re: PETA has gone full retard

No, I genuinely think he is simply myopic.

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A lot of y'all on here saying "muh birds" but are avid duck hunters

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Ducks are not the species generally impacted here.

And, duck populations have flourished secondary to legislation protecting them.

People who believe in conservation, like seen with duck populations, should agree with PETA here.

Do people believe that “birds” implies every species of bird?

Cats aren’t exactly impacting the eagle populations.

I don’t think they are right about bird deaths. You have to take into consideration Springfield, Ohio.

The frickin Haitians are eating American cats. They are moving on to dogs now too.

So the birds are will be alright.

PETA needs to follow the scientific method.

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I would consider that the extinction and near extinction of many species of bird is a sign that we don’t have enough birds, yes.

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again, show me where housecats are causing a specific species to be endangered.

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There are billions of crawfish in the state of LA.

Why are people making a big stink about the apple snail? I mean, if we lose a few billion crawfish, why would it matter?

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B/c people's livelihood is dependent on crawfish sales. We eat them.
We aren't eating wild birds, nor or the birds cats are killing affecting anyone's ability to make money.

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There are millions of small mammals across the USA, but people are up in arms over the python population of Florida decimating many populations.

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I"m sure that has more to do with the fact that people are scared pythons will become prevalent enough to start being a danger to humans and their pets.

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This idea of “oh, there are large numbers of a broad group, therefore it doesn’t matter how many are killed” is a pretty dumb argument.

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well that's b/c i don't think these birds dying from cats are actually causing an issue with the overall population of birds, or the ecosystem.
my comment about cheetahs killing Thomson Gazelles at a higher rate was thought of as stupid, but the entire point of bringing it up was b/c despite that higher rate, it's not affecting the ecosystem, or the population of the gazelle, so it's not a big deal, just like cats killing birds isn't.

Cats probably kill a higher percentage of rodents than they do birds, but we aren't going to bitch about that are we.

Predators kill prey, and this predator isn't endangering the existence of this prey, despite your thoughts that they are. I'm still waiting for the study that shows which species of birds are going extinct b/c of cats.
This entire study is made up malarky full of estimates, no different than the estimate that 600 million birds are killed by glass windows, and 300 million birds are killed by cars.

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You could just Google it. There are plenty out there. Especially in smaller areas like Australia and other small islands.

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Show me one, from the USA.

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B/c people's livelihood is dependent on crawfish sales. We eat them.
We aren't eating wild birds, nor or the birds cats are killing affecting anyone's ability to make money.

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I truly don't know if you're trolling or don't understand what a native ecosystem is and the ripple effect an invasive species can have on it.

But here's ChatGPT about farming and livestock:

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Declining bird populations in the U.S. have likely weakened several “free services” that farms and livestock systems rely on, especially insect control, scavenging/sanitation, seed dispersal, and grassland ecosystem stability.

For farmland, the biggest impact is reduced natural pest control. Many birds eat crop-damaging insects, weed seeds, rodents, or pest larvae. A 2023 study on New England farms found that when birds were excluded from some crops, pest abundance rose in brassica and cucurbit crops, suggesting birds were actively suppressing pests; leaf damage was also generally lower where birds were present. That means fewer birds can translate into more insect pressure, more pesticide dependence, and potentially lower yields, although effects vary by crop and bird community.

There is also emerging economic evidence that bird loss can affect farm revenue. A 2025 working paper estimating the value of migratory birds to U.S. agriculture and forestry found that a 10% decline in avian biodiversity reduced crop revenues by 1.1% and increased forest pest outbreaks by up to 1.2%. Because it is a working paper, I would treat the exact number as provisional, but it supports the broader mechanism: birds function as a productive input to agriculture.

For meat and livestock production, the link is strongest through fly control, animal stress, disease risk, and sanitation. Barn swallows and other aerial insectivores consume flying insects around barns, feedlots, and pastures. A 2024 Journal of Applied Ecology study describes insectivorous birds as important pest-control providers in agricultural systems and specifically examined barn swallows’ ability to suppress economically relevant “filth flies” in cattle sheds. This matters because house flies and stable flies are major livestock pests; USDA’s National Agricultural Library notes that these flies cause more than $1 billion per year in damage and control costs in U.S. livestock and poultry systems. Fewer swallows and similar birds do not cause all of that damage, but their decline removes one layer of biological control.

Bird declines also damage grassland and rangeland ecosystems that support cattle production. Grassland birds are indicators of prairie and pasture health: when they decline, it often reflects loss of native grasses, hedgerows, wet areas, insects, and plant diversity. Those same changes can reduce forage resilience, soil cover, water retention, and drought buffering. In other words, bird decline is both a symptom and a contributor to degraded working lands.

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This is in addition to them being important pollinators and seed spreaders, which then encourage bee populations to flourish. I'm sure you want to kill all the bees too, though, which would just be catastrophic.

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I"m sure that has more to do with the fact that people are scared pythons will become prevalent enough to start being a danger to humans and their pets.

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It's because it's killing the ecosystem.

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well that's b/c i don't think these birds dying from cats are actually causing an issue with the overall population of birds, or the ecosystem.
my comment about cheetahs killing Thomson Gazelles at a higher rate was thought of as stupid, but the entire point of bringing it up was b/c despite that higher rate, it's not affecting the ecosystem, or the population of the gazelle, so it's not a big deal, just like cats killing birds isn't.

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Cats are not a natural part of the ecosystem. They are invasive. A true ecosystem without invasive species can self-regulate and there is ACTUAL natural selection. Cats do not belong in that conversation in the US.