> This is a ridiculous point to waffle on: pet cats should no more be allowed to roam around at will than should pet dogs, horses, pythons, or pot-bellied pigs.<p>Actually, my Dad grew up on a mountain where, every day after school, he would come home and gather up the pig and cows that had been let free to eat for the day. So there's certainly use cases for letting a pig roam free and gather some forage. By the time I was growing up we had chickens, which had to be brought in at night to prevent predators from eating them, but otherwise could roam the yard to eat worms and the like.<p>Also a horse that kept the grass in the yard short without us having to mow it. There were goats, but they weren't allowed free mostly because they went and ate mountain laurel and poisoned themselves.<p>It's kind of strange to take a working animal like a cat, bred for pest control, and stick in a little indoor room and never let them out. Did farmers originally lock up their barn cats in the barns? I don't think so. It's actually a problem when they accidentally get locked up in a shed or a car or something, because they aren't out doing their jobs.<p>Seems nuts to me that the author belittles letting them outside.
And a counterpoint <a href="http://www.npr.org/2016/04/04/473002208/facing-a-growing-rat-problem-a-neighborhood-sets-off-the-cat-patrol" rel="nofollow">http://www.npr.org/2016/04/04/473002208/facing-a-growing-rat...</a><p>That example is why cats were domesticated in the first place.<p>Not having a healthy predator prey relationship in areas leads to public health issues.
The Oatmeal has also exposed these cute murderous creatures: <a href="http://theoatmeal.com/comics/cats_actually_kill" rel="nofollow">http://theoatmeal.com/comics/cats_actually_kill</a><p>The numbers seem to line up.
Recently a coyote killed an outdoor pet cat in Berkeley and the citizens were outraged. The predator must be hunted down and shot as soon as possible! This amused me of course. Pets can be predators but actual predators are "invasive" and must be shot.
<i>“Euthanasia needs to be part of a successful long-term solution.”</i><p>But linguistic abuse does not. Make whatever recommendations about species culling you want -- but there's no way that targeted killing can be compared to "euthanasia."
"but cats, their human partisans will proudly point out, cannot be tamed or herded"<p>Just check CATMANTOO channel on Youtube, you will be amazed at what he makes his cats do.<p>And apparently it's that hard to train a cat, he says you can do the same with yours.
Also, your cat is trying to kill you with parasites
<a href="http://www.rectofossal.com/cat-trying-kill/" rel="nofollow">http://www.rectofossal.com/cat-trying-kill/</a>
Near where my parents live, coyotes have returned. They have been killing a lot of outdoor cats. I wonder if a reintroduction of coyotes to some areas would control cat populations naturally.
Well, it's evolution. The locals can't compete. Given enough time, the local ecosystems will adapt. Compared to the enormous environmental impact of humans, it's ridiculous to blame cats. You really want to conserve local species? Get rid of the humans.
Tylenol poisoning is a terrible way to die and advocating it's use is reckless. Also poisons have a bad tendency to harm more than just your intended target.<p>The article also doesn't talk about the invasive bird species humans have introduced all over the place.
"That beloved pets should not be given the opportunity to kill wildlife for sport is the easy part of this debate."<p>Why not start by extending that to humans as well?
I am surprised no one wants to tax cat owners and have a "cat offset tax". Taxes seem to be all the rage in solutions to problems these days.
It's a special kind of creepy when people decide that cats are a problem worthy of public attention. Yeah, they can cause real problems when introduced into closed ecosystems which lack a historical small-predator.
You'd ask yourself just how diverse the wildlife in an urban environment is, where the bulk of domestic cats live. Right now I'm not convinced about the ecological impact.
So silly... we worry about cats, but humans BY FAR are worse for the planet than cats. Maybe we should be talking about the mass execution of humans who pose no positive benefit for the population as a whole?<p>We, as the dominant species, are always looking for ways to save the planet - but for the most part it is a blame game. Humans are what helped cats hit all corners of the world. Cats aren't responsible, so why target them?