[FRIAM] Kill it!

[uǝlƃ ☤>$]

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