PRINCETON: 56 feral cats removed from neighborhood

According to Animal Control Officer Mark Johnson, Princeton Borough has a cat problem.

Following repeated reports of songbird slayings on both Wilton Street and Cedar Lane, Mr. Johnson brought his cages to the neighborhood about two months ago and took 56 feral cats into custody.

The cats seemed to have been coming in and out of one Wilton Street residence in particular, Mr. Johnson said. Apparently, the woman who lives in the residence had tried to take care of the felines.

According to Mr. Johnson, the woman said she called Animal Control last year asking that someone pick up about six cats her daughter had brought from New York. Mr. Johnson had denied the request, saying he could only pick up strays. Since then, Mr. Johnson said the cats have had kittens and those kittens have had kittens and “it definitely got ugly from there.”

Kitty on a plate (Down under)

Take environmental author and artist Kaye Kessing, she reckons you should never boil a cat because they are far better roasted. I’d never considered that. But it did make me pause to think. Mind you, she does have a cracking recipe for feral moggy that she cooks with quandong and native lemongrass that she calls a “catterole”.

This is an environmentalist who is really sinking her teeth into the issue of feral animals. She’s been putting pussy – feral pussy – in the pot for around 17 years on her 40 hectare property in the Northern Territory. Inspired by stories of the local Aboriginals feasting on feral cat, she traps them, skins them, pan fries them and then braises them in the crockpot.

While it’s not likely to ever be a mystery ingredient in a Master Chef challenge, it does show a certain commitment to her green passion. A sort of a twist on the: use it or lose it doctrine – more a: use it and lose it mindset.

Holyrood battles cats

"While it was agreed the cats probably help with containing vermin,"

Scientific studies have shown:
“Cats at artificially high densities, sustained by supplemental feeding, reduce abundance of native rodent and bird populations, change the rodent species composition, and may facilitate the expansion of the house mouse into new areas.” (Hawkins, C.C., W.E. Grant,and M.T.Longnecker.1999.Effect of subsidized house cats on California birds and rodents. Transactions of the Western Section of The Wildlife Society 35:29-33)
Taking pity on the unwanted pets enables them to prey on our native fauna! There is nothing compassionate, non-lethal, nor humane about them killing hundreds of millions of our birds, reptiles, mammals, and amphibians each year! Those cats create an environmental emergency, not an animal welfare one!

How can I help homeless cats in the Tampa Bay South Shore area?

My post:
You may have heard of Dr. Christine Storts, the vet who appealed to the Florida Wildlife Commission several years ago to end the killing of our native fauna by pets. She is dead set against maintaining such colonies. She is also dead set against letting house cats roam free.
Dr. Storts wants to see all cats indoors or on leashes all the time, and no feral cat colonies, even if that means trapping and removing strays, many of which will inevitably be killed in shelters. The environmental damage the cats cause and the diseases they can spread are too important to ignore, she said.

Arivaca gets help with feral cats

My post: Rodent control? Did you know house mice are more prevalent in areas WITH cats? Don't believe me?

East Bay Regional Park District, CA: A two-year study
was conducted in two parks with grassland habitat. One park
had no cats, but more than 25 cats were being fed daily in the
other park. There were almost twice as many birds seen in the
park with no cats as in the park with cats. California Thrasher
and California Quail, both ground-nesting birds, were seen
during surveys in the no-cat area,whereas they were never seen
in the cat area. In addition, more than 85% of the native deer
mice and harvest mice trapped were in the no-cat area,whereas
79% of the house mice,an exotic pest species,were trapped in the cat area. The researchers concluded, “Cats at artificially high densities, sustained by supplemental feeding, reduce abundance of native rodent and bird populations, change the rodent species composition, and may facilitate the expansion of the house mouse into new areas.” (Hawkins, C.C., W.E. Grant,and M.T.Longnecker.1999.Effect of subsidized house cats on California birds and rodents. Transactions of the Western
Section of The Wildlife Society 35:29-33)

TNR for Feral Cats is Horribly Cruel and Only Makes People Feel Better

My second post: Corinna, your cats are nowhere near so successful as the feral cats my neighbor feeds. After I lost a pair of Mockingbirds and a Bluejay that had been nesting here for years I stopped going out in my yard completely.
My garden and flower beds were plowed under, and my grand children's sandbox taken apart. I hire my yardwork done now.
I go to my garage to check and reset my Havaheart trap several times daily, and transport the cats to Animal Control.
Even one bird or native animal killed is too many, when it is killed by an unwanted domestic pet!

