Many years ago, I had a male cat that could come and go as he liked. That was bad for birds etc, I know, but hey. Anyway, he eventually disappeared, so I put up posters around the neighborhood. And it turned out that several considered him to be their cat ;) He was "mine" to the extent that his mother was, but whatever. Never did see him again :(
I do agree with the point. And I almost elaborated my comment about that. Because free-running and feral cats kill lots of birds and small mammals.
I do love cats as pets. I recall with fondness the carefree time when I let my cats run free. I mean, no need for litter boxes! And less expense for cat food! But at some point, that flipped to horror at the damage that they do. In part because they kill for play, not just for food.
So anyway, now my cats live indoors. And don't reproduce. But what to do about feral cats, I don't know. That's the discussion which is arguably pointless here.
Many years ago, I had a male cat that could come and go as he liked. That was bad for birds etc, I know, but hey. Anyway, he eventually disappeared, so I put up posters around the neighborhood. And it turned out that several considered him to be their cat ;) He was "mine" to the extent that his mother was, but whatever. Never did see him again :(