Although the circumstances are different, this reminds me of what happened in Australian Outback decades ago (and what’s likely to happen on Maui too). When people dumped their cats in The Outback, the cats, being the consummate hunters they are, virtually destroyed the native animals that Aborigines hunted as food. Consequently, Aborigines began hunting cats for food. At first, the cats were so numerous and devastated the landscape fauna so heavily that Australian authorities put a bounty on cats and numerous people made a living hunting cats and turning them for the bounty. “The Only Good Cat Is A Flat Cat” was made into a bumper sticker (wish I had one to post), showing a cat belly-up with tire marks across it.
Maui is slated for the fate as The Outback, as the stupid, STUPID real estate developer who came out on YT after the burn begging people to ‘feed the stray cats’ set in motion a chain of events that will destroy all that burrows and all that flies and lands aground.
It is not out of hunger that felines hunt; it is their nature. The same nature as characterized in the short quip of the scorpion asking the turtle for a ride on its back across a river.
For the record, I do not hate cats. Maybe these migrants know something that the townsfolk don’t? IDK
