I know that some of you were a bit surprised at my reaction to cats.
Don’t you love all animals?
Well, I do.
However, I have a very hard time reading cats. I can read other animals pretty well.
But everything about cats seems backward to me.
I can tell what dogs and horses are thinking simply by looking at their eyes and facial expressions.
But get me before a cat, and I’m entirely flummoxed.
Cats also generally don’t like me.
The cats that generally do like me are of the oriental breeds, and for some reason, I can figure them out.
Somewhat.
The cat is forever an enigma to me, and because of this lack of understanding, I have a very hard time appreciating them.
Some of these issues may stem from their ecological impact. They do kill lots of birds and small mammals. They are in no way native to this continent, although there are very similar native predators here.
I have that same feeling towards stray dogs in Australia and the Galapagos.
Dogs are nice creatures. I get them. I’ve always been around dogs. Sometimes I think I have a better reading of the canine than human communication.
But dogs running loose int he wrong areas are hurting things.
But dogs are not really effective predators of anything. Indeed, their default is scavenging, simply because so much of their actual predatory behavior must be learned. Even captive-bred wolves don’t stand much of a chance in the wild. They have the motor patterns, but they have to learn how to use them.
Cats are naturals.
It may not even be fair to call them domestic animals. They are more like “bred in captivity” or “semi-domesticated.” Most of them could live very well without any humans around.
And that’s precisely the problem.
But it is amazing to me the double standards that exist between what is expected of dogs and what is expected of cats in terms of the law and society.
The cat is essentially given carte blanche to do as it wants. Most cats aren’t even in breeds or varieties. Their genes flow freely. They are not required to be leashed in most areas, even if they kill off all game birds, song birds, and small mammals within a 20 mile radius.
Well some people did try to do something about it. It failed, but I still support that effort in theory. Of course, I don’t think anyone would say anything to anyone who shot a couple of alley cats here.
Nobody cares what cats do.
In India, there are cows.
In America, there are cats.
I get called a bigot because I think we should license cats. I get called a bigot when I say that they shouldn’t be allowed to roam without human supervision.
They are that effective at killing things.
Dogs can be given liberties because they can learn to behave in our society.
That’s because dogs are domesticated in every since of the word.
But letting a cat roam is just not a good idea.
Would you like it if someone turned a Bengal tiger loose in your neighborhood?
Well, to a chipmunk or a wild turkey poult, a tabby is a Bengal tiger.
And that tabby has about as much right to running around killing things as a Bengal tiger would.
But then I’m a bigot who can’t appreciate cats.
I do, but as predators, they must be kept in their place.
***
Of course, I’d love to have a cat hat:
the species under the cats paw in the photo is one
that i cannot feel too badly about, *if* the photo is
a USA-shot; thats an English Sparrow cock,
i believe, and they are introduced, too.
i love cats – as pets, in homes, all fine.
i HATE cats free-roaming, but i have no desire to shoot the cats; arrest the $%#@! owners, sure – the cats did not put themselves out there, they are permitted or encouraged to roam at large –
and yes, they kill anything and everything, from large insects to young mammals; birds, lizards, rodents, snakes, U name it, if it is small enuf, they will attack it and either kill it outright, or kill it indirectly via the massive infections cause by cat-claws + cat-teeth.
there are literally dozens of free-roaming, and BREEDING, cats on my street alone; they are nominally owned, but go anywhere they please; they are mostly skinny + poorly cared for, the kittens have crusty eyes and are pencil-necked aliens, not healthy young infants.
its a sin and a shame, IMO.
i quit volunteering for a wildlife-hotline after over 6-years, simply because it was too frustrating to deal with ONE more bloody phone-call from a cat-owner…
who wanted someone to COME * PICK * UP the fledgling that her cat had punctured, rather than drop the poor baby off for the mandatory 2-weeks of antibiotics and hands-on feeding…
the fledgling who was within 5 to 7 days of being a fully-flighted young bird. ::mad:: :(
i began bluntly telling ppl that the rehabber who would be caring for her injured bird / bunny / squirrel was a VOLUNTEER who now has X number of cat-injuries in care, and cannot drive all over town to pick them up at Ur door…
especially as the cost of antibiotics, bandaging, setting fractures at the vets, etc, comes out of their POCKET.
as does the gas, etc, for their vehicle.
nestling + fledgling birds are fed every 20 to 30-mins, sun-up to sun-down; that means finishing one meal just about gives U time to begin preparing for the next, it is endless.
and U need a Federal + state permit to do so – and must attend continuing education to keep the permits.
someone caring for 3-dozen nestling + fledgling birds is not leaving the house except to go to the grocery store + feed n seed.
eejits… i could not take it anymore.
one woman had SIX cats at large, with a cat-flap;
the city ** does have ** a leash-law for cats, they are to be either in a carrier or on a leash if off their own home-property – OWNED by the owner of record of the cat, or RENTED with a lease and a pets-permitted clause, by the owner of record.
and she had a cat-flap… and NO litterboxes.
nice woman… NOT. every time i spoke to her, she whined about delivering the injured animals, oy vey.
burnt-out on irresponsible #$^&%@! cat-owners,
— terry
terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
I noted the irony when I posted that photo that it was an English sparrow.
