Solomon1 Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 Keeping cats indoors is cruel, end of. au contraire mon ami it is only your opinion that keeping cats indoors is cruel. my opinion is that there are valid arguements for and against Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solomon1 Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 I was simply responding to a poster who, whilst defending 'defenceless' animals felt it necessary to act (or, at least, say they would) in a manner more reprehensible fair enough I'm afraid the domestic cat situation is just another example of how Mankind measing about with nature causes more harm than good not sure i'm getting your point here jeremy do you mean people shouldn't keep cats as pets? Anyway, putting bells on the collars of cats will do little to save the baby bird in the nest, not able to fly. So, they can hear the cat coming? What can they do about it? bells would help warn anything capable of hearing and able to get away there are 2 separate points being made here.... keeping cats indoors during the nesting season putting bells on cats to protect wildlife Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremyjh1 Posted May 10, 2009 Share Posted May 10, 2009 fair enough not sure i'm getting your point here jeremy do you mean people shouldn't keep cats as pets? bells would help warn anything capable of hearing and able to get away there are 2 separate points being made here.... keeping cats indoors during the nesting season putting bells on cats to protect wildlife Apologies - typo - 'measing!!! I meant messing. Mankind domesticates cats to the extent that there are, I think you said 8 million in the UK (more, I would suspect, than would occur naturally). These cats are now causing problems with the natural wildlife - killing birds, fish etc., Should people keep cats or not? It's a personal choice. I stand on neither side of the fence on that issue. I'm just saying 'we' have been very successful in domesticating them and now we have another problem. Keep cats indoors - sure, why not? What do they want to go out for anyway? And for how long? Who knows - one month? Two? More? Put a bell on the collar? Sure - the fish'll be able to 'hear' the bell and swim away. The baby birds in the nest will be able to hear their killer as it approaches. And what about the issue of 'stealth'? The bell would only ring if the cat we moving very quickly, in jerky sort of movements. I had a cat many years ago and when it was 'stalking' it's prey, so to speak, it moved very slowly and carefully. The bell in it's collar tinkled a second or so before it leapt to catch it's prey. Needless to say, it very often caught it's prey. But, thankfully, it was only intent on playing and quickly released the 'prey' once it had been caught. It was all about the chase.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonjon Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 My cat does have a collar with a bell, but as has been already said, he's stealth. He brings back at least 1-2 'gifts' a week. IMO, its all about natural selection, and if all of a sudden, everyone was made to keep their cats inside we would be overrun by, mice and birds. Its an easy solution to keep populations under control, they have had decades to evolve and adjust. What next, should we all have big bells attatched to our cars so animals that run in the road can hear them and move?? And for the people against the cats, do you know how eco-systems work? You remove a preditor and the pray populations increase, fast. Then there wont be enough food, then naturally they would die through hunger etc. There is no alternative solution, live with it!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ sheffield Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 au contraire mon ami it is only your opinion that keeping cats indoors is cruel. my opinion is that there are valid arguements for and against So I can have a house horse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nickycheese Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 whilst all this is true jeremy, there is a real issue wrt the impact that domestic cats have on the local bird, small mammal, amphibian and fish populations. wrt birds, have a look at my earlier post which quotes the RSPB [hardly likely to be biased against birds ] as saying "there is no scientific evidence that predation by cats in gardens is having any impact on bird populations UK-wide" : http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=4985961#post4985961 I'd like to see any evidence to the contrary... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harleyman Posted May 11, 2009 Share Posted May 11, 2009 We have a large population of crows nesting in the trees around where I live. If I leave my car in the driveway for more than an hour one of them drops a huge loogy on it. Thats why I let my cat out all the time. "Go to it killer" are my parting words to him each morning as I leave him on the doorstep. Trouble is he never manages to get any of em and only last week made a mad dash for the house as a couple of wimpy looking little birds dive bombed him all the way across the back yard Oh well! At least he looks mean! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beady Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 Can't see anywhere anyone questioning just on who's land this annual slaughter occurs? Folks who continuosly allow their moggies to roam - just where do they think they go? I know loads of folks who detest cats but have to put up with 'em doing their business in their gardens - digging up newly planted seeds - taking fish out of ponds - killing birds visiting the garden etc etc. Would these people put up with a neighbour's dogs forever tramping into their garden and doing their business? Would think they'd be the first to moan! I've got 3 cats around me and it never fails to amaze me how selfish / thoughtless the owners are. They're supposed to be pets but are kicked out in all weather - clawing at the door at daybreak to get in - frozen to death in winter - ironic to call 'em pets - they never see 'em other than at mealtimes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
md25 Posted May 12, 2009 Share Posted May 12, 2009 Nah. Being caught by a cat is an avian Darwin award because to be caught by a cat you have to be dumb enough to forage and nest in easily accesible places. Domestic cats are dumb anyway so the only birds dying are the super-dumb. My cat is perhaps the dumbest cat ever. The kid across the road was feeding a flock of pigeons with a loaf of stale bread and naturally my cat begins to stalk them. Of course it is meowing at the top of its voice the entire time so the pigeons fly away when it gets within eight feet. Dumb cat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandie Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 It should be Illegal to own a cat without making it wear a bell, some cat owners make me sick coooing over their evil cute little **** of a pet, granted lots of cats are not a problem but some are varmants for killing birds. when I see one with a little robin etc my natural instinct is to want to kill the cat and if one ever touched my parrot I would kill it in a heartbeat then the owner. saying that we have one proper tame cat come into ours who is scared of the parrot, he/she is reyt cool but all the other killer cats bully it If you dont put a bell on dont come moaning when someone takes revenge on your cat for killing defencless animals, I dont blame the cats more the owners who are just lazy ******** and selfish .. a bit like cats actually Where I live birds kill birds, fish rabitts, lambs and rodents. Fo example the Owls,Goshawk, Sparrowhalk,Common Buzzardand the Kestral to name but a few, so dont tell me it is only the cat that attacks birds. I have a wild cat cross who has been attacked by birds and her mindset is aything that fly's is a danger and it is the survival of the fittist, that to me is Nature. As regards your comment that if a cat killed a robin your "natural" instinct would be to kill the cat. Animals have a natural instint to survive, we as the intelegent race are suposed to be superior let nature go on as it is you will never change the way animals use their instinct. You kill a cat because you feel it has done wrong, then you put yourself down to the level of an animal not the educated human Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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