.
ReplyDeleteBut that would throw the ecosystem out of what, too. Any time one participant in an ecosystem interacts with the ecosystem or any of its components, it upsets the system's equilibrium, and it must adjust.
That's life in the big city. And in the jungle. There's nothing to fix.
Eric Hines
But that would throw the ecosystem out of what, too. Any time one participant in an ecosystem interacts with the ecosystem or any of its components, it upsets the system's equilibrium, and it must adjust.
ReplyDeleteWell, of course it would. It would just limit the timeframe of our involvement with the environment. But the physical structures we built would still be there. The toxic materials we created would still be there (but now, without our supervision to keep it from getting out of the containment units we currently keep it in). But given a few hundred centuries, our influence would be pretty much done.
Mind you, I certainly don't advocate making us extinct. I think that we have just as much right to exist as the voles and songbirds the story is trying to guilt us about. And part of that includes our cats.