I hate cats

Cats are only domesticated when inside the house, when outside they become a predator, hunting etc. They prey on a range of animals/species.... and they can do it night or day. They can do plenty of damage to local wildlife as I have seen in my street and yard. I have picked up enough dead lizards in my street this year... they are being killed by cats (As I have watched) for the sport, not for food!

I'm not seeing as many lizards in our area as last year, which is sad.

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Originally Posted by Sputnik

Cats are only domesticated when inside the house, when outside they become a predator, hunting etc. They prey on a range of animals/species.... and they can do it night or day. They can do plenty of damage to local wildlife as I have seen in my street and yard. I have picked up enough dead lizards in my street this year... they are being killed by cats (As I have watched) for the sport, not for food!

I'm not seeing as many lizards in our area as last year, which is sad.

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A domesticated animal is a domesticated animal whether inside or outside....like you siad before a cat is a cat

A domesticated animal can be a predator or just an instictual killer. This may be due to how they were breed/domesticated.

From Wikipedia

"Relative to size, domestic cats are very effective predators. They ambush and dispatch vertebrate prey using tactics similar to those of leopards and tigers by pouncing; they then deliver a lethal neck bite with their long canine teeth that severs the victim's spinal cord, or asphyxiate it by crushing the windpipe. The domestic cat can hunt and eat about one thousand species—many big cats will eat fewer than 100. Although, theoretically, big cats can kill most of these species as well, they often do not due to the relatively low nutritional content that smaller animals provide for the effort. An exception is the leopard, which commonly hunts rabbits and many other smaller animals.

Even well-fed domestic cats will hunt and kill birds, mice, rats and other small animals in the vicinity. They often present such trophies to their owner. The motivation is not entirely clear, but friendly bonding behaviors are often associated with such an action. It is probable that cats in this situation expect to be praised for their symbolic contribution to the group. Some theorize that cats see their owners gone for long times of the day and assume they are out hunting, as they always have plenty of food available. It is thought that a cat presenting its owner with a dead animal thinks it's 'helping out' by bringing home the kill.[citation needed]

Due to their hunting behaviour, in many countries feral cats are considered pests. Domestic cats are occasionally also required to have contained cat runs or to be kept inside entirely, as they can be hazardous to locally endangered bird species. For instance, various municipalities in Australia have enacted such legislation. In some localities, owners fit their cat with a bell in order to warn prey of its approach. Sometimes, the bell has the unwanted effect of "training" the cat to be an even stealthier killer.[citation needed]"

You may be interested in these remarks....

"Cats can be destructive to ecosystems in which they are not native and whose species have not had time to adapt to their introduction. In some cases, cats have contributed to or caused extinctions -— for example, see the case of the Stephens Island Wren."

Again I do not see this as a major envirnomental problem however...only in certain instances can cats be considered pests. Also it is quite possible that in some cases a cat could act as a keystone predator.

It's all about wildlife management--studying the species/ecosystem interactions systematically....has your state dept of agriculture/forestry deemed stray cats as a big pest problem in your area? Maybe they arent on top of things but your anecdotal experiences arent enough to convince me that cats are a pest problem in your area.

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Originally Posted by Mendel's Balls

It's all about wildlife management--studying the species/ecosystem interactions systematically....has your state dept of agriculture/forestry deemed stray cats as a big pest problem in your area? Maybe they arent on top of things but your ancedotal experiences arent enough to convince me that cats are a pest problem in your area.

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Who said they are stray?

In our section of street, there are 21 cats None of them are stray ..... our section has 10 houses in it, that is the total for both sides of the street.

Of course, you don't live in my area, so whether you think they are a problem or not isn't relevant. You can research points, stats all you want, they are generalized and bare no relection on localized situations.

Of course, the over looked point is local wildlife has suffered in my street needlessly. Which I think is sad.

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

Thanks; that is 100% my reasoning behind my actions.

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You couldnt have called animal services instead of taking things into your own hands? If you had time to go grab a paintball gun, it is obvious you werent in immediate danger.

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Originally Posted by SnakeySnakeSnake

You couldnt have called animal services instead of taking things into your own hands? If you had time to go grab a paintball gun, it is obvious you werent in immediate danger.

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If animal services are anything like around here, you wouldn't want to have to wait all day.

You say you hate cats because they their instinct to kill lizards, How would you feel if a rat or rabbit breeder said they hated snaked because one ate there rat/rabbit! It's all instinct the animal is going to eat what it needs to eat to survive!

i hate snakes.

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Originally Posted by Sputnik

Cats are only domesticated when inside the house, when outside they become a predator, hunting etc. They prey on a range of animals/species.... and they can do it night or day. They can do plenty of damage to local wildlife as I have seen in my street and yard. I have picked up enough dead lizards in my street this year... they are being killed by cats (As I have watched) for the sport, not for food!

I'm not seeing as many lizards in our area as last year, which is sad.

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Ok, so now you have Genocidal cats in your neighborhood?!

My cats have gotten loose, one snuck out the door behind me and off the side of the porch... I have rats... my cats are 100% non agressive towards any rodents I have, they will just sniff them and walk away. If a cat accidentally gets out, and someone shot it claiming it was feral, saying that all loose cats kill rats (something I might believe before these cats), then they would be wrong.

Irregardless, you are claiming these cats are killed for sport, how can you claim to know why they kill them by instinct, maybe it is a built in defense mechanism to kill small lizards that could grow up to be dangerous to them.... probably not but that is my point, we dont know.... as I said before hating an animal because they are an animal is kinda ignorant...

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Originally Posted by Sputnik

If animal services are anything like around here, you wouldn't want to have to wait all day.

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I also wouldnt want to shoot up a dog that might walk away in 5 mins anyway....

Animal cruelty is animal cruelty, if a dog ran at me and my wife and was growling i would tell her to run back to the house and try to distract the dog and keep anything from happening..

If the dog was standing near our cars, I would grab some meat and try to get him to leave so we could get in, not go get a paintball gun and ligiht him up.

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Originally Posted by Byte

You say you hate cats because they their instinct to kill lizards, How would you feel if a rat or rabbit breeder said they hated snaked because one ate there rat/rabbit! It's all instinct the animal is going to eat what it needs to eat to survive!

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Then why are there dead lizards laying around the street, foot paths etc. Doesn't seem like they needed them to survive if they were not eaten. What I hate seeing is a lot of cats in a small area.... you know, 10 from one house. Breeding each year. None are fixed.... aloud to run loose, in my yard etc!