Cats - wild versus domestic

[swampster]

@jasonhernandez74

we don’t see the degree of vitriol against them that we do against any cat that dares set foot outdoors.

I think all three have both fierce advocates and fierce opponents. There are many people that think feral cats are great, which is why people so commonly feed them. There are also many people that despise feral horses and feral hogs. I think with cats it’s just more of a global issue (though feral hogs certainly are too, but not quite as much as cats).

@charlie

(horses are just replacing horses that were also exterpated)

My response to this remains the same:

@swampster

Phragmites australis americanus (American Common Reed) and Phragmites australis australis (European Common Reed) are not only similar species; they are technically the same species. But Phragmites australis australis is one of the most damaging invasives in North American wetlands. Genetic relatedness to a native species is a poor metric for decerning if the potentially invasive organism fulfills the same ecological role.

Horses have been absent from North America for 10,000-12,000 years and many of the ecological communities that existed in the Pleistocene no longer exist. Horses were not extirpated from North America, they went extinct; they were not the same species as feral horses. While their decline was likely augmented by human hunting, they largely declined because the environment was no longer suitable for them after the end of the Pleistocene.

Furthermore there’s been no evidence that they actually fill the same niche. These bold claims are indeed common rhetoric, but they are unsubstantiated.

@charlie

I personally think invasive plants are a much bigger issue than invasive mammals anyhow.

It depends on the plant, but overall I agree. Though feral hogs and feral horses really exacerbate the spread of invasive plants, so the two aren’t necessarily separate.