One of those apocalypse "if humans disappeared" things said house cats would basically out hunt and make a bunch of other small predators go extinct because they can't keep up.
If humans disappear there will be nothing stopping medium-sized predators like coyotes and feral dogs from proliferating, and that'll check feral cat populations. Yes, the small animals that thrive in human-curated environments will also decline, but that's b/c we're creating an artificial "balance" where they currently lack predators.
Rats eat grain. We eat grain. We leaned once that birds eat locusts who eat grain, so they may eat some grain, to protect the other grain. We love cats snd small dogs because we love bread.
The problem is that the songbirds already have to deal with a dying insect population, loss of habitat and environmental toxins. Their populations just aren't as plentiful and stable anymore. Putting cats on top of that makes everything even worse.
So I recently found a YT channel of a guy who uses minks and dogs to hunt rats on properties/farms without using traps and poison. I'm not gonna lie: it is BRUTAL but satisfying to watch. Like 200 rats in a day. And that's an average day. Here's a link. But I warned you. https://youtube.com/@JosephCartertheMinkMan
Rats are actually really sweet, clean animals that are very smart and have a complex social system. They got blamed for a lot of stuff that was never their fault like spreading illnesses they don't spread and existing in cities when people brought them in/encroached on their land and they are just trying to survive. Rats are amazing creatures.
Prefacing with I'm a keep your cat indoors type. Pet rats are great. Ive kept and very much loved pet rats and mice. Wild rats and mice in the home do a lot of damage to a house, and they shit and piss absolutely everywhere. They have a strong musky funk to their piss and their coats are greasy and spread filth from where they've been.
It's not their fault they are in cities though. It's our fault. We build cities on wild land and then get mad at the animals who still try and live there and somehow they are the pests?
I know this is bait but I cant help myself. By default all land is or was wild at some point. Every city ever built has been built on land that was at one time wild. That's like saying it's humanity's fault for existing.
That's actually what turned Charles Darwin athiest. He saw a lion eating a still alive Gazelle and decided that God would have programmed animals to at least make sure their prey was dead in order to minimize suffering.
This. In the wild, the cat also would have been hunting for it's life (no kill = no eat), but the domestic cat, driven by instinct, knows no different - it is still hunting with all it's abilities. Hence the reason why domestic cats are such a drain on the songbird population - and we help out by mounting bird feeders to attract birds to where we host the bird killing cats... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Back of the neck snaps the spine. Front either chokes out the prey or severes the blood vessels. Though having flowing blood isn't really all that great since it would attract more predators
He may be right, but when a vicious Predator three times my size drags me out of my home and severs a blood vessel in my neck, the next predator Finding Me is not currently in my top 10 list of concerns
Since when has being right stopped the downvotes? Heck, when I drop a salient fact, it's a cointoss if I'll get a raft of upvotes or just be bombed downwards. Seems whichever way the tide starts going, people assume it's going the right way and add to it. It's quite worrying, tbh.
That cat looks like a tabby, which are natural hunters. We had a tabby that was supremely well-fed yet hunted anything that moved. It was great cause the crazy floof would turn into Superman to hunt mosquitoes.
My cat hunts anything that moves. That's how we noticed a mouse was able to come into our house. It didn't last long thankfully. He also gets any flies, spiders, or any bugs. My hero.
Terrible logic. There are tons of humans, doesn't mean it's ok when a bunch are murdered. It's ok to feel empathy for living things. Rats are pests, carry diseases, but I still feel bad when one is killed. Not their fault that they exist the way they do.
Eomund521
Good kitty
owlwise
Cats are friend shaped, but they are predators at heart.
E1evenChar1ie
Cats are such efficient hunters that they've been known to noticeably reduce bird and rodent populations.
MrMcGeeIn3D
If a cat can murder something, there's a good chance it will murder it.
NatesSauceLab
That’s why I don’t use mouse poison in my firewood pile. I’m scared a kitty will get sick.
OCTAVlAN
Cats are serial killers man.
Flyspyro
Na what's even more crazy is watching farm dogs do it. Terriers. Now they're Savage af
Panserclaw
IHaveAGuyForEverything
Cats are otherworldly.
dirtmarker
eromitlab
Go kitty go!
ljsivaCat
Any street in New York City.
