Showing posts with label vacuum activity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label vacuum activity. Show all posts

Wednesday, 11 September 2024

US halts plan to remove iconic stray cats from a historic area in Puerto Rico's capital

Alley Cat Allies, an advocacy organization for the humane treatment of cats, has filed a lawsuit against the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) to halt the removal of community cats from the historic district of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. The NPS had proposed removing an estimated 200 cats from the area surrounding the Paseo del Morro, a seaside fortress in San Juan, citing concerns over sanitation and the impact of the cats on the site. The plan, which could involve lethal measures, has sparked strong opposition from animal advocates and locals who see the cats as part of the area's cultural identity.

US halts plan to remove iconic stray cats from a historic area in Puerto Rico's capital
US halts plan to remove iconic stray cats from a historic area in Puerto Rico's capital. Image: DALLE.

Alley Cat Allies argues that the NPS's plan violates the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other legal protections, insisting that the longstanding Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) program, which controls the cat population humanely, is a more effective solution. The organization has also sought a temporary restraining order to stop the removal, citing the likelihood of new cats moving in if the current population is eliminated (known as the "Vacuum Effect"). They emphasize that killing the cats would be not only cruel but also futile.

“It’s a victory for the short term, but long term, these cats are still at risk,” said Yonaton Aronoff, an attorney for Maryland-based Alley Cat Allies. Aronoff said in a phone interview that removing the current cats is an impossible task since new cats would take their place.

“They’re going to have to keep doing this forever,” he said. This legal battle highlights broader debates about wildlife management, community values, and humane treatment of animals.

Puerto Rico is under U.S. jurisdiction. It is an unincorporated U.S. territory, which means that while it is part of the United States, it does not have the full rights of a U.S. state. Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens, but the island has limited representation in Congress, and residents cannot vote in U.S. presidential elections. The U.S. federal government, including agencies like the National Park Service (NPS), has authority over certain aspects of governance and legal matters on the island.

Sources: Alley Cat Allies and Associated Press.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Thursday, 31 March 2022

Cat does 'vacuum activity' jaw chattering while attacking a fly!

This is unusual in some respects because normally we see what is described as "vacuum activity" when a full-time indoor cat is looking out the window at a bird and they are instinctively compelled to practice the bite on the nape of the neck of the bird to kill it. Because they can't get at the real thing the domestic cat instinctively chatters their jaw and Dr. Desmond Morris calls this "vacuum activity". 

It's called that because it occurs in a vacuum namely there is no actual prey item in the cat's jaws. Some people call this a "tooth-rattling stutter". I prefer jaw chattering but you can name it what you like.

Note: This is an embedded tweet. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

The cat that you see in the video who is stalking a little fly is performing a highly specialised killing bite as if the fly is within its jaws. Actually, the cat is behaving as if he or she is stalking a larger prey animal, normally a bird. If this was a genuine kill by a cat on a bird, his jaws would perform a "rapid juddering movement as he inserts his canines into the neck, slipping them down between vertebrae to sever the spinal cord.

Cat does 'vacuum activity' jaw chattering while attacking a fly!
Cat does 'vacuum activity' jaw chattering while attacking a fly! Screenshot.

Clearly, this can't happen with a fly as a prey animal because they haven't got a spinal cord! They have an exoskeleton instead 😉. This fly is the only prey animal available to this poor cat who is stuck indoors I suspect. 

I am all in favour of full-time indoor cats but one of the problems as is very apparent in this video is that cats don't get a chance to express their natural desires which more or less comes down to hunting.

So, when the best thing they've got to hunt is a fly the cat goes after it. Employing all the usual tricks to hunt a prey animal including stalking the fly along the carpet and then chattering his teeth in that version of vacuum activity and finally pouncing on the fly but failing to capture it.

Monday, 8 November 2021

Cat chattering at a bird outside (vacuum activity)

Cat chattering at a bird outside (vacuum activity)
Cat chattering at a bird outside (vacuum activity)

This is well known feline behaviour. We see a lot of domestic at doing this. They chatter through the window at a bird outside in the garden because they can't get at the bird and attack it. The chattering is the cat practising the killing nape of the neck bite. This is a specialist bite designed to kill birds. In this instance the cat is also vocalising at the same time in excitement. Normally it is just a straight chattering which is a rapid movement of the jaws and a general sense of excitement. It's called "vacuum activity". This is because the activity takes place as if the bird is in the cat's jaws but there's nothing there. The word "vacuum" means nothing there in this instance and as there is no bird there the term is appropriate.

The 'bird-killing-bite' inserts the canine teeth between the vertebrae, which snaps the spinal cord. This results in almost instant death. It has to be quick in order for the cat to avoid an injury from the bird's sharp beak or the powerful teeth of a rodent. The killing bite incapacitate prey. Cats are unable to control themselves when they see a bird. They become frustrated and do the next best thing which is vacuum activity. Note: my cat employs the throat bite for pigeons which suffocates them. This is the same bite as big cats when killing large prey animals. It is distressing for me. He's only killed three pigeons his entire life of 6 years.
 

Note
: This is a video from another website. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

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