this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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MEOW_IRL
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Their bird kill is exaggerated
They unfortunately kill tons of birds, accounting for three quarters of non-natural bird deaths. :/
Non-paywalled National Geographic link: https://archive.ph/Ysy0C
The problem with this is that the US is notably one of the worst countries to let a cat outside, but because the US dominates the western internet everyone who speaks English gets scolded for leaving a cat outside even if if they have other bigger local environmental problems to solve instead.
Personalty for my local area i would much rather have we stop having grass gardens because there is a lack of diversity of local plants, or to stop driving cars because roads are creating floods.
1 is too many. There's no reason to let your cats outside. It's stupidity.
Ethical reasons.
Also if you want something environmental, commonly used types of cat litter aren't biodegradable and cats with free outside access don't need any.
Oh and cats are also far more likely to kill birds that are already in some way impaired by something like old age or sickness, so while the impact is undoubtedly there, the numbers may paint a worse picture than reality.
And they also kill rats which in most places is a positive.
So now you're just making things up. If the litter is a problem, DON'T HAVE CATS. Cats are bred for us. They are a problem we created.
Injured birds? Predators that'd actually eat them would kill them. Rats? No one has a cat as a ratter these days. We don't live on farms and cats can't get to where rats live in urban areas. In suburban, rats are a much lessa. problem.
These are made up justifications for doing something that has no benefit.