TheMajinVegeta
tonedeff
Person could've done so much better with the camera work.
MrFBI
Looks like Tom finally got Jerry
Usainbold
Mean killing machine
Zorrodidnothingwrong
Didn't get up today to watch an animal been eaten alive.
jhilden0022
Tom got Jerry. Rip Jerry
brianingram
Good kitty!
anonymous6366
Fattbeard
The pounce and the way his little back feet braced him eas honestly adorable.
TheSilverSeraph
...said the rat
replicantx
One of the best ambush predators on our planet.
Dionysus187
One of those apocalypse "if humans disappeared" things said house cats would basically out hunt and make a bunch of other small predators go extinct because they can't keep up.
sleepinggreenidea
If humans disappear there will be nothing stopping medium-sized predators like coyotes and feral dogs from proliferating, and that'll check feral cat populations. Yes, the small animals that thrive in human-curated environments will also decline, but that's b/c we're creating an artificial "balance" where they currently lack predators.
Lassannn
"Hiya, Georgie! You want your bo--" "BITCH, YOU COMING WITH ME!!!"
SerenePrincess013
Lassannn, we gotta stop meeting like this, someone's gonna start talking. Also, fuck you for making me snort tea up my sinuses. LOL
Lassannn
njkckbxr
Mutual of Omaha presents
JahSureYouBetcha
Hosted by Marty Stouffer
zleeping20101
Wild kingdom. The music in My head right now.
GFYandyourstupidrequirements
People complain about cats killing songbirds, but nobody complains when a cat kills rats.
Mec26
Rats eat grain. We eat grain. We leaned once that birds eat locusts who eat grain, so they may eat some grain, to protect the other grain. We love cats snd small dogs because we love bread.
Zahnradfee
Rats are not endangers. Many songbirds are.
Zahnradfee
*endangered
jaggcomputing5
No.
jaggcomputing5
Although here in Australia, feral cats are a huge problem wiping out small native animals that have no natural predators. And birds.
GFYandyourstupidrequirements
Understood
Volpe42
In most cases the natural predator of those birds was driven away or killed by humans. The cat just fills the open role.
AstronautChicken
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_predation_on_wildlife#:~:text=A%202021%20estimate%20based%20on,billion%20mammals%22%20there%20each%20year.
Fishkeeper
Except that filling an open role with an invasive species that kills more than it needs to eat is a bad thing.
Zahnradfee
The problem is that the songbirds already have to deal with a dying insect population, loss of habitat and environmental toxins. Their populations just aren't as plentiful and stable anymore. Putting cats on top of that makes everything even worse.
Volpe42
So you're punishing the cats for what we've done to them?
Larirari
If I knew this wasn't my cat, I would have thought this was my cat.
Conqueeftadore
I like your cat.jpeg
Seotasr7
R100GSPD
If it's not yours, may I have it?
thesameasyours
is this your cat?
counterintel
This is worded like some sassy Diogenes shit.
Larirari
I'm pretty sassy
azureraptor
Diogenes just about invented the"LOL", if not straight-up trolling. Look up "I HAVE BROUGHT YOU A MAN."
pilotperson
If you knew it wasn’t…hmm. That phrasing sounds paradoxical.
Nofoxlefttogive
The knight on the left knows who's cat it is, but the one on right always lies about it.
pilotperson
*whose (“who’s” is short for “who is”)
Nofoxlefttogive
Your (jk) right, of course. My sleepy brain just accepted the keyboard prompt.
drdorman86350
People hate on campers, but it's effective.
unluckyandbored
"IT'S A LEGITIMATE STRATEGY!"
darkninja2992
When you're on defense or sniping, it really is
EverythingWithFries
Back in the day the FPS America's Army would automatically word filter "camping" into "using tactics". Good times. Great game, too.
brianingram
Ain't that called "deer season"?
mymistake4coffins
Dude X-D
mondeca
Wabbit season.
Heroofhtelance
Duck season.
TheChunguskaEvent
god damn that is savage af
Lovegold1100
What is that a mouse? Small rat? Some skill on that kitty! Impressive
DaveSamsonite
Very impressive. Cats are like ninjas
PTNLemay
"A perfect hunter. I admire it's purity."