I don’t really have a great desire for people to hunt cats, but I think in rural areas it would provide some motivation for people to keep up after their cats.
The first pets I owned were cats, and they were indoor-outdoor cats. But now that I’ve learned that they make catproof fences… I will never own another cat unless I can contain them properly in a yard with such a fence (I don’t really like indoor-only cats, the ones I’ve met have almost all been neurotic wierdos, so I think they really need some outdoor stimulation). Letting them free-roam isn’t the answer. Especially since so many suburbs have coyotes and other potential dangers.
If people just dumped any other pet out the back door to wander the neighborhood, folks would scream bloody murder about ‘irresponsible ownership’. But for cats, that’s considered par for the course.
i had no compunction at all in telling ppl point-blank that cats at large are at risk…
and we have Redtail Hawks who will take them by day, and Great Horned Owls who will take them by night.
we have hunters who will shoot them, neighbors who will stone them, nasty-ppl who will poison them; Va-Beach arrested a woman who had killed more than 2-dozen cats with antifreeze laced food.
we also have coyotes + free-roaming dogs who will cheerfully kill cats; other cats who will fight with them; raccoons, ditto; cars who run them down; infectious diseases: FIV, FIP, and
** rabies ** is REALLY hot in Va.
about 3-dozen ppl in CHesapeake had to be given post-exposure rabies injections a few years back, after a kitten in the Humane C+Society died, *luckily in front of a staffer* with neuro-symps; even more luckily, she recognized this was not normal and reported it to her supervisor, who was sufficiently concerned to have the kitten necropsied…
positive for rabies.
every member of the public who had handled ANY of that litter had to be treated – at approx $1,000 per person.
owners who let cats roam are for some bizarre reason,
more-likely to LAPSE on the cats rabies-vax;
meanwhile their dog, who is leashed or under supervision, and often off-leash only inside the yard, is CURRENT.
humans are the strangest species. ::no-nod::
— terry
Yes, cats are odd. I’ve met very nice ones that acted very dog-like and I’ve met ones that would sooner open up one of my major ateries than let me pet it. Their domestication surved a good purpose for those groups that attempted to become agricultural thousands of years ago. Cats generally lack the ability to taste sugar, so they do not attempt to eat plants people would grow and store. They did, however, eat man’s little side-kick, the rat. They domesticated themselves out of conveinience. They maintain that kind of attitude. I do not believe native tribes had any kind of domesticated cat when Europeans arrived.
I think some people, including me, have a hard time reading/communicating with cats because they are not really social animals. Their ancetors were not pack animals, and most cats would happily live a solitary cat life. It is interesting to see how domestication has changed the cat some. All stray cats do tend to group together, but still never form any sort of pack or cohesive social group. Wild cats remain solitary.
that cats are un-social is not really true;
————————————————-
they are very cautious about strangers (feline,
k9, or human – anybody they do not know),
and are very place-oriented.
they share space with other cats on a time-share basis;
but they WILL un-like many dogs, allogroom – meaning groom another adult or unrelated juvenile, as if this were their infant.
M-cats as well as Fs will allogroom, altho most M-cats dislike + avoid romping kittens, they will groom other adult-cats.
allogrooming is reserved for trusted friends – often it is the first sure sign that a new-cat has been accepted by a resident-cat.
cats are EXTREMELY territorial –
they make the average-dog look like a piker, LOL.
thats why the concept that they are antisocial loners has such strength;
most cat-owners anthropomorphize hugely, assume that Kitty will be *delighted* by a new sibling, and bring in the
New Cat and plunk the poor creature a foot away from the resident-cats face…
then they are **shocked!** OMG, when their sweet Kitty hauls off and hooks into the new-cats face, screaming horribly, and both cats go shrieking thru the house, snarling, screeching and clawing.
well, H*** – that went beautifully, didn;t it? LOL…
cats HATE invaders, HATE physical change, and need time –
and lots of it – to get accustomed to a new individual, whatever the species.
the truth of the matter is –
* kittens who *stay* with their siblings and dam for 3-mos. NOT a mere 6-weeks or so, are far more social for the rest of their approx 20-year lifespan…
even if the cat lives alone, they will be more amenable
to a new feline housemate, even years later…
altho NOT by the above plunk-the-newbie face-to-face method.
a safe introduction takes about a week, 5-days minimum.
