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MaruDramaMon t1_j4nakru wrote

We need CATS, period. A local colony of cats taken care by the community would do the job!

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Birdmangriswad t1_j4opotq wrote

turns out cats aren't great at killing rats. City rats are feisty and big. Cats tend to go for little 30 gram mice over big assed 330 gram rats.

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Dazzling_Sector_7556 t1_j4qm230 wrote

I lived in DC for several years. Someone on my street would feed stray cats in the alley. Hand to God, I cannot count the times I saw rats and cats eating out of the same bowl. The rats were huge!

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CamNewtonJr t1_j4pfxlc wrote

Cats are killing machines and would likely threaten other animal populations. Every small animal is in danger when a cat is around. Cats kill for fun man lol

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IDCFFSGTFO t1_j4ppnxv wrote

Actually cats are as at risk from these hawks and eagles and owls everybody loves posting pictures of, as sure as any rabbit.

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CamNewtonJr t1_j4psizk wrote

I don't count hawks eagles and owls in the ranks of small animals haha. I was talking about squirrels, rabbits, and other small rodents like mice.

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IDCFFSGTFO t1_j4q9ngj wrote

Yeah I'm saying cats can't be unbalancing the food chain as "invasive species" too much because they're down there on the prey scale with the squirrels, rabbits, and other small rodents like mice.

Except cats aren't nearly as capable or inclined to find cover and move from cover to cover like you see rabbits and mice do. And really the near-ubiquity of (particularly) rabbits and such these days, with the noticable corresponding surge of large predator birds in the area, demonstrates the point.

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CamNewtonJr t1_j4rbjjc wrote

Ah ok. This is a very fair point. So cats likely won't do too much harm because hawks and the like will be feasting on them lol

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wishforagreatmistake t1_j4usa8u wrote

Birds of prey are much more efficient and don't terrorize other species or breed like rabbits the way feral cats do. Encourage hawks, eagles, and owls to breed, stop using rat poison, and let them do their thing.

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