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The media hates cats and statistical rigor

Here is a paragraph from a recent article in the New York Times entitled “The Evil of the Outdoor Cat” (emphasis added):

And wildlife in this country must share this land with a growing population of about 84 million owned cats, and anywhere from 30 to 80 million feral or stray cats. When all of them do “what’s natural” in a fragmented natural world, it adds up. Using deliberately conservative assumptions, federal researchers recently estimated that free-ranging cats killed about 2.4 billion birds annually in the Lower 48 states, a substantial bite out of the total bird population. Outdoor cats also kill about 12.3 billion small mammals a year — not just the proverbial rats and mice but also chipmunks, rabbits and squirrels — and about 650 million reptiles and amphibians. In some cases, they are pushing endangered species toward extinction.

Those number are huge and look very familiar.  In fact, I believe they are from the 2013 article in Nature Communications  by Dr. Scott Loss called “The impact of free-ranging domestic cats on wildlife of the United States“, which I reviewed and basically concluded it was crap statistically meaningless.  I don’t know why the media insists on printing and reprinting these absolutely meaningless numbers.  Is there a hidden bird agenda in the main stream media?

Cheers.

 

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5 responses to “The media hates cats and statistical rigor”

  1. woodsman001 Avatar
    woodsman001

    Birds are just a minor subset of all the thousands of native animal species (billions of individual animals) that cat-lickers (criminally irresponsible cat-advocates) are annihilating around the world with their man-made invasive species vermin cats.

    Not only are these demented invasive-species house-cats-ONLY “animal lovers” now killing off all Big Cats in all wildlife reserves around the world:

    thenational D0T ae SLASH news/uae-news/big-cat-owners-warned-to-keep-them-acres-away-from-feral-strays

    And for the ultimate example of absurdity and species-conservation irony, now making all moggie-licking residents of the UK the complete laughingstocks of the whole world, they’ve already made their ONE AND ONLY NATIVE CAT SPECIES EXTINCT in the UK (the inventors of that TNR insanity) with their invasive species “moggies”:

    guardian D0T co D0T uk SLASH environment/2012/sep/16/scottish-wildcat-extinction

    “A report, produced by the Scottish Wildcat Association, reviewed 2,000 records of camera trap recordings, eyewitness reports and road kills, and concluded there may be only about 40 wildcats left in Scotland in the wild today. ‘However you juggle the figures, it is hard to find anything positive,’ says Steve Piper, the association’s chairman. ‘The overwhelming evidence is that the wildcat is going to be extinct within months.’” … “However, it is not the loss of habitat that is causing the current cat crisis in the Cairngorms. It is the spread of the domestic cat.” … “‘Essentially the Highland wildcat is being eradicated by an alien invasive species: the domestic cat.’” (report quoted from 2 years ago, they are no-doubt extinct by now)

    As well as killing off all their inland River Otters in England (and elsewhere) with their cats’ parasites:

    wildlifeextra D0T com SLASH go/news/otter-toxoplasmosis D0T html

    As well as cats’ parasites killing off all rare and endangered marine mammals on all coastlines around the world (worse than any oil-spill that has ever existed or could even be imagined):

    news D0T msn D0T com SLASH science-technology/deadly-cat-feces-killing-thousands-of-marine-mammals

    environmentalhealthnews D0T org SLASH ehs/news/hawaiian-monk-seals

    Plus these cat-licking “animal lover” psychopaths and sociopaths are also killing off all the Mountain Lions (Cougars, Puma, Endangered Florida Panther, etc.), and all other native cat species in North America:

    rapidcityjournal D0T com SLASH sports/local/feral-cats-pose-threat-to-birds-lions/article_8ec451c9-4b03-55a3-baa7-71ac577905cb D0T html

    But now these cat-lickers are even killing off rare whales and causing massive birth-defects in the indigenous Inuit people who depend on seal-meat for their very survival. Seals that were infected (and are also dying-off) from these cat-lickers’ cats’ parasites.

    Cat parasite found in western Arctic Beluga deemed infectious
    news.ubc D0T ca SLASH 2014/02/13/bigthaw/

    Let’s thank these psychotic bible-home-schooled cat-lickers for all the fine work they do for being such fantastic “animal lovers”, shall we? THEY JUST LOVE CATS SO MUCH! So caring! So thoughtful! So FULL of love for living things! So much so that they will even sacrifice whole races of humans to death-by-birth-defect to prove how much they love their cats.

