Mind control parasite now found in Oahu feral cats

[Grassyknoll]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

Cats are terrible at killing rats - mice is another story.

Cats are contradictory creatures. A 2017 study found that domestic felines—deemed one of “the most ubiquitous and environmentally damaging invasive predators on Earth”—have contributed to the extinction of at least 63 global vertebrate species, but new research published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution suggests feral cats are embarrassingly ineffective when it comes to catching the prey most commonly associated with their urban jaunts: rats.

Researchers led by Fordham University’s Michael Parsons spent five months observing a rat colony housed at a Brooklyn waste management facility, Matthew Taub reports for Atlas Obscura. Although the team initially set out to study pheromones, or airborne chemicals that can influence animal behavior, they soon shifted focus to rat-cat interactions. The results were surprising, to say the least: Over the course of the 79-day testing period, local cats ambushed just three of the facility’s roughly 150 rat—killing only two.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart...eck-180970428/

So, they are terrible at catching rats but great at catching birds? Seems contradictory to me.
But I have a farm and without my farm cats the rats are insane. They catch and kill quite a few (have no idea their success to failure rate). Most farmers I know either have cats or resort to bait stations (which are also environmentally damaging). So based on my real world experiences with their rat-culling effectiveness, I'll still advocate for them as an effective rodent deterent.

[mlulu23]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

Cats kill well over 1 BILLION birds per year just in the United States.

And so do humans. Songbirds are a big delicacy in many parts of the world. Humans catch them in nets, or glue on trees they get stuck on. It's a horrible practice that needs to be stopped. Look it up if you don't beleive me. And then cats who can't defend themselves get the blame, shameful.

And shame on the humans who just dump their pets to fend for themselves instead of finding them homes. What are the animals expected to do to survive? Most don't know how to hunt, and starve to death. While there are kind humans, many are an embarrassment. Animals have better morals.

[Grassyknoll]

And for counterargument:
https://www.cnn.com/2016/07/15/healt...rol/index.html

https://www.google.com/amp/s/news.mo...riculture/amp/

So yes, you can find articles and studies stating cats aren't good at rodent control, but then you have just as many stating they are; also the general scientific community seems to be in agreement that cats assisted in ushering in our hunter/gatherer to agrarian society transition by protecting crops from rodents.
So I'll leave it to you to determine whether you feel they are effective at rodent control

[terracore]

Originally Posted by Grassyknoll

So I'll leave it to you to determine whether you feel they are effective at rodent control

In our experience, FERAL cats have a moderate effect on rat populations. They will hunt at night when the rats are out because they are hungry. Pet cats hunt during the day and primarily kill birds. Rats are big and meaty and provide a nice meal. Most of the birds killed by cats are just mouthfuls of feathers and bones, and the cats wouldn't have the energy to hunt them if they weren't being fed by humans. They kill the birds because it entertains them. I've watched a feral cat consume an entire rat, including the head. The only thing left was part of the tail. Unfortunately, the feral cats will also kill endemic birds if they are able.

[Lodestar]

But - the deal with the parasite, and this is really interesting, is that rodents who have it will be attracted to cats. That's the "mind control" part.

It's a fascinating symbiosis as it needs the cat's digestive system to complete its cycle of life.

From the quoted article:

"One of the ways that Toxoplasma gondii affects mice and rats is by tweaking their brain chemistry to change their behavior. Rodents typically avoid cats, but under T. gondii's "mind control" they seek out felines. And that's exactly what T. gondii wants, because the infected rats need to be ingested by cats in order for T. gondii to complete its life cycle. "

The bad news is you have to have infected rats and infected cats to watch the magic.

As an aside, I wonder how many here would advocate euthanizing feral dogs. . .

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by Lodestar

As an aside, I wonder how many here would advocate euthanizing feral dogs. . .

I would hope everyone would want wild dogs euthanized.

Wild dogs can kill people, pets, and livestock. Cats aren't going to kill people nor goats like the story below

https://www.kitv.com/video/oahu-fami...87ede126c.html

[prospectheightsresident]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

I would hope everyone would want wild dogs euthanized.

Wild dogs can kill people, pets, and livestock. Cats aren't going to kill people nor goats like the story below

https://www.kitv.com/video/oahu-fami...87ede126c.html

Funny you bring this up. I recall roaming packs of feral dogs in NYC when I was a kid. We'd go into East New York in Brooklyn to take art classes with a family friend and, without fail, these things were roaming deep down city streets. I was always creeped out by them. Though they were never aggressive with me, I was always on guard and creeped out by them.

This is no longer a thing (I wager that they were largely trapped and euthanized), but these articles here touch on the subject somewhat:

A pack of five wild dogs viciously attacked and mauled a jogger on the Rockaway boardwalk early Wednesday morning as he was running near Beach 70th Street in Arverne.

The dogs—two Rottweillers, a pitbull mix and two other mixed breeds—tore at the man’s face and neck and nearly ripped his arm from his body. The man, in his 50s, had no ID on him and couldn’t immediately be identified by police.

https://www.qchron.com/editions/sout...7bb59138a.html

This is an even older article from the NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/1972/11/12/a...lyn-scene.html

My father tells me of how much worse things were when he was a kid, though he was never attacked either.

When I was in India in 2010, packs of feral dogs roamed the streets of New Delhi. They seemed friendly enough, though.

[Arktikos]

Originally Posted by Lodestar

..

As an aside, I wonder how many here would advocate euthanizing feral dogs. . .

Count me in. I'd like to see some pet dogs euthanized.