- cross-posted to:
- weirdnews@real.lemmy.fan
- cross-posted to:
- weirdnews@real.lemmy.fan
Moral of the story, leash your cats if they go outside. Don’t be a neglectful pet owner
This is the UK and not the US.
Cats in europe are far, far less at risk or a risk to the environment then in the US and outdoor cats are not at all a problem.
A cat being run over is rare. Being shot, poisoned or killed by a coyote or other wildlife quite unheard of. And they don’t pose any significant thread to local wildlife.
Americans created that dangerous and deadly invironment for animals themselves. That doesn’t mean that the whole world has to lock up or leash their cats.
Y’all don’t have birds in Europe?
Wait, are you asking about Europe or the UK? Two very different things.
The UK is Europe. Always has been, always will. Shifts in tectonic plates would have to happen to change this.
Cats have been in the UK for far longer than the Americas were colonised. The UK doesn’t have much of a natural ecosystem to protect in the same way the Americas still have. Despite that small cats have always been part of the ecosystem in the UK. We have wild cats, they are one of the last predators that aren’t pests we have in the wild. Our lack of predators is a problem, to the point people want to reintroduce wolfs.
So your wrong on both accounts. Letting cats outdoors is fine in the UK. Some animal shelters won’t let people adopt cats if they live in a flat and can’t let the cat outside.
Cats even have right to roam protections that are greater than most people in the UK have. Cats can’t trespass, so you can’t take action against them on your property.
The biggest threat to the local ecosystem they pose is breeding with wild cats. But is always recommend to neuter outdoor pets. Most birds here have always had the threat of small predators, and most of the birds are domestic breeds of pigeons that are pests.
Yep. Same I Germany, my city essentially only has pets you can adopt from shelters if you let them roam. And they check up on the cat! So you can’t easily go back on your word, if they figure out the cat is kept inside you get quite hefty fines (plus the pet is taken away again, of course).
Absolute BS!
Domestic cats are well known predators of rodents, birds and bats!
https://www.felineresearch.org/post/issue-brief-wildlife-impacts-of-outdoor-cats
https://www.birdspot.co.uk/garden-birds-and-cats/cats-and-the-decline-of-garden-birds
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/14/cats-kill-birds-wildlife-keep-indoors
You didn’t understand a thing I said.
I didn’t dispute they are predators. The fact they are predators isn’t an issue. The ecosystem in the UK lacks predators, and the prey animals aren’t in danger because of that. All the wildlife cats in the UK can make extinct they done it thousands of years ago.
It’s not relevant advice, to keep cats indoors in the UK. It’s complete ignorance and lack of critical thinking to insist that the US approach is even relevant.
The cat sitter told Knight that Ted had just walked through the catflap. “I didn’t believe it at first,” Knight said. “I had to get her to FaceTime me live so that I could see that Ted was actually alive.”
Knight soon realised she had paid £130 to cremate someone else’s cat. When she later went to collect the ashes, she saw the urn had been labelled “Not Dead Ted”.
Sounds like a really good reason not to let an animal you care about roam town on their own…
But what do I know.
(Kitty convict project represent!)
Never-outdoor cats live 4 times as long and aren’t absolute killing machines for songbirds the entire time.
If you hate mosquitoes, get your friends to keep their cats at home.