* queens will co-rear kittens with their relatives
(dam, daughter, sis, aunt…) OR with their F-friends;
they will nurse, clean, guard, play, etc, just as if the litter was their own.
(dogs who are supposedly so social, do not typically climb into one anothers basket and cuddle down to nurse the babies, or clean butts + faces.)
feral-cats are often too busy trying to stay safe + stay fed, to waste a lot of time making friends; feral-queens will try to find a fellow-queen to spell her, minding the litters by turns, if they can.
owned cats who live in the same household, however, can be very tight friends.
my spayed-adult-F took on an intact-tomcat who came INTO our house thru a screened window, rupturing the screen, to attack my 12-WO kitten; she ripped the #$@&*! out of him, and he abruptly exited thru ANOTHER window-screen, leaving a torn + bloody sofa, a broken floor-lamp, blood and urine sprayed all over, and a growling F who was ready to go out after him; i closed and locked all the windows, cleaned up the mess (the sofa had to be thrown-out; the odor was down inside the cushions + upholstery), and told my cat what a good girl she was…
she had not been keen on the kitten, but she defended her against a cat that outweighed her by half her own bodyweight, and also after she had calmed down and stopped growling, she began carefull tending Utus
scratches – the very first time that she allogroomed her.
before that, they had played together, or rested side
by side – but they had not groomed each other.
*** our Siamese queens were so quick to combine litters, we had to collar the infants at birth to be sure of whose progeny was whose. **
otherwise the pedigrees would be wrong.
unfortunately, tomcats + even some neutered-Ms will attack and possibly kill young kittens, if the dam is not around to see the M off –
M-lions will kill every cub when they take over a pride, only a concerted defensive assault by ALL of the Fs will save the current-crop. :—(
they do not eat them; they simply slaughter them.
if the Fs have young kittens, they will attempt to keep them hidden from the new-Ms, but they *must* hunt; Fs make over 85% of the kills, and the Ms primary jobs are keeping them pregnant or patrolling the perimeter, protecting the pride from other lions, hyenas, and other threats.
so it is virtually inevitable that some time when mum is busy hunting, her new consort will find her kits – and they will all be dead very shortly.
domestic-dogs do not form ** cohesive packs ** –
they will get together for activities like hunting (hounds), chasing cats or livestock, etc, but when the activity is over, the group falls apart.
M-dogs do not feed the bitch they got in whelp –
when she is no longer in standing-heat, his interest evaporates. there is no pair-bond.
the semi-feral farm-cats who arrived at our family-farm when i was a kid, formed friendships with each other –
as well as the dog (not all cats), my pony (many cats),
and some of my human-family.
they ARRIVED as individuals – but they made buddies.
cats are not nearly as emotionally independent as their critics, or even their owners, often claim – left alone at home for days on end, and unaccustomed to it, they cry, try to escape, etc.
my downstairs neighbor went out of town with her BF over Memorial Day, leaving her tomcat locked in her apt;
he ripped thru the blinds on the 2 windows closest to the exit-door, and i heard him jumping around at 4-AM on Sunday morning, knocking things down, desperate to get out.
she left him at home alone for 4 days and 4 nights –
she came back on Monday around noon.
clearly, he was NOT a happy, relaxed cat while solo –
she had never left him alone for more than one night before, and he was seriously distressed.
if he were not a social animal, i don;t think being alone with plenty of food, water, safe and familiar shelter, would have been so upsetting. ;-)
all my best,
— terry
In the Wonderful State of PA you are allowed to kill any cat witnessed killing any indigenous species.
Yes I’ve had to kill a few.
I even told my neighbors it would happen and left them a copy of the law in their mailbox and stuck on their door. And afterwards laid a bag with their dead kitty in it along with several of the creatures it killed.
At least in my neighborhood….the cat population no longer roams free.
And The only reason I ever even considered acting on my right to do so….
Cats have killed nesting birds, Chipmunks, and various reptiles in front of me and my children as we were enjoying nature. One second we’re watching a chipmunk running between burrows chasing its mate, A bird returning to a nest to feed its young or a garter snake heading for shade….BAM…a damn cat kills it right before us.
Next thing I did was make a few calls, learned a bit about my rights and then set a few bowls of radiator fluid out under the shed where those damn cats would hide.
NO MORE CATS.
Nuf said.
>> Next thing I did was make a few calls, learned a bit about my rights and then set a few bowls of radiator fluid out under the shed where those damn cats would hide.
