Pets form an important part of many people’s lives, providing meaningful companionship. However, our pets can sometimes also be a source of unwelcome pathogens and diseases, particularly if they frequently roam outdoors.
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Outdoor cats kill a lot of birds and rodents but - at least in the UK - they fill the ecological niche left empty by the wildcats, weasels, etc whose numbers have been decimated by humans destroying their habitats. Also, the prey species targeted by cats are those whose numbers are disproportionately high due to them thriving in the urban landscape (and the individuals who fall prey to cats are disproportionately elderly, injured, or otherwise compromised, meaning their predation actually increases the overall health of the population).
Seriously, read through the study I linked, dozens of sensationalist articles have been written demonising outdoor cats, but none of them take the time to actually interpret the data in a scientific way.
The cat charity I referenced was Cats Protection UK, and unless they have changed their policies in the last 2-3 years what I said about them is correct.
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I did highlight that I was mostly talking about p laces in which cats are native or naturalised, ie pretty much the entirety of Eurasia and Africa. The genetic differences between domestic cats and wildcats are essentially negligible. Please, please read the study I linked. My cats can’t currently get outside without my supervision, which is something my vet (in the UK, which has had domestic cats for around 1,000 years and wildcats for tens of thousands of years) was actually not pleased about.
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The raw numbers mean nothing though, and the extinctions are all on small islands. Again, for the last time, read the study I posted, which analyses the data about cat predation in a scientific manner. The fact that predators kill prey animals is entirely to be expected.
Domestic cats are basically identical to the African wildcat from which they are descended. Eurasian wildcats are also incredibly similar. Wildcat does not refer to any wild feline species, they are a specific species of cat from which domestic cats are descended (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat)
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Better to have a good life than a long one. My cats currently can’t get outside whenever they want and I feel bad about that, like I’ve failed as a cat owner. Once they’ve known freedom, being locked inside feels like prison.