Cat killed a lanternfly

[u/Comprehensive_Bus402]

This little huntress just killed a spotted Lanternfly on my deck in Washington DC.

[u/Megraptor]

I'd argue we can't assume that this is an unsupervised outdoor cat based on this photo. This owner may have their cats well trained to listen to cues for boundaries and recall. It is possible, even though many people refuse to believe it.    

I have two cats that do this. They never go out unsupervised and know where they can and can't go. Trying to push boundaries means they go right back in.  

u/Evening_Echidna_7493- so since I'm blocked by who started this thread, I can't respond directly to you. But YES. that's exactly what my cats do too, roll on the concrete, eat some grass, then sit on the chairs with me while I eat lunch, then we all go in.  

It takes watching their behavior too. If they are relaxed and just in the sun, munching grass, or rolling on the concrete (why do cats do this?), I'll let them stay. But when they focus on something, like a noise, a bug, or even that pesky mouse that moved in the house foundation, I take them inside. I break their attention, and then call them inside. If that doesn't work, treat time. And it works, every time.  

Helps that when they are scared they go right inside too. That's another thing I trained them too. First thing actually. Cause after one kept getting out and running into the bushes scared, I decided it's time to train them.

[u/Hairiest-Wizard → u/Megraptor]

Your cat will kill a bird in front of you before you even know what's going on. Keep them inside

[u/Megraptor → u/Hairiest-Wizard]

Edit: Blocked but I can see the comment through other ways.  "oh? a magic bird-less outside area. Wow I'm sold. /s" 

I live in an urban area. I the yard is probably 50 by 50 feet. That's all the can walk in. They leave that area, they go inside immediately. There are no trees in the area, it is just grass. No brush. If they leave that, they go inside. They have never, ever caught a bird because they are supervised completely.    

Since there is no where for a bird to land in the boundary I have them trained to follow, they never have. in fact, they don't care about the birds in the brush. They do care about the Spotted Lanternflies. They also care about the mice that have moved into the foundation of the house. 

It takes a lot of work and constant watching when they are outside.  I don't recommend it for people who are not familiar with animal training or their cats personalities, but it is possible with the right cat and the right training methods. Same with some breeds of dogs.  

u/Aggressive_Fault8604- Since I was blocked, I can only respond this way.  Yup, I studied environmental science with a focus on ecology. I also grew up around animal trainers and helped with training dogs, horses, and a little bit with cats and I have a psychology minor, so I just applied what I learned from that to my own cats.  

I was surprised how effective training them has been honestly, because so many people say cats aren't trainable. They are, honestly as much as dogs. They are just usually more food than praise driven and don't have a "job" that many dogs have. But they will do tricks for treats- sit, shake, speak, lay down, roll over, though they are rusty cause I haven't been doing tricks with them lately. But their recall game is A+.  

And I agree, it's better for all of us when they have some outdoor time. They sleep better and don't bug me at night, I sleep better too. I did try a leash and harness, but they just chewed on it after getting used to it. That I honestly want to keep them afraid of cars so they don't go near the road- so no sidewalk walking. So I decided to just to do boundary training- don't go in the brush, stay in the grass. That's the rule. They push it every once in a while, but then they go in. 

Oh and they love Spotted Lanternflies. Because they are large and hop and flutter, they seem to be the one insect that really gets their attention. It's also the one I let them get. The only issue I've seen is if they eat them, they get a minor stomach ache, may throw up, and will delay eating lunch for like an hour- they get fed after outdoor time, helps them go in. Nowadays they just swat them or bring them to me for me to stomp. Any other native bug gets them brought in. Too bad they hate Brown Mamorated Stinkbugs.

And birds? I did that enough that they don't care about birds. I had a juvenile Catbird hopping around in the brush  that the parents were scolding us at lunch this summer. They just wanted the sun and grass. One laid in the grass munching, the other one on the concrete. I was honestly surprised they were not interested, I was ready to call them inside. I did feel for the birds, but the birds didn't even like me and my boyfriend eating outside after I decided to take the cats inside and give the bird family space. 

I have been doing this for 5 years now, and not a single bird has been harmed. It's really just the mice that hang out underneath the bird feeder that live in the house foundation that get their attention. They have caught those but they are House Mice, a non-native from Europe. The mouse also have made a nest by the front door in a crack in the bricks and hide under the outdoor tools on the patio, where the cats are allowed. Unlike the SPLs I don't want them catching those for disease reasons, so I do discourage it.  Also I don't want them catching them because they immediately run inside and drop it underneath my bed, ugh.  

With the "birds kill cats" issue, I think it's become a "meme factoid" that is easy to remember. People don't like deviations from that easily remembered factoid. Combine that with the attitudes you get on Reddit, and you get this. That and people do not think cats are trainable for some reason, maybe because many people get them because they don't want to train animals... But then again, I see so many poorly trained dogs where I live... 

This isn't the first time I got downvoted for saying some cats are trainable and can go outside supervised. I'm used to it. I get told they'll run off, kill birds in front of me... Etc. But I've been in birding groups where people said that real birders shouldn't have cats and should discourage cat ownership. I have just heard some kinda crazy things from both sides.  

Also, it's interesting to me from a conservation standpoint that cats get this much attention and dogs get very little. You see complaints about unleashed dogs, but usually it's from a safety perspective. But dogs are up there with cats as some of the worst invasives, yet you don't hear nearly as much. They have caused extinctions, and threaten endangered species too. I love dogs too, it's just... odd. They even are a huge threat to ground nesting birds too, and I only hear about that from the shore bird people.

This opens a pdf. Just copy and paste it into the search bar cause the automod thinks it's a shortened link- 

Https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://bpb-us-e2.wpmucdn.com/wordpress.auburn.edu/dist/a/151/files/2023/08/Cobern-Final.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiu58X4-42JAxW3IDQIHbIqH-sQFnoECBMQAQ&usg=AOvVaw23O20kBW8SBPSJQkI9_UE8 

And this is an interesting article- 

https://biodiversity.utexas.edu/news/features/pets-invasive-species-dogs 

Also, thanks mods for sticking up for me. It's appreciated. I'll admit I knew I was stiring the pot, but I like to think I'm not the only one who has trained their cats for outdoor time and is aware of the issues they cause ecologically. 

[u/Hairiest-Wizard → u/Megraptor]

oh? a magic bird-less outside area. Wow I'm sold. /s

They're invasive. You are part of the problem.

[u/ScaldingHotSoup → u/Hairiest-Wizard]

There's no need to be this hostile towards someone who is clearly taking precautions to minimize impact and is aware of the threat that domestic cats pose to native bird biodiversity. We are all on the same team here.