NO MORE CATS. << – sengimage
sorry –
there is No Law that allows U to poison an owned-cat, or even a feral cat, that i have ever heard of; poison is used for rodents + insecticide, not larger animals…
*shooting* when the cat is actually in pursuit of an animal, is quite a different thing.
re poisons, there is the flagrant exception of COYOTE * GITTERS west of the Mississippi, which are Federal devices and kill Very, Very rapidly, generally under 10-mins…
unfortunately, like all poisons, they kill many non-target species like pet-dogs. :-(
if the neighbors or the local Animal-Control / sheriff decide to take U to court, an animal-cruelty conviction is very likely. good luck with that,
— terry
You can’t poison cats legally.
I think in a lot of states they are considered companion animals, and as a result, doing anything to them is generally worse than doing just normal, run of the mill animal cruelty.
However, having a feral cat hunting season, that’s not a bad idea!
The Crocodile Hunter had an episode where he and his dog killed lots of feral cats.
I think that had an effect on me.
Nope you can’t poison them. You can shoot them.
But I don’t own a gun. ;-)
I did clear it with the animal warden.
He said confine it to the area they hide under that shed. and You’re good. So I did…. it was better than buying a gun and sitting there waiting.
>> I did clear (poisoning via antifreeze) with the animal warden. He said confine (the antifreeze)
to the area they hide under — that shed.
and You’re good. So I did… << – sengimage
then the WARDEN is wrong, sengi –
but he will not be the person arrested + charged,
U will be.
* like all poisons that are not species-specific, antifreeze kills anything that eats it – raccoons, possums, dogs, cats, birds, humans, whatever.
* thats why puddles in parking-lots are not safe drinking places for wild-birds –
they are highly-polluted, and dosage being a reflection of WEIGHT, birds are at extreme risk; a dose that is *not lethal* for a 7# cat will definitely take out an 8-oz bird.
* antifreeze is a slow + painful killer –
unlike the facial-delivery strychnine, sprayed into the face + throat by an explosive-charge, which may be painful but happens so fast, even if the owner is THERE they cannot get the dog to a hospital to save them from dying.
SO
* collateral damage to all species
* non-targeted administration
* painful + slow death over days
Antifreeze is -Not- a legal poison,
and cats are only a legal target IF * U * SEE * THAT * CAT * KILL * A * NATIVE * SPP-animal –
and U have to kill the *right* cat,
not just any conveniently-to-hand cat in the neighborhood.
analogy –
——————————
if U run the Sunday school and mild physical punishment is OK, that does not mean that if ONE boy deliberately shoves a younger child forcefully in the play-yard, causing the smaller child to not only fall, but sustain bruises + cuts,
U do not have carte-blanche to SLAP every boy in that age-group…
U can only punish the *one* boy who violently assaulted a smaller, weaker child.
and i would not suggest corporal-punishment, anyway –
this analogy is for illumination purposes only, not for application to real kids.
teaching kids that adults are *allowed to hit* is no improvement; essentially that promises to those children, that when THEY grow-up, they can solve a problem expeditiously by beating the $#@! outta someone;
this is a bad-lesson, indeed.
cheers,
— terry
Yeah.
Um poisoning anything with antifreeze is illegal. I’m pretty sure on that one.
There’s no way that could ever be acceptable.
When I was a child, I watched a Dalmatian die of antifreeze poisoning.
It was awful.
He had to be euthanized.
So no poisoning anything.
When I said that we need to do things to reduce feral cat numbers, I meant as humanely as possible.
I think TNR just makes people feel good.
It actually would be kinder to euthanize these cats than release them.
I know he was wrong. It was a compromise. And considering that the cats made the location under the shed theirs… it was not a place where other creatures ventured. No birds or chipmunks etc etc.
Hey I knew it was wrong, but, my hand was forced. The neighbors weren’t listening. But they understood I could shoot them.
As far as they know…. I did.
Likewise the antifreeze is not something left out for days on end. Just overnight after years of learning the specific habits of the roaming cats.
It was a suggestion made in confidence. And it solved our problem. In the future perhaps a gun would. Just not what I want to do. Collateral damage being what it is… even a gun can cause those things. The alternative I chose was done in haste. However, it worked. In the future I will probably just own a gun. Right now our security guard doesn’t have culling cats on his list of things to do. So we felt we had to resort to this.
And Yes…the CATS IN QUESTION ARE NOT ONLY SEEN KILLING CREATURES ON MY PROPERTY, THEY’RE CAUGHT ON VIDEO DOING SO SINCE THERE ARE OVER A DOZEN CAMERAS MONITORING THE PROPERTY AND RECORDING. And thats not counting the times it happened in front of my family.
Long story short. If the Cats remain…everything we love about our surroundings die.
If the Cats are gone. Everything else thrives. Just the way it was intended.
I’ve tried putting bags full of the killed creatures on my neighbors’ stoop. Had no effect. And my children having to encounter a mauled and suffering small creature is even worse. And not something I want to have to go through repeatedly countless times.
So on my property…. if its not accompanied by a human and its killing ….. then its not a discussion.
