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Comment by darkpuma | Hacker News Reader

They should have banned outdoor cats at the same time. Cats shouldn't be declawed and neither should they be outside, but if they're going to be outside it is better for the native wildlife if they have been declawed (making them ineffective hunters.)

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My cat growing up was declawed and seemed to still be a fairly effective hunter given the frequency of offerings she brought home. She could also climb trees up to about 7-8 feet.

Are you suggesting that house cat claws are vestigial? That simply isn't the case. Their claws improve their hunting success rate dramatically since they use them to snare their prey. A declawed cat may still have some success in hunting, but will be far less effective. In fact is one of the arguments I've often heard offered up by advocates of declawing bans (to reiterate, I also support declawing bans but I believe that particular argument against it is misguided.)

I think this person's comment may be unpopular, but cats have decimated the world's songbird population.

"Our findings suggest that free-ranging cats cause substantially greater wildlife mortality than previously thought and are likely the single greatest source of anthropogenic mortality for U.S. birds and mammals"

I would say further that declawing doesn't prevent hunting and killing.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/29/cats-w...

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