Misinformation (or denialism), the disingenuous assertion of information contradicting overwhelming scientific consensus, increasingly poses a challenge for invasion biology.
Are free-roaming cats an animal welfare issue or an environmental issue? Science and logic say that there’s no denying that free-roaming cats have a devastating environmental impact between predation on native species and disease transfer. Our emotional attachment to cats as companion animals compels us to protect them from harm. Moving forward, how can we address protecting vulnerable native species who have a right to life in their native environment AND humanely reduce the population of free-roaming cats whose short lives are violent and riddled with parasites and disease?
We can at least start by looking at the facts and acknowledging that free-roaming cats, whether owned, semi-owned, or feral, have an extremely negative impact on our native ecosystems. Environmental impact can’t be disregarded. The minimal care and low levels of management on a domesticated species like cats who depend on humans for survival can’t be disregarded either.