Mind control parasite now found in Oahu feral cats (Hana: hotel, buying)

[Tulemutt]

Didn’t see any threads about this so thought there might be some interest ... feral cat populations being what they are and all. I never was able to grasp the ‘kindness’ of people feeding hundreds of feral cats around Sand Island and Rainbow Bay / Arizona parking lots and Keehi Lagoon / Marianna etc etc etc that I encountered in my years on Oahu. It isn’t that I hate cats. I just don’t find supporting their take over of the islands a good idea. And it seems it just got worse.

https://www.livescience.com/mind-con...oahu-cats.html

[WaikikiBoy]

I don’t know anything about this parasite other than what is written in the article, but if it is a prevalent as they indicate, and a potential danger to humans, what can be done ? Can the cats be treated ? Do they need to be eliminated ?

Last time I was at Hanauma Bay there were quite a few feral cats and they were rather aggressive if you had food. Plus they didn’t look healthy in my opinion.

[whtviper1]

Breaking news - cats kill birds. That is what that poorly written article is trying to convey.

Who knew (I did)

[Futuremauian]

Cats are an invasive species and cause a lot of damage to native creatures.

Cat advocates insist that once a colony is established the only thing you can do is sterilize them and care for them.

Wrong! Capture and euthanize them to eliminate the damage they cause. Just about every area of human habitation is now inundated by cat colonies.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by Futuremauian

Cats are an invasive species and cause a lot of damage to native creatures.

Cat advocates insist that once a colony is established the only thing you can do is sterilize them and care for them.

Wrong! Capture and euthanize them to eliminate the damage they cause. Just about every area of human habitation is now inundated by cat colonies.

Mass killing of domesticated cats isn't a great solution.

Regardless - it should be stated that most birds in Hawaii are "invasive" and not native.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

Mass killing of domesticated cats isn't a great solution.

Regardless - it should be stated that most birds in Hawaii are "invasive" and not native.

Not a cat ‘hater’ (or lover) here ... I am neutral on cats ... but curious why you say mass euthanasia of ‘domesticated’ cats (that have gone feral) “isn’t a great solution.” My observation of Oahu’s feral cats has been they are not a healthy bunch ... not sure how I could quantify or qualify whether they are ‘happy’ or not. But I don’t see much robustness to their lives ... they mostly seem quite sickly and miserable to me.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Not a cat ‘hater’ (or lover) here ... I am neutral on cats ... but curious why you say mass euthanasia of ‘domesticated’ cats (that have gone feral) “isn’t a great solution.” My observation of Oahu’s feral cats has been they are not a healthy bunch ... not sure how I could quantify or qualify whether they are ‘happy’ or not. But I don’t see much robustness to their lives ... they mostly seem quite sickly and miserable to me.

I'd rather focus efforts on things like rats - mongoose - and coqui frogs etc....

If we can't get coqui frogs under control - no need to spend money to kill a bunch of cats

And if we need to cut State pay by 20% - then spending money to kill cats seems a low priority

[Futuremauian]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Not a cat ‘hater’ (or lover) here ... I am neutral on cats ... but curious why you say mass euthanasia of ‘domesticated’ cats (that have gone feral) “isn’t a great solution.” My observation of Oahu’s feral cats has been they are not a healthy bunch ... not sure how I could quantify or qualify whether they are ‘happy’ or not. But I don’t see much robustness to their lives ... they mostly seem quite sickly and miserable to me.

I'm the same...neutral on cats even though I'm mildly allergic to them. Recently I fed my lunch, a tuna sandwich, to a starving cat. It hissed warnings at me as it ate LOL.

I was in Chile a couple of years ago where they have roaming packs of feral dogs everywhere (like we have feral cats). It was a bit unnerving to be approached by large unfamiliar dogs but they weren't aggressive, just hungry. I observed people going into stores and buying large bags of dog food which they took out to the street and cut open for all passerbys. Dog poop everywhere!

Meanwhile, here in America we euthanize dogs and cats by the hundreds daily. I don't understand the logic of keeping these herds of miserable feral cats alive while their numbers continue to explode.

What about all of the other species they kill off?

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by whtviper1

I'd rather focus efforts on things like rats - mongoose - and coqui frogs etc....

If we can't get coqui frogs under control - no need to spend money to kill a bunch of cats

And if we need to cut State pay by 20% - then spending money to kill cats seems a low priority

Agree on rats and coqui ... neutral on the mongoose (but yeah I know they're bad too). And agree this isno time to throw money at the cats. I wasn’t advocating killing them. Just curious why you reasoned it was a bad idea. Got it.

[Futuremauian]

It seems like cats don't do a very good job of keeping rat populations under control. I've observed rats in areas where there are skinny cats.

A friend of mine in hotel management told me glue traps work far better than cats on his property. Perhaps because "cat people" compete for who can be better nurturers to the beach cat populations.