From the cats perspective I think it’s quite uncontroversial to say they’d be happier roaming free.

EDIT: I’d really love to hear the argument for why a cat actually prefers to live its enitire life indoors, despite this being something we’ve only done to them for the past few decades or so.

Along with mandatory spay/neuter. Make it a crime to intentionally avoid spaying and neutering cats and dogs.

Oh, you’re a breeder? I used to work at a no kill animal shelter. You’re the bane of my, and every stray animal’s, existence. FUCK animal breeders.

There isn’t really anything here that would prey on a cat. Australia is pretty harmless comparatively. No bears, no ‘big’ cats or wolves of any kind. Crocodiles are limited to the tropics and most of Australia is not in the tropics. Nothing like anacondas and cats are too quick for snakes anyway. There are sharks but they pose no threat to cats. For all the press Australia gets about dangerous wildlife it’s actually a pretty chill place. The cities are pretty devoid of bugs if you live in a flat or keep your garden litter down, even more devoid of bugs since I was a kid (mostly due to massive logging in regional areas and overdevelopment in urban areas).

I would think cars would probably be cats biggest killer, especially in urban areas.

I definitely think one pet is worth hundreds of wild animals. I even believe that one pet’s happiness is worth the lives of hundreds of wild animals.

Edit:

Buy biodiversity is more important than the happiness of all those pets. Something should be done if this is a real threat to the ecosystem.

You’re an entitled speciist! If cats are good at hunting, it’s just nature’s way of creating balance and it’s none of your goddamn business to prevent that. In my personal opinion people like you (entitled speciist scum) are redundant and we don’t need you on planet Earth.