Non-Native Species X
Nativism is the idea that native species (birds, wildlife) have more value than non-native ones (cats). This means that one animal should be valued more because they were here first. All animals have been introduced at one point. Does it really matter how and when they appeared? They still deserve to live.
It is wrong to believe one species should be killed because it interferes with another that was here first. All are worthy of compassion no matter how or when they appeared. Nativists believe animals should be killed if they are non-native. This belief has been unjustly applied to wild horses, deer, red foxes, gulls, elk, sea lions, coyotes, mountain lions, skunks, raccoons and community cats.
Non-native animals have been called garbage animals, alien species, weeds and vermin. These animals have become the villains for species extinction, habitat destruction and environmental change. But in reality, only one is to blame for this: humans.
Nativism is unrealistic because nature cannot be frozen in time. In fact, since trap-neuter-vaccinate-return (TNVR) reduces the number of community cats, nativists should support it because of their own beliefs: less non-native species.
If only native animals have value, then many humans should also be eradicated too because we are not native to North America. But if nativist organizations made statements that fairly applied their standards across the board, people would not donate to them.
Nativism is about purity of animals. A similar thing happened many years ago involving people and led to World War II. Nazi Germany pursued purity of people.
Here again, humans are deciding the value of any given animal based on flawed reasoning. After all, how many of us would be here if this logic had been applied to our settlers and immigrants?
