[alt text: an illustration of a person with a head-empty expression on their face, who is saying, “Not letting your cat outside is CRUEL!” Around the person are various gruesome scenes of different cats in distress. From the top and going clockwise, the scenes include: a cat being carried away by a hawk; a cat that is on fire; a dead cat in the road that has been run over by a car; several dead kittens; a cat that is missing an eye and various patches of fur; a cat that is feasting on a songbird; and a cat that is being carried away by a coyote. The person appears to be completely oblivious to these scenes of distress.]
cats are an invasive species. this is a proven fact, supported by ecologists. and if you love your cat, you won’t let them outside to get run over by a car. there are million other ways to provide a cat with similar enrichment.
Humans are an invasive species… maybe we shouldn’t be allowed outside?
Humans are not an invasive species. We migrated to everywhere we currently live. Invasive species are usually defined something along the lines of being a species that was introduced somewhere (by people) where it didn’t previously exist and is harmful to its new environment. We meet the harmfulness part of the definition but not the introduction part of it.
I as a human can make the conscious choice to live in harmony with the living beings around me. Cats are predators that act on instinct most of the time. It isn’t their fault that they hunt delicate species to extinction just for fun - they literally cannot help it. Which is why we, the humans with big brains and reason, need to help them more harmoniously with their environment. Especially given that we are the bastards that brought them all over the world in the first place.
My cats very rarely range far from my property and far more rarely have caught a bird. They fixed and well-fed. Not all cats are equally ‘bad’.
#notallcats