It goes without saying. What happens on my property….is my business. If my animals should cross the line and a farmer took it down for killing livestock…. I would accept that. Most people around me accept that. So my dogs are always supervised.
I certainly can’t say the same for the cats I’ve experienced.
And this is coming from a former owner of cats. Just that mine never ventured outdoors.
I don’t think you’re a bigot, you just have trouble seeing the forest for the trees when it comes to cats (like many anti-cat people out there).
I guess I understand why people have such strong feelings about them. They’re visible and there’s no denying they can kill the cute birdies. It’s like source point pollution: it may not be the main pollution source, but it’s easy to target, and it allows non-point source polluters, like homeowners, off the hook.
I can tell some of your commenters get a lot of satisfaction from killing cats (in the most horrible ways possible, it seems). But, as has been pointed out many, many times, if it is really about ‘saving the birds’, stopping urban sprawl is going to have an infinitely greater impact than killing cats. Cars and houses are the real bird killers, not cats. They may be a part of the problem, but the emotional reaction to them is so entirely out of proportion it borders on hysteria. Which is why its so ironic that you accuse cat lovers or feral cat care takers of being “too emotional”.
I’m not anti-cat.
I personally would just prefer another animal in the house– ferrets, domestic rats, etc. House-trained miniature horse? Pot-bellied pig? Wolverine?
I agree with you on suburban sprawl, but the big problem that I’m seeing is next wave of back to the land movement. What’s going to happen is that broadband access will be almost universal. I see this happening where I am, and people will telecommute for just about everything.
That means lots and lots of people moving to the country.
And that means losing lots and lots habitat.
I wish WV would adjust its property tax system to be ready for this, because if it doesn’t, local governments are going to miss out on a heap of funding.
I recently visited Phoenix, AZ and got a taste of what unregulated urban development looks like. It ain’t pretty. Very little of the normal, nicely concentrated downtown with efficient apartments that take advantage of vertical space. Miles and miles of peice-meal, 1-2 storied suburbia and shopping malls with water-wasting and over-pesticided grass and fountains and swimming pools. Yuck. Hardly a single rock or succulent garden to be seen. (Although the saguaro cactuses planted by the freeway on ramps seemed very happy).
I’m spoiled because I live in an area where suburbia often means backyards filled with actual gardens that create micro habitats for native species. Added together, many gardens can make great habitat. Same with small hobby farms, its all about how the land is used. Large chunks of untouched wilderness is ideal, but small parcels of land can still be utilized well.
I know what Phoenix is like.
The desert has been eaten alive by subdivisions.
I prefer the northern part of the state.
I’m not anti-cat either.
I’m anti-free roaming or feral cat.
if its a house cat…. not a problem.
If its out doors and on my property….. then its my problem.
At least my dogs can be supervised. But a cat? Who the hell goes hiking with a cat? I’m sure its possible, but really…cats just don’t work like that.
They do however kill a lot of indigenous species and offset the natural ecosystems.
I prefer the indigenous creatures, not the ones introduced by humans.
In many places, if a roaming cat gets onto your property (even if it’s fenced!) and your dogs kill/maim it, then they can get labeled ‘dangerous’ or worse. The cat owner for some reason isn’t considered culpable at all.
I rather enjoy walking on my veranda then sitting on cushions that were left nice and hairy from the neighbors Tabby. Better still, looking at my furniture that was used as As a scratch post.
NOT!!
Actually, if the owner is responsible enough to maintain their pet kitty indoors. I’m cool. If it starts to make my home, it’s home. Well.
Here kitty kitty kitty. BAM!
I wouldn’t get satisfaction out of killing something inedible.
>> if it is really about ‘saving the birds’,
stopping urban sprawl (would) have an infinitely greater impact than killing cats. Cars and houses are the real bird killers, not cats.
** (cats) may be a part of the problem, but the emotional reaction to them is so entirely out of proportion it borders on hysteria.** << – cyborgsuzy
there have only been 2 long-term studies, *suzy –
one in Wisconsin, one in the UK; both were cat-owners who self-selected AKA volunteered their indoor / outdoor or entirely outdoor cats as subjects.
Wisconsin estimated the states death-by-cat to be 19 million individual animals annually – that is not a minor impact. GAME-birds were estimated in addition to all other species: 140k game-birds killed.
that is damage by *owned* cats, not including
dumped/feral.
add approx THIRTY-MILLION un-owned cats
————————————————————
across the USA, whether abandoned, dumped, feral or simply lost, and U have an enormous environmental footprint for roaming cats vs wildlife.
the fecundity + adaptability of dom-cats is precisely why Australia became rabid about cat-proof fencing; there are approx 10-million feral cats in the Outback, and the incursions on wildlife have been severe.
note that we in the USA have approx 3-times as many feral, abandoned, un-owned (etc) cats.
as a former wildlife-rehabber,
i do not see it as *petty* or over-emotional;
its day-in, day-out, year-round pressure on wildlife, and young + eggs are most vulnerable.
study of radio-collared farm cats in Wisconsin,
——————————————————–
researchers Temple and Coleman:
estd each year cats kill at least 19 million songbirds and 140,000 game birds in the state of Wisconsin. (Note: minimal estimate.)