My post:
Cats are a pet species, and as such should never be abandoned into the wild, much less be subsidize fed and enabled to predate on our wildlife, and compete with our natural predators. The killing of our fauna by pets is anything but compassionate, humane, and non-lethal!

Wild cat problem

"We're inundated with cats," said Bishop, who serves as the cruelty investigator for the OSPCA of S, D and G. "On a bad day, we can get 20 cats a day. We're full all the time (at the shelter)."

That is precisely what opponents of TNR have been telling you for years! You cannot trap, neuter, release enough pets to stem the tide! Meanwhile the unwanted pets continue to kill hundreds of millions of our native wildlife each year!

Who would think cats are controversial?

Another post: My last sentence was, "Does this sound compassionate, non-lethal and humane?" Your counting mechanism lied to me. Mr. Phinny, I am not trying to be disrespectful to you. I am a 63 year old combat veteran of Vietnam, yet it brings tears to my eyes my grandchildren have never heard a covey of Quail calling to each other to regroup, or enjoyed the flight of the Meadowlark, another ground nesting bird.
Okay, so millions of people love cats, but when and why did unwanted pets become entitled to kill our birds and other wildlife?

I posted in response to your post, "Bob is still barking about animal overpopulation":
"That was touching, Mr. Phinny. I would suggest in your next blog about feral cat colonies you may want to add a kind word about the estimated billion of our native birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians they kill each year.
The presence of tens of millions, perhaps as many as a hundred million predator pets in our ecology is not an animal welfare problem, but an environmental emergency!"
You did not respond to my suggestion there. Instead you write another blog referring to "fairly vitriolic comments I’ve received in response to a couple of my posts on cats." I would not term my comments above as anything but passionate and factual.
Perhaps you would care to explain why you support the perpetuation of millions of an unwanted feral pet population in our ecology enabling them to kill hundreds of millions, perhaps a billion, of our native fauna? Does this sound compassionate, non-lethal and humane?

Rabid skunks in Norfolk put spotlight on management of feral cats

My post? The method of pet control called euthanization completely eliminates more risks of rabies transmission from them to people. It is also protects our native population of wild animals that actually belongs in the wild from predation by unwanted pets!

Bob is still barking about animal overpopulation

My post:
That was touching, Mr. Phinny. I would suggest in your next blog about feral cat colonies you may want to add a kind word about the estimated billion of our native birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians they kill each year.
The presence of tens of millions, perhaps as many as a hundred million predator pets in our ecology is not an animal welfare problem, but an environmental emergency!

Cats Running Wild In Biloxi

More from me:
What is humane, compassionate, or non lethal about feeding and enabling a domestic pet species to kill what many estimate as up to a billion of our native animals each year? Domestic pets have no place in our ecology!

My post:
Since when did it become acceptable to abandon and re-abandon pets outdoors into our ecology? Our priorities here should be our native birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians those unwanted cats are hunting and killing!
This is not an animal welfare issue, but an environmental emergency. Perpetuating another colony of pets will help no one!

Keep cats indoors for their own safety and wildlife's

Mr. Shalaway is a straight shooter for certain. Pets running loose in our ecology is a runaway catastrophe, if you will pardon the pun. When you're discussing the millions of feral and homeless cats don't let anyone tell you the priority is a matter of animal welfare, it is not! Their predation is furthering the extinction of our native fauna which makes them an ecological and environmental threat. Pets, in particular the cat species, should never be allowed or enabled to destroy our wildlife!

