Not true. Pet cats are about a third of the problem, according to a 2013 nature paper. Feral populations vary a lot by location - some places have almost no ferals but lots of pet cats.

Sauce: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380

[–] TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee 13 points 6 months ago (1 children)

That study's been going around for years in the media, but mainly because it's sensational. If you actually read the article, I'd hardly say it's very convincing, or very accurate. Also, this.

Existing estimates of mortality from cat predation are speculative and not based on scientific data13,14,15,16 or, at best, are based on extrapolation of results from a single study18. In addition, no large-scale mortality estimates exist for mammals, which form a substantial component of cat diets.

[–] Paraponera_clavata@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

I read it, it's from 2013

[–] Lizardking27@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

"About a third of the problem" So, not the primary cause (or solution.)

https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms2380

"We estimate that free-ranging domestic cats kill 1.3–4.0 billion birds and 6.3–22.3 billion mammals annually. Un-owned cats, as opposed to owned pets, cause the majority of this mortality."

The article also states the following regarding more popular studies in the media involving pet cats: "The magnitude of mortality they cause in mainland areas remains speculative, with large-scale estimates based on non-systematic analyses and little consideration of scientific data"

[–] Paraponera_clavata@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Read the whole paper though. It has percentages. Just sayin

[–] MissJinx@lemmy.world 0 points 6 months ago

Indoor cats are not a problem because they are indoors. Outdoor cats thar come inside sometimes are a problem indeed but most of them were not adopted they just apeared out of nowhere and you now think it's your cat. So it was feral at some point or at least was born from one.