Point Reyes Bird Observatory in Calif:
researcher noted over 44 million USA-owned-cats are permitted outdoors; they may kill as many as 4.4 million songbirds PER DAY in the USA.
cat predation is a serious conservation issue;
in Calif, Fla, and Hawaii it is especially critical:
A] sensitive ecosystems vs urban sprawl
B] high-numbers of indigenous endangered species
C] large-popn of free-roaming cats (owned, stray and feral total);
tropical long-days allow all-year breeding.
another study:
EXCERPT –
>>> Across the three landscapes there were (approx)
800 to 3100 cats, which kill between 16,000 and 47,000 birds during the breeding season, resulting in a minimum
of ** 1 bird killed / km / day. **
While the number and density (#/hectare) of free-ranging cats per landowner differed across the rural to urban landscapes, depredation rates were similar.
Landowner participation in bird feeding showed no relationship with the number of free-ranging cats owned.
Similarly, selected demographic characteristics of landowners were not significantly related to the number of free-ranging cats owned. Our results, even taken conservatively, indicate that cat predation most likely plays an important role in fluctuations of bird populations, and should receive more attention in wildlife conservation and landscape studies.
-COPYRIGHT- 2003 Elsevier Ltd.
All rights reserved. <<<
———————————————-
personal exp:
my tomcat dug-up and destroyed my box-turtles buried egg clutch; there were only 14, of which he ATE 3 –
but he punctured EVERY one.
our farm-cats killed nestling-bunnies, nestling-birds, fledglings, other young mammals, reptiles, large insects (Luna moths, butterflies, katydids, crickets…),
frogs, salamanders, etc.
JMO + IME,
— terry
sorry! :-(
the link for the SECOND study did not appear in my post –
it was pubd 2003,
http://tinyurl.com/3abocuq
and studied radio-collared farm-cats and suburban owned cats only; no ferals, no dumped, lost, or abandoned cats.
my apology for the glitch,
— terry
Not all habitats are created equal. I have a hard time believing that a free-roaming cat in a non-sensitive area is the same danger as in Hawaii or Australia.
Although I have some issues with the numbers in the studies you cite (extrapolation on top of extrapolation + assigning values to non-respondents in a survey??), let’s go with them. The highway by my parents house is certainly killing more than one bird per km per day (unlike my parents’ free-roaming barn cat, who is not).
I have my own mixed feelings about free-roaming cats. But when the response to a bird being killed by a car is, ‘oh well, sad, but that’s the price of doing business’, but a cat killing a bird is, “OMG kill them all! Spend a bunch of resources! Campaign! Write new laws! Punish somebody!” then it’s time to get your priorities straight.
Most of those nonsensitive areas are places where there are lots of people, some of whom are a lot nastier to cats than I am.
And I’m sure there’s a public health issue here.
Yes, with the help of the gestapo, you too can live in a perfect world.
Sorry, I’m trying to see those types of draconian measures working where I live and not seeing it. Leash laws aren’t enforced, licensing compliance is low, and you want to introduce a whole bunch of new laws?
That’s neat that your area had a wildlife response line. Many don’t, because there isn’t a lot of energy and funding for wildlife-related projects. Heck, many places even in the progressive state I live in don’t even have a community recycling program. You want to divert what little there is towards creating and enforcing punishing legislation that be a drain and alienate the people that could, with a less zero-tolerance attitude, be on the same side?
You’ll never get rid of all the cats.
All I want is some kind of reason for people to keep up after them, neuter and spay them, and keep them inside.
You are correct that this continent has been changing since 1492.
However, do you know when cats arrived in Britain?
Domestic cats.
It was between 900-1000 CE (what we used to call AD).
That’s not very long ago.
The thing we have going for my area with feral cat problem is we have coyotes and winter.
Oops, this was suppose to be a reply lower down.