Trap-neuter-return effort making headway on feral cat

My post: These people think they're making headway? Putting them back on the street is no way to do that! All they're doing is enabling their pets to destroy our wildlife.

The mule spins a new yarn

(This one is off topic)

My comment:
That French talking mule reminds me of the time Boudreaux sold raffle tickets on his mule, but that's a long story. A shorter one is the time we saw a skinny blind mule at the auction. The ex fell in love with it, naturally, she loved most anything of the equine nature. The only bidder on it was #500, the canner. He bid $20. The ex looked at me with that pleading look and I bumped the bid up a whole dollar. The canner bid $22, then must have figured we would rehabilitate that old mule because he let me buy it for $22.50.
The next day we drove up in a Dodge 3/4 ton to pick up the mule. The ex, being smarter than me, argued the whole way that mule would never load up in that truck. I asked her politely to back into the nearest ditch, telling her son John (age 15) and I would drop the tailgate and get some ropes if she'd go lead out her mule. As she led the mule out one of our friends drove up pulling his four horse trailer, and he politely offered to help. She, again knowing more than me, loaded the mule in his trailer and rode past waving gaily and pointing toward the house, as John and I stood there twiddling our fingers and whistling "Dixie."
Our friend delivered the mule to our house, and I insisted he take twenty dollars for his gas. This was before the price of oil went up, but not before the price of blind mules doubled. The ex headed toward the back yard with her mule, but I stopped her, asking her to back the truck up to our driveway, which was on an incline. I took the mules lead rope, dropped the tail gate, slid out a 2x6, put one of the mule's hooves on it, and told him to load up, and he tippy-toed into the truck like a ballet dancer!
The equine expert's jaw had dropped open, but she managed to ask how I'd known the mule would load in a truck. Well, I explained, he'd gotten blind somehow, and since he was the perfect size for a coon-hunting mule it was only logical he'd done it running through the woods behind the hounds. How do most coon hunting mules get to the woods? In the back of a truck, of course! That old mule sure did love riding in trucks.

What should I title this, crying for the birds?

It's been a while I've been blogging here and we are that much closer to the extinctions of many of our Lone Star States, and worlds, birds and animals. During that period I found the wings and a few body parts of a Mockingbird on my front porch. Yes, a Texas Mockingbird, one of our Texas State Birds.
This Mockingbird was further distinguished, I believe, in being one we had found as a fledgling victim of a cat attack. He was the only survivor of his clutch, and we hand fed him, rehabilitated him, then released him. How do I know this was the same one? Well, I've dealt with Texas birds and animals for over six decades, this ain't my first rodeo.
He showed up the next year and hung out around our bird feeders, he was less fearful of us than the rest of the birds, though he wouldn't come to us, as if we'd have asked him to. We're not talking Walt Disney here, people.
The next year he attracted a mate, after several days and nights of singing and stomping one of the treetops in our back yard flat. Hell I've done that, too, when romancing a woman.
They set up their nest in a loquat tree in our front yard, the front yard we'd given him flying lessons in before his release. We worried and watched and ran the neighbors cats off, fearing a repeat of the attack that had nearly killed him before and had left him ours to raise.
Somehow, they made it through the first year, and the next, and a third, with him strafing everything that came into the yard except us, his protectors, his foster family.
I'm not even sure how many years he held out, but there were a number of them. It may have been old age done him in, or the sheer numbers of cats that trespassed here. I found his remains on my front porch. I wrote a poem a few years ago and titled it "Who cries for the birds?" This old man does.

It’s Not About Your Cat, It’s About MY Birds!

This is an important blog about conservation I just read at "My Purple Martin Blog." The blog master there is a very well informed and articulate person and I believe you will find a visit worth the trip.
Thanks.

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.

Feral cats feed flea outbreak

Her trailer home and yard, she said, are constantly being reinfested by the many feral cats in the neighborhood, cats that are being provided food and water by an elderly neighbor on an abandoned lot next door where a trailer had burned a couple of years ago.

