That feral cats are not necessarily escaped domestic cats like you claim. Many are the distant descendants of domestic cats, born from a long line of feral cats. Like the person you responded to claims, and like you seem to want to deny. Those cats are not immediately wild cats like you suggest; they’re feral. You and the person you reply to focus on only part of the feral population.
The person I’m responding to was trying to equate the word “feral” with the word “wild” in order to argue that feral animal populations aren’t a problem, and one caused by humans.
They are, and it is.
You make this mistake as well when you write “Those cats are not immediately wild cats”.
They are not wild. They will never be wild. A feral animal cannot become “wild” except by the words casual definition. Feral animals are invasive species introduced by humans. Something which the word “feral” inherently includes by definition.
Whether they are first or later generation is a distinction without a difference.
No, you were the first person to start about “wild” animals. The person you responded to never mentioned wild animals and was talking about feral cats. You’re the one who equated that with wild cats. They also never said feral cats weren’t a problem; quite the opposite: that those were the cats that ate birds, and not the domestic cats that came outside. I don’t know whether that’s true, but that’s the argument they were making, and not the strawman you’re making out of it.
That is an extremely generous reading of what they said, which completely ignores the context provided by their other comments.
all human beings that aren’t in africa are invasive species! we should kill all the humans who don’t live in africa!
This being the classic “if invasive species bad, then humans bad, kill us all I guess” that you often see people who don’t take the concept of invasive species seriously.
there are a lot of anti-cat nutcases out there who basically think cats should never be let outside ever
Again, this person is in favor of the status quo, and is under the false assumption that “feral” cats, and free roaming pet cats, are either a normal part of local ecosystems, or if not that, harmless. Which is why I think they need the distinction explained.
They make several statements where they openly admit to indifference where nature preservation is concerned.
That feral cats are not necessarily escaped domestic cats like you claim. Many are the distant descendants of domestic cats, born from a long line of feral cats. Like the person you responded to claims, and like you seem to want to deny. Those cats are not immediately wild cats like you suggest; they’re feral. You and the person you reply to focus on only part of the feral population.
I made no such claim.
The person I’m responding to was trying to equate the word “feral” with the word “wild” in order to argue that feral animal populations aren’t a problem, and one caused by humans.
They are, and it is.
You make this mistake as well when you write “Those cats are not immediately wild cats”.
They are not wild. They will never be wild. A feral animal cannot become “wild” except by the words casual definition. Feral animals are invasive species introduced by humans. Something which the word “feral” inherently includes by definition.
Whether they are first or later generation is a distinction without a difference.
No, you were the first person to start about “wild” animals. The person you responded to never mentioned wild animals and was talking about feral cats. You’re the one who equated that with wild cats. They also never said feral cats weren’t a problem; quite the opposite: that those were the cats that ate birds, and not the domestic cats that came outside. I don’t know whether that’s true, but that’s the argument they were making, and not the strawman you’re making out of it.
That is an extremely generous reading of what they said, which completely ignores the context provided by their other comments.
This being the classic “if invasive species bad, then humans bad, kill us all I guess” that you often see people who don’t take the concept of invasive species seriously.
Again, this person is in favor of the status quo, and is under the false assumption that “feral” cats, and free roaming pet cats, are either a normal part of local ecosystems, or if not that, harmless. Which is why I think they need the distinction explained.
They make several statements where they openly admit to indifference where nature preservation is concerned.