A Michael Broad Blog
I have said that domestic cats don’t appreciate beauty. The discussion is philosophical. Philosophical discussions don’t result in hard conclusions. I can’t provide a guaranteed answer as to whether domestic cats appreciate beauty or not. I also can’t provide a definitive answer as to why humans appreciate beauty. That, too, is a philosophical question. …
About 10 days ago there was a bit of a hoo-ha over PETA’s use of a graphic image of a cat that had been dissected. PETA wants to see this sort of activity stopped. They consider it outdated and essentially cruel (see video below). Of course I agree with them completely. PETA have a …
There is a growing feeling that human population growth is having a very bad effect on animals. Although you have to differentiate between domestic and wild animals. The UK’s favourite broadcaster, said David Attenborough, is an advocate for stabilising the planet’s human population. Negative effects [We should] stabilise the human population as low as …
You have to differentiate between (1) wild cats and (2) domestic, stray and feral cats. I will deal with (2) first. Domestic, stray and feral cats I’d predict that if there were no cats whatsoever the change in the world by there being no domestic, stray and feral cats would be larger than if …
I wanted to try and work out the risk of dying from Covid-19 compared to other causes for the USA. I think you have to be a statistician to do it properly. Also the result very much depends on your age and health. The odds of a young person dying of Covid-19 is much …
During Turkey’s coronavirus lockdown the streets of Istanbul have been abandoned to their famed community cats. This excellent photograph encapsulates the strange end-of-world appearance of what should be bustling bazaars and sheathing shopping malls. But nada, zilch. It reminds me of central London and a photo I took of Westminster Bridge a short while …
I am assuming that the question refers to the pain suffered while being killed by a predator. There is a lot of information on this website about cats’ hunting skills. An extension of this is to write about it from the point of view of prey animals and whether they feel pain at that …
I went to London yesterday. I took a train to the busiest railway station in the UK; Waterloo (see photo below). It was the middle of a working day and the station was eerily deserted. I walked to the middle of London, to Westminster Bridge and looked across to the Houses of Parliament. It …