    I’d love to thank them all, each with a gift of a solitary-confinement prison-cell — FOR LIFE. Better yet, for their VAST ecological crimes and sins against all of nature and all of humanity, hanged-until-dead would be a far more fitting “gift” for them AND the whole planet. That used to be the punishment for engaging in bio-warfare against the human population and all other animal life in any country. I say bring it back — special, just for them.

    Reply
    1. statsinthewild Avatar
      statsinthewild

      Holy shit. Are you trying to sound like a crazy person? Consider it mission accomplished.

      I’m not pro-cat or pro-bird. I’m just saying the estimates of how many birds are being killed by cats are complete crap in statistical terms. And I’m absolutely 100% right about that.

      I have absolutely no expertise about the impact of cats on birds or anything like that. But I do know that the numbers in Loss Et Al, which are widely cited, have almost no statistical validity.

      Also, I’m sure there are crazy proponents on both sides of this issue. You’ve cited some crazy stories about cat people, and I’m sure there are crazy cat people out there. But you leave out the crazy bird people stories:

      For instance:
      Court Finds Biologist Guilty of Poisoning Cats

      Cheers.

      Reply
      1. woodsman001 Avatar
        woodsman001

        That researcher should have been given a medal for showing everyone what they MUST now do to stop this infestation of cats.

        You do know, don’t you, that there was ZERO evidence of any poison being put down for cats? She was framed by the online cat-lickers, just like this most recent veterinarian that was driven to suicide by them.

        banvetabuse D0T blogspot D0T co D0T uk SLASH 2014_03_01_archive D0T html

  2. woodsman001 Avatar
    woodsman001

    I got rid of every last one of hundreds of these MAN-MADE INVASIVE VERMIN cats where I live. Cat-lickers are no longer any problem at all where I live — going on OVER 4 years now. No stray cats, no cat-lickers causing any problems at all. Not ONE peep from them. Why is that? They have no outdoor cats with which to manipulate everyone anymore — all gone, shot-dead and buried. And if they do try again to let more roam free, that cat gets shot as soon as it is spotted off of their lands. THEY KNOW THIS. It’s why they don’t even bother trying anymore.

    I only use online cat-lickers now as my little ignorant show-‘n-tell puppets. To prove to everyone in the world, beyond any doubt in the universe, that no matter how much we try to educate them, reason with them, beg with them, plead with them, argue with them; that it will solve NOTHING toward the worldwide ecological disaster that THEY created and are hellbent on perpetuating. The ONLY thing that works is ignoring every last thing that these morons spew to others, and then giving back to them the EXACT SAME amount of respect and consideration as they have shown to all other life on earth — ABSOLUTELY NONE.

    Just destroy every last one of their free-roaming cats. Then and only then will the problem that they created be solved. They CAN’T be part of the solution because THEY ARE the problem!

    They only use their cats like little animal sacrifices to try to control and manipulate everyone in the world around them. These manipulative and inhumane freaks don’t give one sh** how any cat dies or they wouldn’t let them roam free in the very first place. This is why they don’t give one damn if their cats get ran over by cars, attacked by other cats or animals, or die any other way. And if VERY VERY LUCKY their cat will be humanely shot-to-death — that is by-far the MOST humane death that any of their stray cats will ever hope to have.

    This really isn’t about cats at all. They only use their cats to try to control and ruin everyone else’s lives on the planet, animal and human. Little self-victimization control-freaks, nothing more than that. Sociopaths and psychopaths to their very cores.

    You only have to ignore every last thing these deranged invasive species advocates are spewing to the world. That’s the most important part. Asking them for advice and help to solve the problem that THEY created and are hellbent on perpetuating is just as foolish as asking your local career thieves for their advice and help to hide your valuables from their daily motives, goals, and activities.

    Once their furry little tools to manipulate everyone are no-more, they don’t have even 1 of 4 legs to stand on — about anything. Nothing to complain about. Nothing to manipulate others with anymore.

    GAME OVER!

