• CashewNut 🏴󠁢󠁥󠁧󠁿@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    And so begins a new battle in the eternal war between Americans with indoor cats and others with outdoor cats.

    It’s pretty difficult to actually find an indoor cat in the UK. In the US it’s common.

    • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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      10 months ago

      Of course it is difficult to find an indoor cat, you only see them inside a house.

    • Kusimulkku@lemm.ee
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      10 months ago

      I guess we in Finland are Americand now lol

      We’re more worried about the cats wellbeing though than the birds.

    • EdibleFriend@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      Which is fitting because, in the end, when the hell have the British cared about the fallout of anything they do

    • lad@programming.dev
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      10 months ago

      I’m not so sure both about Americans having their cats indoors, and “others” having it the opposite way. I have never been to the UK or the US, but most owners I had seen kept their cats indoors. Except for Georgia (the country), where cats seem to be treated as some sort of weed that grows on it’s own

      • Pandantic [they/them]@midwest.social
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        10 months ago

        Except for Georgia (the country), where cats seem to be treated as some sort of weed that grows on it’s own

        I like this phrasing. I’d love to hear more about how you came to this conclusion.

        • lad@programming.dev
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          10 months ago

          There are a lot of strays around at first sight, but then I found out that at least about a third of them have owner/owners because they sometimes stick to several places. A lot of people also care for the strays and check them for issues not taking 'em home, some initiatives are doing neutering and finding homes for treated cats.

          I heard it’s somewhat similar in Türkiye, everyone loves cats but mostly don’t want to care about them above feeding them when met. Don’t know if outdoor cats are popular there, though

      • CashewNut 🏴󠁢󠁥󠁧󠁿@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Nope. And the RSPB doesn’t believe cats are a concern:

        The UK’s largest bird charity, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), is not particularly concerned about the impact of cats on the British mainland.

        https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/14/cats-kill-birds-wildlife-keep-indoors

        And a Bristol study found cats kill the “doomed” weak and sick birds - not healthy birds: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1474-919X.2008.00836.x

        • Repple (she/her)@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Cats have also been around in the UK significantly longer than many other places. Here in Hawaii they’re a plague on native species that had no such predators before.

          • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
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            10 months ago

            That’s a big part of the difference. Cats in the old world are probably fine since everything there has evolved alongside them. But the native species in the Americas haven’t had housecats to worry about until relatively recently in evolutionary terms.

            • jpeps@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              I’m a outdoor cat person but in fairness one issue to consider is that while cats are natural in Europe, their current numbers and general location are something that’s pretty unnatural. I definitely err on the side of not being concerned about it, but I do think it’s something to consider as people have more pets.

              Personally I have one cat that has brought in a single frog, and another that exclusively brings in recycling.

          • deweydecibel@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Yeah but Hawaii’s ecosystem is different from the mainland, too. Every area is going to handle this differently.

        • wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one
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          10 months ago

          The UK used to have a different feline species that was native to the isles.

          Its likely going extinct because of the UK obsession with outdoor cats.

          • shottymcb@lemm.ee
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            10 months ago

            Since 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the Cat Specialist Group recognizes Felis silvestris silvestris as the valid scientific name for all European wildcat populations, arguing that it is doubtful that the Scottish wildcat is sufficiently distinct to accord it separate subspecific status.

            It’s just a plain old cat, it’s not going extinct.

        • thehatfox@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Yes, according to the RSPB habitat destruction from expanding urban areas and farmland is the main threat to bird life in the UK.

          When my family had a cat it would mostly catch and bring home earthworms.

    • wildginger@lemmy.myserv.one
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      10 months ago

      And thats why the wild felines are going extinct in the british isles.

      Ay, but tradition right? Fuck the natives, as is british tradition

      • veroxii@aussie.zone
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        10 months ago

        Yeah the British really do have a history of royally fucking over whole eco systems. Brought rabbits to Australia thinking they would be a good food source.

        Except they bred like well rabbits. And destroyed whole eco systems. So the British imported foxes to eat the rabbits. Except literally every other native species is easier for a fox to kill than a fast rabbit.

        Fucking morons.

        • Badger@lemmy.sdf.org
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          10 months ago

          That’s a bit of a harsh take considering it was one guy on the 19th century who didn’t know better. Looking at it he brought 13 rabbits for his private estate - I don’t think the science was there for extended Environmental Impact Studies back then - just some rich guy making a minor change to his place having unintended consequences so branding an entire country as fucking morons is a bit much.

          • veroxii@aussie.zone
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            10 months ago

            Okay. One English guy was a fucking moron with regards to rabbits. Plenty others were morons for other things in Australia.

            • Badger@lemmy.sdf.org
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              10 months ago

              Awesome, glad that’s settled, just a minor blip on what would be Australia’s impeccable record of care for both indigenous creatures, and indigenous people.