Thread by @corvidresearch, I just saw someone on twitter say that if outdoor cats were [...]

I just saw someone on twitter say that if outdoor cats were a problem we’d hear about it more.

Outdoor cats are a problem.

There, you just heard it from me, your friendly neighborhood corvid lover, trained ornithologist, and cat owning twitter scientist.

Want to hear about it from some other people? Ok!
How about from Dr. Blancher: http://www.ace-eco.org/vol8/iss2/art3/
Or the BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-21236690
Or Dr. Woinarski et al. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5b13/0450423350472b0a016f944e773515fecfe2.pdf
Or the human society: https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/our-position-cats#cats_and_wildlife
Or Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/cats-kill-billions-of-birds-and-mammals-each-year-2014-12

How about how they contributed to the extinction of the Hawaiian crow: https://www.jwildlifedis.org/doi/pdf/10.7589/0090-3558-36.2.205
Or how outdoor cats shitting everywhere is likely infecting sea otters brains: https://pubag.nal.usda.gov/download/48166/PDF
Their role in the admittance of animals to rehab centers: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C48&q=outdoor+cats%2C+attacks+on+pets&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3D80ixtUTgf7UJ

Or any of these news stories... https://news.wjct.org/post/duval-audubon-society-wants-cats-kept-indoors-save-birds-cat-advocates-respond

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/04/28/pet-cats-should-banned-going-outside-protect-birds-says-royal/amp/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2019/08/28/science/california-sea-otters-cats.amp.html

https://www.post-gazette.com/life/outdoors/2018/12/20/Pennsylvania-cats-invasive-species-wildlife-birds/stories/201812210001

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/04/26/asia/feral-cats-australia-intl/index.html

For the “but cats aren’t domesticated and deserve to be outside” proponents, here’s an article discussing that most cats can actually be habituated to 24hr indoor life just fine. It just requires you to be an active, rather than passive, pet owner. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1558787807002274

Adaptation of domestic cats to confinement

Although most cat owners believe that cats have a need to roam outdoors and that this activity benefits their welfare, roaming also carries welfare ri…

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1558787807002274

For the “cats are predators just predatoring, IDGAF” people, you should GAF. Animals are not used to dealing with cats. In most causes their predation is additory not compensatory. It’s a big deal. I can’t stress that enough.

Also you could GAF for other reasons. Like that when they shit in your neighbor’s yard they are exposing them, and everything else to diseases.

Also it’s just plain dangerous for your cat! They get in fights, they get hit by cars, they get eaten...so much risk.

The assessment that outdoor cats are a danger to wildlife is an empirical, science based assessment. If you are generally open to science based evidence but feel yourself pushing back here, ask yourself why.

And lastly, don’t think of this as an all or nothing issue. There are ways to let your cat outside that protects everyone. Catois and leashes are great. I bet some of you will even share that you use them with success. I tip my hat to you for being the change!

I hope you take the time to read the studies. I hope you take the time to ask how much resisting bringing them inside is really about their lifestyle change as opposed to yours. I hope you listen to folks that have made it work. And most of all I hope you keep your kitties safe.

No, I won’t engage in comment debates. I’ve presented the evidence, I’ve shared my opinion. I don’t see any point in doing more than that.

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