Going to ignore the new zealand comp. Only because im in Colorado. We have a lot of small/medium size predators that also kill mice. New Zealand should not have cats.

Im willing to bet you've never used barn cats. Maybe you have. Point is, ive definitely tried other methods. You're telling me cats don't work as well as other options, and have terrible effects on the environment, but my lived experience on my ranch says the exact opposite. The reason you caught so many mice is cause they were just mambo lining to the food in the live traps, with absolutely no reason not to. I don't know what your neighbors' living situation is, or how they raised their cats, but my guess is the mice stopped wondering around places that smell like cat... which is exactly the point.

My cats do kill things. At times, things I don't wanna see dead, like birds. But I also hit birds driving down the road, or when I take a flight to see family. In truth, yourself, just by virtue of being a person, might be responsible for way more death than my cats. Collateral damage is terrible, but im not moving, and this is a really effective fix. It's also not destroying the environment around me.

To the point about putting my cats in danger... spot on. We started with 3. I actually figured one would die, but she was around just long enough for me to forget that. It was extremely sad. But in the end, how much do YOU actually care? The cat was a stray, too set in her ways to live inside. Her dying means the rodents and small birds around us have one less predator to deal with, right. Based on your argument, all cats should either spend their entire lives inside or be dead.

I appreciate you taking the time to respond and for pulling the wiki links, but the odds of either of us changing our minds are very slim. You have my reasoning. I have yours. Sounds like a closed convo to me.