3 facts, suzy – :–)
* VIRGINIA * BEACH is not a quote, sensitive area –
* i worked the hotline for Wildlife Response, Inc, for over 6-years;
——————————————————-
during those years, fledgling season + fall-mammal season averaged over NINETY-percent cat-related calls…
the stats are required to retain their NGO non-profit status as a rehab organization.
the rest of the year (high summer, late autumn/winter + early-spring) we got a break –
cat-related calls dropped to a *low* of 75 to 80%.
feel free to contact Lisa Barlow, certified Vet-Tech and rehabilitator extraordinaire,
to confirm my data – she was still the Prez of Wildlife Response, Inc, last i heard.
here is their website –
http://tinyurl.com/22kng4h
3rd fact:
it would not take enormous resources:
a law similar to Australias, requiring cats to be confined by cat-proof fences, or fully-enclosed screen-houses or similar, could be passed;
mandatory-microchipping makes ownership traceable + the owner can be FINED for the at-large cat, with each repeat violation upping the ante.
fines would help fund trapping, sheltering, summonses, ACOs, etc.
at some point, repeat violations would trigger confiscation.
don;t feel special –
thats how it works with intact-dogs in some municipalities;
dogs are usually 6-MO before they can get preg, and only are fertile 2x per year;
if an intact-dog is caught at-large THREE times, the owner cannot get the dog back unless they are willing to take the dog *after* the animal has been desexed; if they do not want their pet back neutered AT THEIR CO$T, they do not get the dog back at all; the dog is desexed anyway, and goes up for adoption.
as cats can GET pregnant as young as 4-MO, and at over 10-YO, and cycle into estrus about once a month for all long-days, they have formidable fecundity.
ergo i feel it is even more imperative that cat-owners desex any animal *Not* specifically intended for breeding.
Suggestion:
——————————–
4th violation of their INTACT cat roaming within a year?
i would suggest they not get the cat back, and be required to wait a full year before getting any other cat or kitten.
cheers,
— terry
Do you mean that 75-90% of reported bird injuries were caused by cats? What about birds squished by cars? I doubt someone would bother reporting those? Or birds that were never born because their habitat was turned into a parking lot? Or birds with reduced fecundity from chemical exposure or stress?
I would suspect a natural skew to public reports of bird injury. At least when you’re trying to extrapolate to all bird injuries, everywhere.
>> Do you mean…
75-90% of reported bird injuries were caused by cats? << – cyborgsuzy
no, ma;am –
FYI, Wildlife Response is an all-volunteer org that receives no state, city, county, or Fed funding.
i mean that during fledgling season –
approx mid-April to mid-June –
and again in fall-mammal –
approx mid-Aug to mid-October –
-Over NINETY-PERCENT- of *all calls* were cat-related.
the entire rest of the year, OVER Seventy-Five to OVER Eighty-Percent
of *all phone-calls* and animals taken in, of any species, were cat-related.
everything else:
HBC/auto-strike,
dog attack,
kids found it / kidnapping,
frostbite injuries to pelicans,
fish-hook embedded,
starvation,
window-strike,
orphaned,
fracture,
crow-predation,
mobbed by conspecifics,
etcetera…
made up from Under TEN-Percent during fledgling + fall-mammal,
to a grand high of UNDER Twenty-Five Percent for the rest of the year.
cats = 90% plus during over-4-mos each year;
cats = approx 80% during the other 8-mos, every year.
hope that clarifies,
— terry
Here’s MY solution: pretty much continue doing what the animal welfare community is already doing.
TNR in areas where it’s proven effective (you don’t like TNR? Sorry, that’s too bad. Lots of caring people do. You either work with them, or alienate them).
Provide education in a holistic way that encourages better treatment and respect of cats overall. The more people care about their cats, the more likely they’ll spend the money to spay/neuter, vaccinate, and limit outdoor time (hint: starting up a cat hunting program will have the opposite effect). Gentle persuasion works better than lecturing and punishment. Do this at the vets’ office and at adoption sites. Educate about the risks/benefits, but don’t assume that someone is bad or ignorant for not agreeing with you.
Fund low-cost spay-neuter programs.
Encourage the over-all environmental movement. Recycle! Drive less! Support the building of wildlife corridors on the highway.
Most people don’t want their cats to kill the birdies, yet the majority of ‘educational’ material I see that discusses the risks to birds from cats is extremely off-putting and lectury and treats people who let their cats outside like horrible people. Again, carrot, not stick. Are you trying to win hearts and minds, or feel smug?
As Dr. Phil says, do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?
I don’t think TNR is about caring for anything.
It’s about, for lack of a better term, liberal guilt.