As a result, Saucedo said, the cats have reproduced from a couple two years ago to an estimated 40 today - and carrying fleas that are plaguing the entire neighborhood.

The cats get under the trailers, where they fight, shed, defecate, spray - and spread fleas, Saucedo said.

How do you ask a neighbor to control their wandering cat?

How do you ask a neighbor to control their wandering cat? I had this problem nearly forty years ago, and told the neighbor I was concerned about the safety of his pet. I'd seen his huge cat inside the tall cedar fence I'd built around my family yard where my dog was chained. The cat owner was rather arrogant when he answered. perhaps too arrogant for me to take lightly. He laughed and said no one dog alive could ever hurt that big cat of his!
That made me wonder at his lack of curiosity as to why I had built such a tall, expensive fence around my dog, then sometimes chained him with a solid link chain. It was not to protect him, I assure you. "Duke" was out of Alaskan Indian sled dog stock, and he had been bred, born, and raised 160 miles from the nearest paved road or street light. His sire must have been part Saint Bernard, judging by the width, weight, and strength of his and all of his five puppies heads, shoulders, and bodies.
I had sent Duke home, and my parents graciously went out of their way to accommodate the imposition of a six month old, 100 pound puppy when he arrived. Perhaps they understood what a large part that puppy had played in my own healing and coping process in having returned from the Republic of South Vietnam to the United States, then being sent to a remote site in Alaska for a year of what we sometimes called solitary confinement or lock down.
It seems to me I mentioned my conversation with the neighbor to my Dad, who had never had much use for cats (cats kill wild game). I forget if it was before or after the incident that occurred, it may have been both. Dad had seemed to like the dog, or at least respected him, and certainly had spared no expense or effort on building him a large stout kennel, one Duke had immediately escaped from. Dad had repaired it, but Duke was not comfortable in it until I came home and told him to "stay." After that Duke would stay in his six foot kennel, if not chained, until I called him from the front yard, then he'd jump it, then the shorter fence on the side yard. He'd come and sit beside me, ready for whatever adventure I had planned for my time off from work.
Oh, what happened to the monster cat? Well, it seems the only thing I'd ever seen Duke afraid of was a humongous wolverine we'd encountered in Alaska when he was just a pup, and anyone with a lick of sense knows to get out of Dodge when a wolverine comes after you! That damned arrogant cat never had a chance.

Beverly Hills City Council puts off feral cat issue until August

Excuse me, Peter, but if I had worked hard enough or had been lucky enough to have inherited money to own that property, I would have guards around the perimeter to protect me from people or animals who felt they could intrude on my property.

Okay, so what's your point? You resent it rich people like their privacy? I check my Havaheart traps in my yard several times each day to ensure the trapped pets are not suffering, they hire it done, because they can afford it. No problem.

So don't abandon your pet, there is no place in our ecology for it!

No, we can't, Peter, and we have to make a responsible and adult choice. Has there been a shortage of the domestic cat species in the last four hundred years? They are driving hundreds of species to extinction, I know my choice, what's yours?

Raining cats and ... more cats Feral feline population exploding

...Whatever the TNR groups are trying to do matters not! What they accomplish is perpetuating the predation of an unwanted pet on our already threatened wildlife! The cat orgs cripple realistic and responsible efforts at eliminating the cats through their write ins, boycotts, etcetera, then say, see that didn't work!

...And still more: Before you say it, I'll tell you your next move, Cat org rhetoric number 47 (or whatever.) "Cats are only an extinction threat on islands." Well, shake it or break it, no man is an island, but our ecology is, and it may be twenty miles or three hundred miles between areas our song birds can feed or nest in. Your feral cats have a full bowl of cat munchies available night and day somewhere on every block in most residential areas.

