• FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Domestic cats?

      Because the only places that don’t have owls are Antarctica and very-far-north in the artic circle (ie on the polar ice,)

      Most places in the world have something that fill the niche of hawks and eagles and owls.

      The only cats that are apex predators are the big cats(lions, tigers leapords, panthers jaguars… etc). Domestic cats are prey animals as well as predators.

      Even if in the places domestic cats are let out, humans have killed off most their predators.

        • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          And I’d wager across other places eagles or owls aren’t snacking on cats outside of chances of opportunity. that’s… still… prey.
          Like. Seriously. you don’t have to take my word for it. watch your cat. They have a lot of behaviors that trigger because they’re prey animals. Like, you know, wanting to be up on a ledge (where they can watch everything safely, and be away from ground predators- like dogs, being in the cover of cat caves or boxes or under beds, where birds of prey can’t get to them.)

          I get it. You want to think of cats as fierce hunters. And they are that. none of what that is invalidated by them occasionally being hunted. The reality is that kind of thinking- that the cat will be okay, because they’re fierce apex predators is wrong… and besides man made hazards… there are other animals that will absolutely attack a cat. especially one with a dinner bell on it’s collar.