Friday, December 22, 2006

Are you a Bird Advocate?

We are advocates of our natural fauna, especially our birds. We have become increasingly concerned as we see species around us diminish and vanish. There are some things we have no control over while we can influence others with our voices and votes.
Feral and roaming cats are a major factor in the destruction of our ecology. They've been spread by humans to most areas of the Earth, where animals evolved with escape mechanisms against their own natural predators, but with few defenses against the domestic cat.
Those cats also compete unfairly with our natural predators and displace them because of well meaning enablers who subsidize them. Most ecologists and biologists agree feral and roaming cats are second only to habitat loss in destroying our native birds and wildlife.
The trap, neuter, return programs have been practiced for years by the cat enablers, yet the numbers of cats in the wild increase, while our birds have decreased. We call the practice trap, neuter, abandon, and there are a number of federal and state laws against it, but they are not being enforced. We say, as many others agree, the cat enabler's ineffective efforts hamper our professional animal control experts, while subsidizing and strengthening the ferals who get away and multiply.
Some bird advocates I've met in the last years do as we do and trap the cats and take them to the humane society or animal control. Many of those cats will be humanely euthanized. Remember, it's a more humane death than billions of our birds suffer from cats each year!
Our trapping does help, but it's not the answer that will save our birds from the tens of millions of the feral pests. That will take lobbyists in Washington influencing Congress to enforce our wildlife laws and to legislate stronger ones. All of that takes organization.
Audubon does a great job with their "Cats Indoors" campaigns, and several groups do a fine job. Other groups have adjusted their agenda to approve trap, neuter abandon in order to avoid excluding some hard line cat fanciers who are also members of their groups. When they do this they are joining the enablers.
The only permanent solution for our distressing dilemma is to take strong measures and stop, cease, and desist from perpetuating this problem! We must take the millions of feral cats out of our eco-systems, through stricter enforcement of our present wildlife protection laws and legislating tougher ones against the feral pests and those who enable them.
This will in the long run decrease the suffering of both our wildlife and the cats who do not belong here. Are there any bird advocates out there who agree, and are willing to voice their opinions and take action?

3 comments:

Justin said...

Ya, feral cats are dangerous n leads to the death of hundreds of birds every year!

Bird Advocate said...

"Justin said...
Ya, feral cats are dangerous n leads to the death of hundreds of birds every year!"

Uh, Justin, I could delete your remark, but I will not. I'll leave it for comic relief for now. Any further facetious remarks by the cat crowd without documentation will not be treated similarly.

Anonymous said...

I feel strongly towards removing feral cats. People are mis-informed that cats do not do much damage to birds. Your sweet little housecat is a bird-killing machine when outside. Often though, the cat owners do not see the damage so therefore it doesn't exist.
It will take a lot of hard work to ensure cat owners are responsible. This problem needs to be taken care of pronto before it is too late.