It's stupid to describe the Maine Coon as an invasive species

Yes, all domestic cats including the Maine Coon cat are invasive species in America. And you may have heard that, in Poland, Polish scientists have declared the domestic cat an invasive species in their country. That is stupid. If you declare the domestic cat invasive species you have to declare the human an invasive species as well because they both originate in places other than Poland and America. And there must come a time when an invasive species no longer becomes an invasive species because they been living in that place for long enough to describe them as part of the ecosystem.

You can't call the Maine Coon an invasive species. Photo in public domain.

The general consensus is that the Maine Coon cat originates in the medium-longhaired cats that were brought over with the settlers to the American continent from Europe around 400 years ago. Up until about the middle of the 1800s the Maine Coon cat was a random-bred barn cat. They were handsome creatures and somebody decided to turn them into purebred, pedigree cats and put them in cat shows and start to selectively breed them within the fledgling cat fancy in the very late part of the 1800s.

So, technically, the Maine Coon cat has been present in the USA for around 400 years. Surely that is long enough to describe the Maine Coon cat as a non-invasive species?

It is perhaps ironic that when American conservationists and ornithologists talk of the domestic cat as an invasive species, they normally refer to feral cats or stray cats. They would be reluctant to refer to the Maine Coon cat. This is a form of animal racism. They are being selective. This undermines the concept of describing the domestic cat as an invasive species in America. It points to the stupidity of it.

And invasive species are described as being damaging to ecosystems be they animals or plants. It is a negative term. It is descriptive of an animal or plant that needs to be eradicated in the country in which they find themselves. And they find themselves there because humans imported them. So, humans are really describing their bad behaviour. They are the cause of invasive species. Shouldn't this block them from making derogatory remarks about domestic cats?

The domestic cat including Maine Coon cats are incredibly beneficial to humans. There are around 90 million domestic cats in America and they provide countless millions of hours of pleasure and companionship to millions of Americans. This does not describe an invasive species.

And if conservationists criticise feral cats as invasive species because they kill pretty birds, they forget that humans put the feral cats there in the first place. Firstly, humans brought the domestic cat to America and then they let them run wild and become feral. This should also bar humans from describing the cat as an invasive species.

And for conservationist to complain about domestic cats killing birds but not complain about domestic cats killing rats is speciesism. It is being selective. This further undermines the concept of describing domestic cats including Maine Coons as invasive species.

Let's put to bed the idea that domestic cats are invasive species in America or any other place where they didn't originate. They've been around far too long.