I'm a cat owner, but there is quite a bit of evidence about how cats are depleting the songbirds of this country. Yes farmers not managing land is a major factor but they have other things to worry about.
As for Mutts, he's just baiting you, he always does when these threads come up and you...
I have a very old cat who is quite infirm now, so infirm in fact that she has given up leaving the garden as she can't get over the fence anymore.
She has taken to shitting all over my lawn and in my vegetable patch, karma I suppose.