General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: House cats kill more critters than thought - researchers use cameras to track the slaughter [View all]bhikkhu
(10,715 posts)In a study I read a couple of years ago they found the range of cats was 3 or 4 times as large as their owners imagined, involving primarily recreational hunting, and secondarily territorial disputes. The few species that remain living around human areas are reasonably well adapted to cats.
on edit - my family has two older fixed female cats, which are mostly indoors and too old to hunt (I think).
Most of my perspective on cat problems comes from my route cycling to work, which is along a canal and some fields, and there is a new crop of feral cats every year - dozens of them. They typically hunt from spring through fall, then die in winter. We get some good snows, the canal freezes, and I've never seen the same cats from one year to the next.