More: As long as it is not the weak or the sick cats' right? Can you name me one time in the last 400 years the domestic cat species has been faced with extinction?
"Domestic cats are consid-
ered primarily responsible for the extinction of 33 bird
species since the 1600s. In New Zealand alone, cats
were primarily responsible for the extinction of eight
bird species and the eradication of 41 others from
islands. There are at least 90 million pet cats in the
United States, and perhaps an equal number of stray
and feral cats. Scientists estimate that our nation’s
free-roaming cats kill hundreds of millions of birds."

More yet: Attrition? That's another cat org myth! Los Angeles was one of the birthplaces of TNR, and how well has it worked for them? I read yesterday one of the cat orgs themselves had said Los Angeles County had three million cats, compassion, non-lethal, humane that! How many tons of our wildlife do you suppose they kill each day?

And more: Yes, and by enabling the cats to be well-fed, stronger, better predators you become part and parcel to our threatened wildlife's extinction!

More replies to rhetoric!: Yeah, yeah, right. Just what part of that is supposed to be a rational reason for us to ignore the hundreds of millions or billion of our birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and fish the second largest largest threat, cats, kill? Your cat org. rhetoric is showing! That loss is not sustainable! Look it up, it means we will be hip deep in unwanted cats, as the title of this story says, "Feral feline population exploding", and our wildlife they're killing will be gone down their gullets!

My post: Through this entire story not one person mentioned any remorse for the thousands of our wildlife those pets kill each year, they show no concern for nature at all! I hope they're not teaching their children to be so irresponsible too!

Middlebourne tackles cat issue

My post: I am so glad to see officials who act responsibly and decisively on the environmental problem of unwanted pets! I was recently told by a TNR manager Los Angeles may have as many as two million cats. Mind you, that's where TNR originated about twenty years ago, and they call that a success?

Dawson stated the traps would be checked daily and any cat that does not have a collar would be held for five days so the owner would have a chance to claim it.

Dawson stated, "Anyone who owns a cat needs to make sure that it has a collar.'Since there is no Humane Society in Tyler County, the council agreed that this would be the next best thing to do.

"It is not safe for people to work in flowerbeds where cats have made a deposit. People can catch diseases from it if you don't wear gloves while working," stated Dawson.

Feral cat program advances in city

A second post:
Los Angeles could easily be called the birthplace of TNR roughly two decades ago. I was told a few weeks ago by a TNR backer there may be as many as two million feral cats in Los Angeles today. I can agree some plans take time to work, but all they've accomplished in twenty years is to perpetuate the cat colonies, and kill off millions of our native fauna.

My post:
"Supporters said the feral cat plan will be a humane way to control the animals' numbers while saving the city money on shelter costs."

The supporters just happen to be cat lovers and could care less the unwanted pets will resume urinating and defecating all over the city as soon as they are released from the vets. They will also resume killing their share of the billion of our fauna estimated to be killed in the United States yearly. Wave goodbye to the tourist dollars birders and true animal lovers would have spent in your area. No one spends money traveling to see feral cats. There are far too many of those crapping in our own back yards.

Rehoboth’s feral cats: helpless animals or menace to society?

“One we call Meatloaf. He has no hair on his back; it’s just all open sores and red. I mean, it’s just pathetic that animals are allowed to breed like that,” she said.

Bruce Southard, who owns Fun In The Sun, a scooter shop next to Celebration Mall, said the cats have taken up residence under his repair shed.

“My mechanic said if I don’t do something about it, he’s quitting,” Southard said. “He just can’t take the smell anymore.”

Southard said the cats have urinated on a tarp he was using to cover up a scooter in the back. If they climb inside, the cats also defecate on the scooters.

Feral cats in Beverly Hills get a reprieve, but one caretaker could face jail time for feeding them

Katherine Varjian obviously adores those cats, her neighbors don't. Her rights to attract and feed unwanted pets ends where her neighbor's property rights begin! If I were them I would be busily trapping and transporting cats to the nearest animal control, as I do on my own property each day.

"Kitten Thinks Of Nothing But Murder All Day."

Update: I found one source for the quote, The Onion. It's only funny because it's so true.

