What? I’m specifically saying that people shouldn’t be shooting cats and that I’m not agreeing with that argument.

you posted in support of an argument that is literally being used to justify shooting cats. in my neighborhood 4 cats were shot in this one thread alone, one by a shotgun. so why are you even bringing this up in this context if you're not for shooting cats? i don't understand.

Obviously shooting people’s pets is bad, I think we’re all in agreement here on that.

no, we're not. i had another user who also echoed your same argument DM me and explicitly say they are in support of shooting cats. here, i'll copy/paste the DM.

My position [...] is that just because cats have an instinct to torture other animals to death and get sad if they aren’t allowed to doesn’t give them any right to torture other animals to death, especially when them doing so is destroying ecosystems, and as a single cat, if left to its own devices, will torture an average of 390 mammals, 225 reptiles and 130 birds to death every year, it’s ridiculous to balk at killing them to stop that.

this is the company you're in, and the take you're defending for who knows what reason. if you want to have nuanced conversation about it, then fine, but in a thread where people's cats are being shot and your argument is being used as justification it comes off as in really poor taste at best and disingenuous at worst.

it's incredible to claim cats kill 700+ animals a year in a suburban environment (which is what nextdoor is) and then support the killing of people's pets for the sake of wildlife that is already subject to laws of nature and cycle of life. we've worked very hard as humans to extricate ourselves from the natural cycle of life and we afford a similar benefit to our pets but it's unrealistic to expect them to be fully domesticated out of their instincts and i stand by the fact that it's cruel to keep any animal caged indoors for any reason. is there a way to let out your cat without it being a destructive pest? absolutely. but if i let my cat outside and a neighbor with your beliefs sees it and grabs the shotgun, what a tragic misunderstanding that would be. i don't understand how this is even worth arguing over.

clearly i am being ratioed and it's disturbing as fuck for me to see that i'm surrounded by neighbors who will shoot cats and also on my favorite forum people are in support of it. and even those who say they're not, like you, still implicitly give ammo to those who want to shoot cats for whatever reason. i just cannot believe this whole conversation.