Saturday, July 18, 2009

Should you feed feral cats?

Another reply from me: OH, MY DOG! THE RODENTS ARE COMING! My home had a cow pasture behind it when I moved here, now it's a subdivision. I've never had to import cats to keep rodents down. I buy warfarin blocks every six months or so. Now, here's a scientific study about cats and rodents.
Dr. Cole Hawkins conducted a study of two grassland parks in the East Bay Regional Park District in California--one with no cats and one where over 20 cats were being fed daily. -----------
In addition, over 85 percent of the native deer and harvest mice trapped were in the park without cats, whereas over 75 percent of the house mice (an exotic pest) trapped were in the park with cats.

My response: I have read more criticism of the neighbors in this situation than for the lady who has been cited for the third time. Let's examine the situation responsibly, shall we?
The neighbors resent unwanted pet animals being attracted to their property, for whatever reason. Perhaps they are in fear of coyotes being attracted. I have heard that is a possibility in California. Perhaps they have a roach phobia, many people do. Maybe they love the birds and other fauna cats kill for the sport of it, or perhaps they simply don't like cats!
Whatever their reasoning is, they own or lease the property and their objections should be respected! I have owned my home for over twenty years, for half of that time a neighbor has maintained a feral cat feeding station. I tried to reason with him, he cursed at me.
I plowed my gardens and flower beds under, and took down my bird nests and feeders. I dismantled the grand kids sand box.
My hobby now is trapping cats and taking them to the Animal Control.

3 comments:

Bret Ludwig said...

Yup, the cat lubbers at work again.

If you can't shoot or poison them, there is only trap and take in to the pound.

Bird Advocate said...

I had an interesting reply to that half written, then decided better. :-)

rking8 said...

Kill trap or poison is what waits most cats who roam free. The feds and state wardens shoot them when they can. The avg life span for a feral is 3 years but the offpsring can go on forever. We must change the paradigm regarding free roaming pets and owning pets in general. Every little bit helps and you guys are part of the relief. Don't let your neighbors stop you and don't let any one tell you to relinguish you rights as an American property owner.