Seen on the internet(s), I've forgotten where, but the quote has stayed with me. A blogger posted about a T-shirt they had seen with a picture of the cutest little kitten in existence. Ever. In a blurb were the words: "Kitten Thinks Of Nothing But Murder All Day."

More of "The Truth When It Comes to Cats"

My reaction to a comment about catbibs:
I have never had the inclination to buy a catbib, put it on a cat, seek medical help and blood transfusions for numerous lacerations, then release said cat and observe it from my death bed. However, I have heard from numerous sources it is almost as effective as bells on a cats collar, which only work with birds who are musically inclined.

Feral cat policy amended for consistency

Can anyone say, MEOW! The cat orgs have spoken? Well I say let's all have a word with our local vet, hmm?

Background information provided with the recommendation stated that "Because the results of research regarding the effect of managed cat colonies remain ambiguous, and because the profession is so philosophically divided on this issue, the AWC continues to believe that a policy neither opposing nor supporting managed colonies is the most appropriate one at this time."

An ongoing conversation on a cat gurus blog and here...

This is an answer of mine to a response to Anonymous at LA Animal Watch The owner of that blog, Ed Muzika, and I have exchanged our views both there and here on our blog.

You feel these millions of unwanted pets somehow have an entitlement to continue to live outdoors in colonies murdering our wildlife and fouling our property because you somehow value their lives more than you do a half billion or billion of our native wildlife? Doesn't that sound irresponsible to you? It certainly does to me and most of our citizens, when it is presented to them in a rational form.

"The wild" belongs to our wildlife, the cities to the kitties? Wouldn't a better term be the outdoors? You see our migratory birds don't read street and city limits signs, and yes, there used to be and still are populations of our wildlife in and around our major cities. You may rarely see them in your city, but also consider I was told recently by a TNR practitioner there are perhaps as many as two (2) million feral cats in LA, perhaps the capital of TNR. Would you care to boast about how hugely successful TNR has been in the last twenty years?

Ah, there it is. You rate eradication success by number of shelter impounds. Would you admit the shelter population may be influenced by the large numbers of cat ranchers in California feeding their stock daily, and touting their successes?
Yes, I am being sarcastic here. The cat ranches don't stop the predation on our fauna, or the use of our lawns as cat boxes.

Thank you for making my point! TNR has no chance of success against that sort of numbers, yet you continue to hamper eradication efforts at every opportunity!

Of course I do, I value the lives of homeless dogs, too. Do I want to see colonies of homeless dogs subsidized fed and killing our wildlife? No, thank you.

Welcoming Birds Back to a Remote Alaskan Island

My post? I first became interested in Alaska’s Aleutian chain in 1968 when I was issued orders to the Alaskan Air Command’s radar site at Shemya, which is also in the chain.
Luckily, I was diverted to Sparrevohn, AFS, on the mainland which was still remote, but considerably less barren.
I commend your efforts and add my best wishes for your continued successes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last summer, when biologists walked along the rocky cliffs on Rat Island, one of more than 2,000 islands in Alaska’s Aleutian chain, they encountered an eerie silence. This place should have been a cacophonous and lively melee of bird calls.

The reason for the silence? Invasive rats. They colonized the island after a Japanese fishing vessel wrecked against its rocky shore in 1798. Their numbers multiplied, and for more than two centuries the voracious rats have preyed on bird eggs and young chicks. The birds gone, silence spread from shore to shore.

Cat Fight

My post: The cat enablers easily forget their pets are exactly that, a domestic pet species. There should be laws against their abandonment outdoors, especially where they threaten the survival of our endangered native fauna. Hey wait a minute, there already are laws in place, they just are not being enforced! Keep the faith, Mr. Green!

"The Proposed Ordinance to Criminalize Feral Cat Colony Management"

My post has been allowed and answered: Please remember feral cats are domestic animals and it seems unconscionable to me you support their abandonment into the dangers they encounter in the cities.
Most of you show no regard for the rights of other citizens to have their property cat free.
I see little mention or concern for the natural fauna they prey on. You have no compassion left over for them? Their killing by your pets is anything but compassionate, humane, and non-lethal!

