This study might be missing some long-term thinking and testing of common knowledge.
It is known among farmers that cats reduce rat PRESENCE. the study concludes that cats don’t kill enough rats to reduce rat POPULATIONS (which is entirely different). Rodent control is not about killing rodents it’s about keeping rodents away.
The hypothesis to test would be that rats avoid areas with cats because it makes their young less safe. (A cat discovering an unattended nest containing rat kits will certainly go badly for the rats). I’d like to see the total rat counts in the area of study before arrival of cats and after. I’d guess from what I’ve seen that the population counts would be wildly different than can be accounted for by cat kills.
Comments
This study might be missing some long-term thinking and testing of common knowledge.
It is known among farmers that cats reduce rat PRESENCE. the study concludes that cats don’t kill enough rats to reduce rat POPULATIONS (which is entirely different). Rodent control is not about killing rodents it’s about keeping rodents away.
The hypothesis to test would be that rats avoid areas with cats because it makes their young less safe. (A cat discovering an unattended nest containing rat kits will certainly go badly for the rats). I’d like to see the total rat counts in the area of study before arrival of cats and after. I’d guess from what I’ve seen that the population counts would be wildly different than can be accounted for by cat kills.