Cats, they eat native birds but they also make really good pets so please vote for which option is what your opinion is, cats, no cats, or cats that live permanently inside. poll

Also, please consider NOT repeating discussion that has already happened in this thread . Your moderators will be most grateful… :wink::kissing_cat:

Cats should never be kept outside. It not only harms the environment, but it also shortens their lifespans significantly. If a cat acts like it NEEDS to go outside, an fenced-in enclosure or a walk on a harness is enough. A ban on cats will never be successful, of course, so just keep them inside.

Really depends on what area of the world we’re talking about, in areas that naturally have wildcats (Eurasia, Africa) I don’t believe free-roaming or feral cats do that much harm. btw, keeping any animal captive will increase its average lifespan, doesn’t mean you’re increasing its quality of life …

I’m seriously considering getting a cat as a therapy animal. I live with PTSD, from my military service. I grew up with them, and love them. I could use the comfort and the structure that comes from working with an animal. That said, outdoor cats are monstrously destructive. Feral cats are as commo…

I think that it depends on the locality. In localities where the cats were present outside for “ages” (like in the Central Europe where I live), other species had a long time to be used to that and beware of the cats as their natural predators. (And they are not just feral, they are normally kept by…

Since this topic isn’t directly related to iNat I moved it to the Nature Talk category.

This episode of “HIdden Brain” had a good discussion of this issue with the author Hal Herzog who writes about human animal relationships. https://www.npr.org/2019/06/17/733456435/pets-pests-and-food-our-complex-contradictory-attitudes-toward-animals

Arg! It’s a podcast. Do you know if they have a transcript somewhere (npr usually does)? I’d much rather read than listen to a podcast. But it sounds very interesting! Taking a long drive yesterday, and seeing all the dead animals on the roadside (3 raccoons, 1 possum, 1 skunk, and I was driving so…

[image] haida_gwaii: It seems strange that we decide certain beings are unholy and other things are just extraneous. Welcome to the world of speciesism. Our society is so backwards.

Cats: good or bad

Nature Talk

daturademon October 18, 2019, 8:44am 5

In Australia, feral cats (moggies) cause a lot of ecological damage. They’re an introduced species for a majority of the world

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Cats: good or bad

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