How Do I Get My Cat To Stop Killing Birds?

My Comment: Please do the responsible and adult thing and keep your pets indoors! This will stop the bird killing and protect your pet from the hazards in our ecology. Traffic hazards, antifreeze spills (accidental or intentional), and dogs and other critters can all kill your cat. It may even be unlucky enough to roam into someone’s yard to hunt and find itself in a Havaheart trap, destined for Animal Control.

The Truth When It Comes to Cats

“Hunting behavior in cats is very controversial, especially if the prey is songbirds or endangered rodent species. Some cats hunt, some cats don’t, and it has more to do with what a cat learned from his mother than from the rumbling in his belly. Plenty of well-fed cats are very active hunters.”

My comment: Controversial? It certainly should not be. Cats are a domesticated pet species and as such should never be allowed to roam outdoors. Their presence outdoors creates an environmental and ecological problem which should be dealt with by confinement or eradication.
Attempting to treat it as an animal welfare issue by enabling cat colonies perpetuates the environmental and ecological problem, ie, pet predation on our native fauna, and is morally reprehensible.

BIRDS ETCETERA—Birds, Birding, Birders, and Birdwatching: Ducks Like Rain Showers (Surprise, Surprise)

BIRDS ETCETERA—Birds, Birding, Birders, and Birdwatching: Ducks Like Rain Showers (Surprise, Surprise)

News from Tony Peacock

Ever wonder how the war against ferals is going "Down Under?" Visit "News from Tony Peacock" CEO-Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Center

Group sterilizes feral cats, releases them

Another comment from me: Logically speaking, if we proceed thinking clearly about the priorities in this which is an environmental emergency, rather than a pet welfare one, the eradication or containment of the pet species indoors are the only responsible, moral, and ethical choices.

"Jackie Mabe says that if it weren’t for feral cats, the city would be overrun with rats, mice and snakes."
Tell Jackie for me she doesn't know beans about rats and mice.
The following are summaries of specific studies:
East Bay Regional Park District, CA: A two-year study
was conducted in two parks with grassland habitat. One park
had no cats, but more than 25 cats were being fed daily in the
other park. There were almost twice as many birds seen in the
park with no cats as in the park with cats. California Thrasher
and California Quail, both ground-nesting birds, were seen
during surveys in the no-cat area,whereas they were never seen
in the cat area. In addition, more than 85% of the native deer
mice and harvest mice trapped were in the no-cat area,whereas
79% of the house mice,an exotic pest species,were trapped in the cat area. The researchers concluded, “Cats at artificially high densities, sustained by supplemental feeding, reduce abundance of native rodent and bird populations, change the rodent species composition, and may facilitate the expansion of the house mouse into new areas.” (Hawkins, C.C., W.E. Grant,and M.T.Longnecker.1999.Effect of subsidized house cats on California birds and rodents. Transactions of the Western
Section of The Wildlife Society 35:29-33)

Cat vs Dog?

I have often warned cat owners before about exposing their feral or roaming pets to the dangers outdoors. I have usually had guard dogs confined on my property and that's what they did, protected my property and the other animals I raised there. My chows would kill any cat caught trespassing. If that sounds cold to you perhaps you will consider the cats were there hunting something to murder themselves.
Years ago, back when a landowner still had property rights, I warned a neighbor about the huge cat he had coming into my back yard with my large Husky out of Alaskan Indian sled dog stock. He laughed and said “No dog alive could hurt that bad cat!” Okay, I’d warned him.
The next time I saw the cat in my yard I let my dog off his chain to protect my property. The cat weighed almost thirty pounds.

