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They are domesticated animals. When you don't depend on hunting to survive, why do you have to hone your skills? Trust me, they continue their hunting behaviors just fine indoors---there are mousies, dust bunnies, catnip toys, wads of paper, lost keys, stray tennis balls, and all sorts of delights to entertain them! :-) Besides, they're taught hunting skills by their mamas as little kittens. If they missed those lessons, they won't even realize it.

I think the whole question of boredom in cats has everything to do with environment and pretty much nothing to do with their being indoors. If you have a cat that isn't given good toys, perches, run of the house, and enough human interaction vis a vis play time, cuddle time, and just spending time with you, they may be bored, but it's not, IMO, a function of being indoors as much as it is of having an owner who doesn't understand or care enough about making them part of the family and meeting their needs (which really aren't all that great.)

We have outdoor cats of neighbors who hand around our house and beg for attention as well.

Another factor is whether or not they're "only" cats. Two is probably optimal although not necessary depending on circumstances. I've also know cats and dogs who were lost without the company of each other.

In a sense, I see the concept of owners who believe their cats need to be outdoors and letting them go there as analogous to parents who put their kids in front of the TV to keep them busy. It's more about the needs of the owner/parent than it is about the cat/kid, IMO.

I have to admit, it makes me sad, too, that birds in particular are harmed by cats outdoors.

And some cats being hung by collars, too, ck.

It's never been clear that bells on collars actually deter bird attacks as far as I know. Here's one bit of info:

"A fact sheet put out by the Mammal Society but unfortunately no longer available on their website showed that putting bells on cats does not limit their hunting ability, in fact belled cats in one particular study caught more wildlife than their unbelled equivalents. Some reasons given were that belled cats learn to move even more stealthily, the bells are not loud enough to alert wildlife of danger anyway, and inertia holds the clanger stationary and therefore silent when the cat makes the final attacking leap. At least two other studies have highlighted that the belling of cats has no effect on number of birds caught. "The efficiency of fitting cats with bells is contentious. Barrette (1998), found that belling of cats has no significant effect on the amount of prey caught. The result of the longer study by Woods et al. shows that fewer mammals (mainly rodents) were killed and brought home by cats that were equipped with bells BUT bird capture rates were not affected. Bells may serve as a warning to rodents and other mammals of a predator's approach, but birds may rely largely on visual cues in predator avoidance behavior or they may not hear the bell due to its acoustic qualities (Woods et al.). Coleman et al. (1997) suggests that wild animals don't necessarily associate the ringing of the bell with danger and that some cats with bells on their collars learn to stalk their prey silently."
Refs:
Barrette D.G. (1998). Predation by house cats, Felis catus (L.), in Canberra, Australia, II. Factors affecting the amount of prey caught and estimates of the impact on wildlife. Wildlife Research. 25: 475-487.
Woods M., McDonald R.A. and Harris S. (2003). Predation of wildlife by domestic cats Felis catus in Great Britain. The Mammal Society.

Of considerable concern is the behavioural changes that bells may cause. They might sound innocuous to human ears but cats have more sensitive hearing and it is easy to understand how some could become deeply affected by a constant tinkling noise next to their ears every time they moved. Noise, even slight noise, has a cumulative effect in humans and this could well apply to other species as well. Reported problems caused by bells include cats repeatedly managing to get their collars off until the bells were removed; bottom jaws getting caught in collars for this reason (with a potentially disastrous outcome for the cat); another cat that exhibited depression and reluctance to move until the bell was removed; still another that would only creep about very slowly and even stopped eating until the bell was taken off the collar. And finally some truly sad stories about belled cats being killed by dogs alerted to their presence by the tinkling of the bell.

Birds and other prey are usually very much aware of the presence of a stalking cat, belled or unbelled. It has frequently been observed that birds will deliberately taunt cats, swooping at and screeching at them and not moving any great distance away, or by sitting out an attack that is obviously going to occur until the very last moment before flying out of harm's way. It is very much a "catch me if you can situation" and one has to wonder whether this is nature's way of ensuring that the prey/predator cycle continues. The silent approach is not the whole secret to being a successful predator; other factors are at work, some of which may be contributed by the prey itself."