(grin)
I'm in a rural area, and keep horses. If you've got horses you have grain. That means rats. So it's keep cats or snakes.
I prefer cats.
Occasionally feral cats cats show up and kick my cats off their food dish and do battle with Thompson, my tomcat, or beat up on Barnkitty my fixed female, hunter, killer. Thompson kinda earns his keep but he is lazy.
Problem cats are trapped. I send pics to my few neighbors inquiring as to ownership. If the cat is locally owned I tell them I'll let it go in two days. Then it gets a really miserable two days in the cage. Trapped ferals are shot outright.
Very large coyote population around here and I've lost three Thompsons in the last 7 years. Dogs and horses can't be everywhere all the time but they are both death on coyotes. An occasional lure and kill coyote party is held around here to control the numbers.
There's a neighborhood red tailed hawk that frequently flies through the barn looking for a snack. Barnkitty doesn't want a piece of him or her!
Barn cats are amazing animals. Many are aloof, but some of them are as cuddly and loving as any indoor cats I’ve known.
So much of this “argument” depends on where you are and the circumstances. In a suburban subdivision such as mine, I think it’s reasonable to give an otherwise non-threatening animal (feline, canine, whatever) and its owner a first-trespass “warning”. But there are a lot of places where you just can’t be that generous. What works in central Maryland simply isn’t feasible in ranch country “out West.”