Are you an advocate for birds?

This is an article of ours at The Fat Birders.

We are advocates for our natural fauna, especially our birds. We have become increasingly concerned as we see species around us diminish and vanish. There are some things that we have no control over, while we can influence others with our voices and our votes.

Feral and roaming cats are a major factor in the destruction of the United States’ ecology. They've now been spread by humans to most areas of the Earth, where animals evolved with escape mechanisms against their own natural predators, but have few defences against the domestic cat.

Those cats also compete unfairly with the natural predators and displace them because of well meaning cat helpers 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 lovers, yet the numbers of cats in the wild have increased, whilst native bird numbers have decreased. We have a different name for the practice, we call it ‘trap, neuter, abandon’. Moreover, there are a number of federal and state laws against this practice, which are not being enforced. We say, and many others agree, the cat enabler's ineffective efforts actually hamper our professional animal control experts, while subsidizing and strengthening the feral cats that get away and multiply.

Some bird advocates I've met in the last few 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 these 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 other groups do a fine job. Some 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 adding to the problem not helping with the solution.

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 by legislating tougher ones against the feral pests and those who abet them.

This will in the long run decrease the suffering of both our wildlife and the cats who do not belong there. Are there any bird advocates out there who agree, and are willing to voice their opinions and take action?