More scientific evidence has surfaced to show that while mittens may be your sweet angel, letting her roam outside is also a big threat to biodiversity.
"There were even cows on that list, though they were probably the result of scavenging rather than hunting."
I'd like to think that no, house cats took down a 2000 pound cow.
Im a caretaker for a feral cat colony, and those nerds I've seen eating everything. grass, sticks, squirrels, spiders, lizards, rats, mice, baby boar...any larger and i'd be on the menu too
I had two cats from the same litter. The female was superfocused on birds, rarely paid any attention to mice or voles which are pretty abundant here in the countryside. She very rarely managed to catch any birds in the wild, but if one made the mistake of flying into the house, it was game over in seconds. She could jump surprisingly high.
The male on the other hand was only interested in rodents. It was like to him birds didn't exist. For yeard he kept our house totally free from mice, roaming the yard and doing his thing very effectively. I'd pay good money to have a cat like him again.
I wouldn't let my cats out in the city, but out here I'll let them live by their insticts. The nearby highway kills a lot more birds and mammals daily than they ever could.