Promethianfire
"I won't lie to you about your chances, but you have my pity."
ToasterDent
NotTheSameAnymore
Right! Thank you for this
Rubyrose99
Damn nature, you scary.
fbutt09
That rat was certainly feline it
dawggunner
So I recently found a YT channel of a guy who uses minks and dogs to hunt rats on properties/farms without using traps and poison. I'm not gonna lie: it is BRUTAL but satisfying to watch. Like 200 rats in a day. And that's an average day. Here's a link. But I warned you. https://youtube.com/@JosephCartertheMinkMan
TheChunguskaEvent
Dude! Minks fucking some some rats UP
TheChunguskaEvent
Yeaaaaaah I’m gonna check that out. There was a pretty good This American Life a few years ago about a group in NYC that takes terriers out ratting.
endfreq
Classy bougie ratchet
dabbycats
It’s a rat 🐀 the cats doing the world a favor
ToasterDent
Without rats, New York City would be overrun with discarded pizza slices.
whatifgodwasoneofus
Lalamehlala
I am sure the rats of this world beg differ. But yeah, if this would be my kitty she will for sure get a praise for this.
PlanckEraWasMyBestEra
Rats are actually really sweet, clean animals that are very smart and have a complex social system. They got blamed for a lot of stuff that was never their fault like spreading illnesses they don't spread and existing in cities when people brought them in/encroached on their land and they are just trying to survive. Rats are amazing creatures.
BumbleBeeBeardedGingerBear
Prefacing with I'm a keep your cat indoors type. Pet rats are great. Ive kept and very much loved pet rats and mice. Wild rats and mice in the home do a lot of damage to a house, and they shit and piss absolutely everywhere. They have a strong musky funk to their piss and their coats are greasy and spread filth from where they've been.
whatifgodwasoneofus
There are rats and then there are RATS. Chicago rats are mean psycho big mfers that will cut you if given the chance.
PTNLemay
When they're living in a field or a forest, sure. In the city they're usually pests.
PlanckEraWasMyBestEra
It's not their fault they are in cities though. It's our fault. We build cities on wild land and then get mad at the animals who still try and live there and somehow they are the pests?
jds2582
I know this is bait but I cant help myself. By default all land is or was wild at some point. Every city ever built has been built on land that was at one time wild. That's like saying it's humanity's fault for existing.
ipokeangrycats
Remmy, did you write this? I loved you in Ratatouille!
HawkmanXLII
You should see one of the hawks I work with catch a gull. They just hold it down and start eating. I have to move in and end its suffering.
BlindGardener
That's actually what turned Charles Darwin athiest. He saw a lion eating a still alive Gazelle and decided that God would have programmed animals to at least make sure their prey was dead in order to minimize suffering.
[deleted]
[deleted]
HawkmanXLII
Sometimes it's quick, just sayin I've seen when it isn't.
Hendlton
Cats will do that too sometimes. They eat half the animal and leave the rest flopping around.
DeadpoolsTinyHand
I don’t want to see this… I need to see this.
dizzyturtle
You should make a 'Day in the life' post.
CritterMazes
I've seen that. Brutal pecked to death slowly..
ItsBelvie
We often get nesting Peregrine Falcons on top of the local church and sometimes you get to see them going after the pigeons. They don't mess around.
HawkmanXLII
Peregrines are different. They slam into their prey either stunning it, or sometimes killing it instantly. They're not built like hawks.
PyroAvok
Nature is fuckin brutal.
HawkmanXLII
I chose to take a pay cut to work with it.
DaveTheScientist
I say this every chance I get. Folks who think nature is about harmony and peace don't know nature.
Promethianfire
Gary Lardon (The Far Side) wrote a children's book on the subject, "There's a hair in my dirt!"
TheChunguskaEvent
HawkmanXLII
I have a pic of one of our hawks that reminds me of this:
TheChunguskaEvent
A hawk took one of our chickens and I was kind of impressed at the efficiency. Just tore the head off and got to work. Not even any fuss.
Gorillabumrush
I read that as “children” and I was thinking, “How calm they are about losing a child. Must be British.”
