Having pets I adore and also seeing the reality of feral cats, it is hard not to see humans through a similar lens.
From: Friam <friam-boun...@redfish.com> On Behalf Of Gary Schiltz Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2021 10:01 AM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <friam@redfish.com> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Kill it! Culling is easy, and they are delicious! Kung Pao Meow! On Thu, Aug 26, 2021 at 10:23 AM Marcus Daniels <mar...@snoutfarm.com<mailto:mar...@snoutfarm.com>> wrote: I have seen what happens when ferals proliferate. Out in the country it is common to have a few non-domesticated cats around, but they can proliferate amongst households. Look out the window, there is some hunt that is on. Culling is easy though. > On Aug 26, 2021, at 7:08 AM, uǝlƃ ☤>$ > <geprope...@gmail.com<mailto:geprope...@gmail.com>> wrote: > > So, a wildlife ecologist friend of mine (who meatspace introduced me to > Looney (WSDA employee who discovered murder hornets here (who also hangs at > the local pub) [‡])) argues that domestic cats, as an invasive species, are > more horrifying than murder hornets, or english ivy, or the new zealand > mudsnail, etc. He focuses on how they're merely killing machines, with which > I agree. And goes with the usual "keep them inside" rhetoric. > > But I think I landed on an argument that he couldn't respond to. The typical > evolutionary argument against domestic cats is that we neuter/spay the ones > with the qualities we like, leaving the ferals to reproduce and evolve. And > there's plenty of evidence that a clowder of ferals wreaks more havoc on a > local ecosystem than a disorganized collection of house cats ever does. > (Distributions of house cats territory drop off at more than ~100 m from > their home. So unless the cat lives on the border of a wild area, it's impact > on wild life is quite small. In contrast, feral clowders end up in wilder > areas.) > > To boot, I have an anecdote. When we moved into this house, which is > buttressed by a fairly wild ravine with owls and wild rabbits and such, there > was a feral clowder living in a dilapidated house at the crook of the ravine > (which leads down toward capitol lake). Our alpha, Scooter, kept fighting > with at least one of these ferals. He lost quite badly one time, but due to > our policy of universal healthcare, Scooter lives to fight again. Now the > feral clowder is gone, thereby saving the lives of who knows how many little > critters in the ravine. Scooter sporadically brings home a mouse, mole, or > "little brown bird". But it's pretty rare now that he's pushing 12 or 13. So, > we could say he's an ecologically ethical hunter, even if it's unintentional. > > In the end, though, my wildlife eco friend just loves dogs and hates cats. > 8^D My guess is his cognitive structure is more dog-like and mine is more > cat-like, after decades of being programmed by our pets. > > > [‡] > https://www.sciencenews.org/article/asian-giant-murder-hornets-new-map-habitat-united-states > >> On 8/24/21 4:39 PM, Steve Smith wrote: >> My first reaction to the subject line is one of my favorite parody >> attributions to redneck culture: "it's Diffr'nt, kill it!" but then I >> read the content and realized it was more apropos than I expected. >> >> I believe that something like "xenophobia" is an adaptive response in >> many contexts... we have some pretty deep instincts it seems that let >> us know to be "askeered" of "spiders and snakes" even if we'd never seen >> another ape respond that way. My dog has always been very (properly) >> fearful of snakes... otherwise her natural curious aggression would >> have had her dead-by-snakebite long ago... she went crazy everytime >> she saw a rattlesnake but always barked crazily from a good 6-10 feet >> away. She never alerted to a non-rattler that I knew of. And in the >> arms race of survival, it is natural that some "skeery" things will >> camoflauge as benign or friendly or cute. >> >> I am always a little nervous when large movements (especially gubbm'nt >> supported ) try to tap those instincts. It seems like a bad precedent >> to encourage formalized xenophobia even against helpless insects. The >> Charlottesville (and too many other) white-nationalists chanting "jews >> will not replace us" and all of Trump's fear-mongering are obvious (and >> ugly), but aspects of the B(lack) L(ives) M(atter) movement that perhaps >> overstated police culpability (in general not in specific cases), and >> Hillary's unfortunate election-forfieting statement calling Trump >> supporters "deplorables" (plenty of them were, but the brush was too >> broad and there was probably at least some backlash turnout over that >> one). Her "superpredator" comments, etc. in the 90's are another >> example. >> >> As for me, I have a nicely expanding set of stands of what is know >> locally as "Guaco" (critical to the black on black pottery process) in >> the pueblo nearby but more commonly known as "beeweed" among anglos... >> it turns out to be a particularly attractive nectar source for the >> Tarantula Hawk (or Tarantula Wasp), a big ole blue-black beast that >> looks like it could stun you with a sting and drag you to it's >> underground lair where it would insert it's fertilized eggs into your >> abdomen to hatch and thrive until the larva are ready to emerge and >> pupate ultimately into more giant scary wasps. The thing is, this is >> exactly what they do, but only with Tarantulae (and perhaps other large >> spiders?) but can hardly be induced to sting anything else (I think >> there is a YouTube Steve-Irwin wannabe who succeeded in getting one to >> sting him on camera, but while painful it was not acutely life or limb >> threatening). There are as many as a dozen or more of these wasps (and >> occasionally a few other pollinating insects) hanging around them. I >> approach them relatively casually but even when I drive up within a few >> feet on my way into the driveway or run my weedwhip into the ragweed >> surrounding the stand, they take no interest in me. I suppose if I >> were to violently attack them, they *might* respond in some offensive >> way, but most indications are, they reserve their sting for immobilizing >> their Tarantula baby-incubators. My immediate neighbors have lots of >> loud yard-grooming equipment and a whole shed full of pesticides and >> herbicides they run around spraying on everything in their yard, and >> while "beeweed" would never survive a week in their yard, I think they >> would be out machine-gunning these elegant (though menacing looking) >> wasps if they saw one. FWIW I have not seen a Tarantula at this >> location in the 2 decades I've lived her, I guess the wasps feed in my >> yard and reproduce elsewhere. >> >> My bottom line is that xenophobia is first-order adaptive, but humans >> need not be first-order (only) creatures. We *can* think past our >> initial reactions or herd-hysteria if we choose to. Or not. > > > -- > ☤>$ uǝlƃ > > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 > bit.ly/virtualfriam<http://bit.ly/virtualfriam> > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam<http://bit.ly/virtualfriam> un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/
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