(Prior post removed at my request since I mistakenly linked to the uncensored 'Jeez, not this **** again' pic, sorry)
OK, let's try this again. Cats only hang around where there is a food supply. Cats SUCK at catching birds; it is exceedingly rare that they will catch one. Cats are optimized for hunting rodents. Yes, they will rummage through dumpsters if they can't find anything else, but if there is no food in the area, they will not stay.
If you have a large feral cat population in an area, it has *always* meant that there is a large rodent population that they are suppressing. Removal of the cat colony has almost always caused the rodent population to explode. Killing cats is what let the Black Plague spread across Europe.
On that note, *people* carry more diseases than cats can. Dogs do too. Also, a cat colony has never killed a human, where stray dogs and even household pet canines routinely attack and kill people. Cats do not endanger people, dogs do. That's why dog owners should have to pay for the animal control measures (which end up being aimed at their pets). Also, the ability and nature of the cat to wander around has been documented and there is case law going back to Ye Olde Englande recognizing that.
My cats do NOT suck at catching birds. They catch everything. Mice, rats, squirrels, moles, voles, chipmunks, bats, rabbits, birds, even crows.
Today the dead critters on my doorstep are mice.
Yesterday it was birds.
The day before that bats.
The day before that voles.
The two orange boys hunt as a team, and the tortie mama hunts alone, but is the Mighty Huntress. When they were babies she used to bring semi-dead animals into the house and release them to teach the boys to hunt.
I also have one orange girl who is indoor only, and she hunts spiders and flies and centipedes.
We've had them for five years and they've killed thousands of critters.