Quote:
Originally Posted by RedJoker
I somewhat agree with you. If you have indoor cats, they should stay indoors, period.
There are a lot of different ideas on feral cats, though. The trap-neuter-release concept is to keep cats from breeding, obviously, but the release part is very important. If the fixed cats stay in a given area, other non-fixed cats generally won't move into that area. So, it could be argued that your neighbor keeping the fixed feral cats around actually lowers the total number of cats going to your bird feeders. Imagine how many cats / kittens would hang around your food source if they were breeding unchecked?
I'm not trying to change your mind, just providing perspective from a different side.
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Unfortunately the subject has multiple contexts and questions that might apply with arguably no easy answers.
But first some qualifiers that should not be ignored :
Outdoor cats, feral, stray or pets let out to roam uncontrolled , That are not actual native wild species ( bobcat, lynx, mountain lion ) are not-- repeat (NOT) any kind of indigenous species . They are an invasive species period . As emotionally disconcerting as the idea might be (particularly with charismatic mega- fauna) . The idea that invasive species should be controlled or removed from the environment, is in fact a valid position ecologically and biologically speaking. Now how that might be implemented is a whole other different subject of discussion so I won't go there.
The notion of capture neuter and adopt is a great notion. However the notion of capture neuter and release feral or stray cats (as good as it may feel) is a fundamentally flawed notion from a biological/environment standpoint. They actually do not belong roaming the environment in the first place , neutered or other wise .
Also I am curious, the idea that fixed cats prevent non fixed cats from moving into an area, is a researched fact of territorial behavior, or a supposition based loosely on prototypical territorial behavior ?
And then also, even if correct while perhaps serving to somewhat limit overall total numbers still does not address the fundamental issue of an invasive species being in the environment of an area .
Now in full disclosure I am not a cat person (that is to say we do not own or care for any cats) but I am not anti cat either. I am actually very much a "critter person", I am much more drawn to most animals than people, and find most critters more interesting than most people. So I do completely understand that people are drawn to cats. But just as I do not believe that that feral or stray dogs belong in the environment and should be controlled where possible. I believe the same of cats