Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Cats - plea for responsible ownership of predators
As an ecologist let me first say that cats killing birds is about as natural as taking thousands of predators from another country, breeding them to look nice, and then dumping them into an ecosystem at a massive scale. Feeding them food transported many miles and releasing them into a habitat 'unevolved' for their presence at such scale (55 million birds per year in UK). That is not nature. That's putting a predator into an ecosystem which cannot support it. Hardly 'natural'.
http://www.mammal.org.uk/sites/default/files/Domestic%20Cat%20Preda...
As someone who enjoys nature, in particularly the rare biodiversity we have here in London, it saddens me to see armies of felines, mercilessly slaughtering young/parent birds at this crucial time of year.
I get the companionship and cuteness argument. And inside the house there is a mouse argument I guess. Hardly a blot on rat populations (but make me feel comfortable) - the presence is merely enough. But the statistics don't lie, these creatures are destroying biodiversity.
It's not the cat's fault, it's the owner.
Don't even get me started on the poo!
If you truly are an 'animal lover', then make it all animals please. Not just the cute furry salient ones.
Help those which have taken enough of a beating at our hands. If you must release cats into the wild. Please put a bell on your cat. A little effort goes a long way.
Just think of those little birdies.
Tags for Forum Posts: cats
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Lisa on
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To throw another cat among the pigeons (ho ho ho), here's a research study detailing the impact of cats on biodiversity in the US:
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n1/full/ncomms2380.html
One point worth noting, though, is that the study found that the worst offenders were stray / ferral cats.
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Permalink Reply by Antoinette on
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Harm to unborn children? Serious mental health problems?
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The relative risks are low though, even the nhs website makes that point.
Not many cases of infection and most infections don't lead to harmful effects.
That said I still used it as an excuse not to clean the litter tray when I was pregnant ;-)
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Permalink Reply by Robin2 on
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The question is - do the cats make people mentally ill or do mentally ill people turn to cats of comfort? -
I've always been fascinated by the witch-and-black-cat phenomenon - the story goes that as black cats were seen as evil they were driven away and ended up with the similarly-ostracised strange old woman living on the edge of the village, who took it in for companionship... thus confirming people's suspicions
btw if people want to deter cats from doing their business in the garden, we found these worked well
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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Really ?
I would say it's more likely that one in three contributors to HOL is mentally ill.
Or at least believe any old rubbish that they read.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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The study at John Hopkins found that people who catch toxoplasmosis may go on to show higher levels of mental illness than those without toxoplasmosis. The disease can be carried in cat faeces but also meat and poultry and unwashed fruit and veg. The headlines prompted by the study are lazy journalism. Toxoplasmosis is easy to avoid by washing your hands, fruit and veg and correctly storing and cooking meat.
Many studies have shown the beneficial impact of pet ownership, especially in cases of depression. Many residential care homes encourage cats and dogs to be brought into their establishments (there are organisations that specialise in doing this) -
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Permalink Reply by Justin Guest on
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They may be but a friend of mine at uni was slowly going blind in excruciating pain as the virus she picked up as a child slowly ate (and I mean ate) her retina...
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Permalink Reply by Lauren on
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Rather extreme example there! I lost a childhood friend in a car accident but it doesn't stop me getting in a car! Another one nearly drowned in the sea but it doesn't stop me going for a dip. Blimey if you applied that sort of logic to everything you'd never do anything or go anywhere with anybody at any time ever.
It's fine to not like cats, but some of the justifications on here are frankly ludicrous!
Anyway, here is another photo of my fabulous cat. - Attachments:
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image.png, 678 KB
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I understood the reference to unborn children but hadn't appreciated the links to mental health. I think you can counter the argument to a certain extent with the mental health benefits of cat ownership for the companionship they bring etc.
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