I wish they’d care about homeless people more than nasty old alley cats.
suzy,
we have been educating since i was 12-YO, talking about the damage to wildlife;
at that time, plenty of dog-owners saw not one dam*ed thing wrong with their dog chasing, catching or killing any species of wildlife, any time of the year,
and many ppl still let dogs roam at large, even in good sized towns.
i am now past 50-YO…
dog-owners mostly get it, and do not allow Fido or Fidela to chase-up bedded deer in late-winter, BECAUSE it draws heavily on the deers energy stores, and they are conserving energy by not moving much –
a 12# terrier can kill a 120# buck by chasing him + causing panic; the deer use-up their fuel on that useless burst, the dog never laid a tooth on him, but he DIES anyway.
cat-owners not only don;t get it…
they believe it is a fundamental RIGHT for cats to roam at large, urinate + defecate in the neighbors vegie-garden, hunt from their bird-feeder, harass the NEIGHBORs indoor-cat by sitting on the windowsill in a staring contest… and YES –
catch whatever, so long as they do not bring it home, and force the owner to deal with the (alive or dead) debris of what was a whole and healthy animal, before the cat got it.
i think that cat-owners believe there is a Cat-Freedom clause, somewhere in the Constitution. o-0
woe betide the dog-owner whose dog is in the backyard when the neighbors moggy leaps the fence, and is caught + killed with a broken neck…
then the cry goes up that the dog is vicious, must be put-down, our childrens safety, etc.
but when my neighbors CAT got into our rabbit-hutch and killed over a dozen bunnies and 2 adult-rabbits in one night,
thats just **nature**…
no – its not Nature.
thats an irresponsible bloody twit of an owner,
and a highly-predatory species, acting in concert to bring about a destructive but predictable event.
IMO + IME:
cats do not belong outdoors, off the owners property; and a secure cat-proof fence or screen-house should be used to ensure this.
otherwise, i am all for coyotes, hunters, cars, owls, dogs, hawks, infectious disease, accidental trauma, raccoons, foxes, etc, taking out those cats, who roam at large.
if only INDOOR cats survive to breed, perhaps we will produce cats who do not want to go outside, over the next 40-years.
i;d be happy with that.
all my best,
— terry
You sum up my feelings exactly. The majority of the cat community in this country seems to have serious entitlement issues.
>> Fund low-cost spay-neuter programs. <<
– cyborgsuzy
hey, suzy! :–)
since last June, a mobile S/N clinic has parked every Friday in a large shopping plaza, in Norfolk, Va…
offering FREE S/N to dogs and cats in the neighborhood; either gender, ANY size.
they also provide low-co$t vaccines, including rabies (very hot in VA for the last decade).
yet the eejit in my neighborhood, as soon as she discovered that her *kitten* (between 9 and 12-MO, this aint no kitten…)
was a MALE, all consideration of desex went out the window.
* he can;t get pregnant
* i need not desex… Simple! :-)
and WRONG – her dam*ed cat is in fights that caterwaul for hours, sprays all over creation, is SIRING kittens, stools where he pleases
(so much for my planned garden…) –
in short, her cat is a #$@%! pest, and a blight on the neighborhood, and its HER fault not the cats…
and S/N does not get any cheaper than FREE.
U can lead a fool to a logical conclusion,
but U cannot make them act upon it.
IME + IMO,
— terry
Calgary is alot like Poenix: un-ending urban sprawl. But I’m always pleasantly surprised by how adaptable nature can be. Calgary is a city of a million people set on the prairies and still I see a great deal of wildlife.
Just the other day I saw an Osprey sitting on a soccer post in the rain. I see bald eagles all along the river, as well as beavers, and amazingly a family of otters; Ive also encountered turtles, amphibians and reptiles of all sorts, deer, coyote, bobcat, fox(red and swift), muskrat, porcupine, various mustelids, owls, rabbits and hares, peregrines, occasionally golden eagles, ferruginous and other hawks, night herons and great blues, pelican, swan and loons, and many more; all of them right in the city. Its amazing what my neighbors have passed by completely unaware.
Calgary is not much different from Pheonix, lest people should say that there’s nothing to save. Like it or not cats are a part of the urban landscape, nature will find a balance. Help out, plant a tree, small changes help. I dont mind cats in my neighborhood, watching predators is neat. With the influx of other urban pedators mother nature is really starting to create a balanced urban ecosystem. Cats are not the problem.
by definition, TNR doesn’t “work”.. because of the “R”.
Cats released back into the environment will still be the effective killers they always were. There are NO (at least none that I no of) areas where feral cats have been eliminated by TNR.
And there has never been a serious effort at lethally removing cats.. because people like Suzy will get out the “gestapo” language.
Somehow they think the millions of birds and small mammals/rodents killed by cats is not a problem.. because habitat loss is ALSO a problem. Logic: FAIL
If you want to keep your feral cats to urban areas where they will kill mostly rats, ok by me. As long as you don’t care what these cats do to/on the property of people, who might not want them there.
But then the cat people don’t really care about people.. cats have more rights than people.
In my family you let cats loose,I don’t anymore though.
One cat I had was a good hunter the others where definitely not. The other females would barely be outside and tried where to noisy and stuck together and never got anything besides one rat and one fallen baby bird. The males just got into fights with other cats. I even had A Newfoundland mix that killed a healthy bird,caught it in the air,and my first dog killed plenty of rodents,and one stray cat. The dogs where more natural and better hunters then most of the cats.