    Reply
  3. woodsman001 Avatar
    woodsman001

    Here’s another solution (below) that I post for others, but does NOT solve the problem with wildlife dying from diseases in cats after cats are dead and wildlife eats them. From my own experience of trying to give some near-starved-to-death native predators a much needed protein boost by feeding them one of the hundreds of shot-dead cats on my lands (that had deprived them of a food-source all the years the cats were here), and those native animals then promptly dying from some disease in that cat — I’ve come to realize that ANY cat left out in nature, alive OR dead, is no better than intentionally poisoning your native wildlife to death. Cats truly are complete and total wastes of flesh. They can’t even be used to safely feed wildlife. They really need to be destroyed in a manner where you can safely retrieve and dispose of that cat-carcass as hygienically as possible.

    I’ve not seen even one cat here in over 4 years now by using my methods, and all my wildlife is rebounding faster than I could have ever expected or hoped for.

    I also found a perfectly 100% natural solution for those who don’t want to take more direct, more humane, and more effective measures (firearms and high-power air-rifles) against free-roaming invasive species cats. Cat-lickers always want their more responsible neighbors to grow plants around the perimeter of their properties that will repel their cats for them (from the cat-owners’ own criminally negligent and criminally irresponsible behaviors and values). Well now you can brighten up your yard AND repel cats naturally! — PERMANENTLY

    It is also perfectly legal in the USA to use vermin poisons on any animal that has been listed as “vermin”. Surprise! Stray cats have been listed as vermin in the USA since the early 1900’s. While Audubon, National Geographic, and Smithsonian now condone the extremely species specific vermin-poison of 1-adult-strength acetaminophen pain reliever (available at every store) for use on cats (far far safer for our environment and all other animals than the antifreeze and rat-poisons that cat-lickers have forced everyone into using on their cats), here’s a 100% natural method that targets NO OTHER SPECIES but cats.

    Google for: LILY TOXICITY CATS

    Anyone who has criminally irresponsible cat-lickers in their area need only plant lilies on their properties. Must be from the Lilium species, not just with “Lily” in the common name, see notes.

    (International-audience warning: If these plants are not native to your region don’t plant these if they cannot be contained, or risk introducing yet another potentially harmful invasive species.)

    It has been reported that a cat even licking a little bit of lily-pollen from their fur will be fatal in short order. A cat even drinking some of the water in which a bunch of lilies has been kept is also fatal to them.

    Everyone happy! You get to have the kinds of plants that you want, they get to have the kind of pets that they want — if they take care of it like any responsible grown-up would. Or are cat-lickers now going to demand that you can’t plant flowers on your own property? That would be their next and usual move, wouldn’t it.

    A perfectly natural solution to an invasive species animal that didn’t evolve with Lilium species around. Plus it’s a good incentive plan for cat-lickers to finally educate themselves beyond their 3rd-grade bible-home-schooling and learn all about ecology, native species, and evolution. 🙂

    Doing a little research on ASPCA’s toxic plants lists (Family: Liliaceae).

    Lilies (Lilium species) that are deadly toxic to cats ONLY, in even small quantities (even the pollen will do):

    Common Name | Scientific Name

    Asian Lily (Asiatic Lily) | Lilium asiatica

    Easter Lily | Lilium longiflorum

    Red Lily | Lilium umbellatum

    Rubrum Lily ** | Lilium speciosum cultivar

    Stargazer Lily ** | Lilium orientalis

    Tiger Lily ** | Lilium tigrinum

    Wood Lily | Lilium umbellatum

    Orange Day Lily | Hemerocallis graminea (not of the Lilium species)

    ( ** see notes below)

    Lilies (Lilium species) that may be toxic to dogs if the dog ingests enough:

    NONE!

    Be sure they are from the Liliacea Family, has “Lilium” on the plant label or are common N. American Day Lilies (the one exception to the Lilium species rule). Many plants with “Lily” in the common-name are not of the “Lilium” species, and are in fact toxic to other species of animals besides cats. Double check. On further investigation I also found out that all plant-parts, the blossoms and pollen being the most toxic, if harvested and dried (for year-round use) are just as deadly toxic to cats (if not more-so because of the unknown toxin being concentrated), and the drying makes them even more palatable to cats. What a great mulch for gardens! (Or a ground-up additive for a special outdoor can of tuna.)

    ** There have been some anecdotal reports of some free-roaming cats that have spent many years around some of these particular species of plants and still survived. So it is best to harvest, dry, and grind-up the plants and mix them into any appropriate bait-foods to be most effective.

    Reply

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