HawkmanXLII
Chicken was lucky then. It's often not that quick.
Revnis
I mean if we're being fair there isn't fuss to be had to the hawk it's just dinner, sort of like us grabbing pretty much any food.
TheLegendaryBonk
That’s a tough cat. That rat was definitely biting this shit out of it while it pulled it out and was killing the rat.
Columbus43219
And the cat was only fighting for dinner. The rat was fighting for its life!
RandallKavanaugh
This. In the wild, the cat also would have been hunting for it's life (no kill = no eat), but the domestic cat, driven by instinct, knows no different - it is still hunting with all it's abilities. Hence the reason why domestic cats are such a drain on the songbird population - and we help out by mounting bird feeders to attract birds to where we host the bird killing cats... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
RandAIFlagg
Well, when you're killing something, you kind of have to accept that it's going to fight back
Columbus43219
Unless you're COVID. Then about half the people will spread you willingly, just to prove how not dangerous you are.
RandAIFlagg
Jfc I read this before reading what it was replying to and that wasn't what I expected hahaha jesus. Dark. And sadly accurate.
hnngh
Maybe it got a nibble or two but that's why they go for the back of the neck so quickly.
Quessir
Lions do exactly the same thing.
VadersCallGirl
Listen, you rat bastard....wait a minute *squints*
layinginbedfeelinglikeaquesarito
For many prey the cat’s teeth shape evolved so that as it bit the back of the neck the teeth would perfectly sever the prey’s neck blood vessels
Volpe42
Back of the neck snaps the spine. Front either chokes out the prey or severes the blood vessels. Though having flowing blood isn't really all that great since it would attract more predators
ScootinNtootin
Why are you people downvioting him? He's right.
Einstein9073
He may be right, but when a vicious Predator three times my size drags me out of my home and severs a blood vessel in my neck, the next predator Finding Me is not currently in my top 10 list of concerns
SilverHornet
Since when has being right stopped the downvotes? Heck, when I drop a salient fact, it's a cointoss if I'll get a raft of upvotes or just be bombed downwards. Seems whichever way the tide starts going, people assume it's going the right way and add to it. It's quite worrying, tbh.
pjm82
Hunger is a hell of a motivator
austinwizardforhire
And the best sauce
BeegJuJu
That cat looks like a tabby, which are natural hunters. We had a tabby that was supremely well-fed yet hunted anything that moved. It was great cause the crazy floof would turn into Superman to hunt mosquitoes.
CAAFlo
It's also why outdoor cats are so devastating to local birds. They will hunt and kill just for the duck of it
SheSaidToThineOwnMemeBeTrue
My cat hunts anything that moves. That's how we noticed a mouse was able to come into our house. It didn't last long thankfully. He also gets any flies, spiders, or any bugs. My hero.
erdogansfatpinkpusspuss
A lot of times cats kill for sport
drziod
Yes but that kind of determination is more than sport
Promethianfire
Ahem, it's called "practice."
pullingsixty
That is one metal as fuck cat. The focus and perfect execution was glorious. I do feel a little bad for the rat though.
Howlingowl
Rats evolved to be food fodder. He served his purpose.
Fishkeeper
Very reasonable, but, as a rat, this was pretty much inevitable.
CaldariBob
Don't worry. There are more.
cakeycakes
Terrible logic. There are tons of humans, doesn't mean it's ok when a bunch are murdered. It's ok to feel empathy for living things. Rats are pests, carry diseases, but I still feel bad when one is killed. Not their fault that they exist the way they do.
CaldariBob
Well, it's all the Circle of Life, innit?
cakeycakes
Yes, but empathy is important.
pullingsixty
There's more of people like me too. I don't want to get stabbed by some giant while I'm sleeping in my bed.
iDrinkDrano
"wow look at the way the giant braced his feet against the bottom floor while ripping him out of his flat! So cute!" 🥺
pullingsixty
Didn't even knock the glass of water off the dresser.
CaldariBob
That'll depend on how often you spread the plague!
pullingsixty
You're thinking about fleas
Volpe42
That lived on rats and were carried around by them
CaldariBob
So you've got fleas too?! That's definitely a midnight visit from Capt. Stabby!