feral cats
Perhaps I can explain my earlier LJ outburst about biodiversity and invasive species.
Over the past couple weeks there have been multiple stories in various media, pointed out to me by multiple people, about the predations of cats, both outdoor domestic cats, and feral cats.
What bugged me about these stories and some of the reactions to them, is what seems to me a knee-jerk negative reaction to the predations of cats. That is, the hunting of birds and small mammals by cats is viewed as a bad thing. Bad for the environment, or at least bad for birds and small mammals. Billions of birds and small mammals killed by cats every year, oh noes!
What bugs me about this is that cats evolved to be predators, and then co-evolved with humans to be our partners. Cats offered us their ability to reduce bird and rodent populations, we offered them shelter and food security. And we snuggle when neither of us are busy. Win-Win!
Now people are suddenly branding cats as "bad for the environment" for doing exactly what they evolved (or co-evolved) to do. Although many of us prefer getting our companionship from indoor cats that have been sterilized, and don't view suburban rodents or city birds as pests, historically and still in many contexts (such as agriculture) birds and rodents are pests, and outdoor & feral cats help to keep these pest populations under control.
Yet, when I visit the Wikipedia article about feral cats, it quickly states that cats are not native species and are harmful to local environments. Immediately I sense a prejudice against whatever "non-native" species are defined to be. And I hear the same prejudice with regard to stink bugs, snakeheads, kudzu. Even Africanized "killer" bees. Sometimes a species migrates to a new part of the world and finds itself quite successful there. For a while, until the rest of the ecosystem catches up to them, by evolving new defenses and offenses.
To me, this is just normal natural evolution in action.
Over the past couple weeks there have been multiple stories in various media, pointed out to me by multiple people, about the predations of cats, both outdoor domestic cats, and feral cats.
What bugged me about these stories and some of the reactions to them, is what seems to me a knee-jerk negative reaction to the predations of cats. That is, the hunting of birds and small mammals by cats is viewed as a bad thing. Bad for the environment, or at least bad for birds and small mammals. Billions of birds and small mammals killed by cats every year, oh noes!
What bugs me about this is that cats evolved to be predators, and then co-evolved with humans to be our partners. Cats offered us their ability to reduce bird and rodent populations, we offered them shelter and food security. And we snuggle when neither of us are busy. Win-Win!
Now people are suddenly branding cats as "bad for the environment" for doing exactly what they evolved (or co-evolved) to do. Although many of us prefer getting our companionship from indoor cats that have been sterilized, and don't view suburban rodents or city birds as pests, historically and still in many contexts (such as agriculture) birds and rodents are pests, and outdoor & feral cats help to keep these pest populations under control.
Yet, when I visit the Wikipedia article about feral cats, it quickly states that cats are not native species and are harmful to local environments. Immediately I sense a prejudice against whatever "non-native" species are defined to be. And I hear the same prejudice with regard to stink bugs, snakeheads, kudzu. Even Africanized "killer" bees. Sometimes a species migrates to a new part of the world and finds itself quite successful there. For a while, until the rest of the ecosystem catches up to them, by evolving new defenses and offenses.
To me, this is just normal natural evolution in action.