One solution to the feral cat problem

My response:
I was raised with a strong respect for our wildlife and our responsibility to manage and protect it. My dad was raised soon after the depression when your ability with a rifle or shotgun often meant the difference between meat in the pot, or a mess of wild poke salat. His interest in later life translated into protecting his quail and other game from the feral cats and he used the same shotgun.
Outside of a barn cat or two he had no tolerance for them, and I agree with that philosophy. I have had to to confine my activity to using a Havahart trap in the yard. It breaks my heart to say it's been years since I've seen a covey of quail or a Meadowlark, both ground nesting birds. It's about time I took a trip to the country, away from those damn cats, and looked some up.

The felines invade

The Georgetown Homeowners Association has asked McDonough County Animal Control to set traps for at least four feral cats that apparently wander the subdivision after sundown. At least one resident has described the cats as “very aggressive” and capable of attacking families and their pets.

The letter was shared late this week with the county board’s human resources and planning committee. In detailing the request, Homeowners Association President John Meixner wrote that the cats have been seen on the north and south sides of Carriage Hill, with at least one reported seen in a yard on Richmond Road.

Assistant State’s Attorney Kristen Petrie, who lives in Georgetown, told the committee Thursday that residents were warned about the cats in the subdivision’s monthly newsletter.

Anderson woman fights littering citation for feeding feral cats

My response:
I have a cat fancier living two doors down from me. He refills the food bowls in his garage often, consequently there are always six or eight cats lounging in his front yard.
His hobby ruined mine. The cats come down here to hunt and kill birds so I had to stop feeding them and take down their nests. The cats leave their scat and spray in my garden and flowerbeds, so I plowed them under. My grand children can't go outside and play because of the filth.
I've taken up a new hobby, cat trapping, and it seems to be working very efficiently with his hobby now. He attracts the cats, I trap them. The hobby keeps me exercised carrying them to the humane society to be put down. I may have to buy another Havahart trap, I caught two in one day last week.

Disputes claims that studies show TNR to be successful

TNR groups are quick to say that studies show it to be effective, but they never cite the names of the actual studies and the groups that performed them. It is like the medical recommendation to drink eight glasses of water a day. When researched, the eight glasses a day recommendation is found to be an urban legend. No medical group ever made such a statement. It was a myth repeated over and over until it appeared to be fact. The same goes for TNR's efficiency.

But there are several studies performed by credible groups that show TNR is not successful at all. Among them is a study of two large, long-term TNR programs in California and Florida, published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association. It showed TNR to be ineffective in reducing cat populations.
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Project TNR is a program of the New Jersey Animal Rights Alliance. This organization will say or do just about anything to protect animals. Should what it says be trusted without verification? Are these really the people you want dictating what you must tolerate regarding nuisance animals and how your government must deal with them?

Euthanasia of some animals may be unnecessary in a world designed by the animators at Walt Disney, but we live in the real world.
David Blumig
State-Certified Animal
Control Officer
East Brunswick

Ozzy 'Devastated' As Pet Dog Eaten By Coyote

Kelly, 24, told her online followers that the Black Sabbath rocker was upset by its demise.

"My dad's dog Little Bit was eaten by a coyote last night in LA," his daughter 'tweeted'.

Coyote killed after attack on Port Coquitlam toddler

Conservation officers have euthanized a coyote after it attacked a toddler in Port Coquitlam.

The two-year-old girl suffered bites to her head and neck during the encounter Monday morning near the playground at Central elementary school, according to reports.

The girl is recovering with minor injuries.

It's not normal for coyotes to pursue adults, particularly in urban settings, according to the Ministry of Environment website. If an animal does attack a child, it's usually because the coyote has been fed and has become comfortable with humans.

Is Feral Cat Predation on our Fauna Sustainable?

Is feral cat predation on our fauna sustainable? I'll answer that question with another. Is there a valid reason we should risk the extinction of more of our wildlife to find out? Feral cats are the unwanted discards of our society, living their lives on the edge. Most survive day to day, if they manage to dodge cars, dogs, coyotes, raccoons, traps set to catch them, and disease, then find a human to feed them, or another animal to kill.
There is growing evidence their millions are changing our environment, and feeding that change with the meat torn from their bodies by an increasing number of coyotes. What further changes will this hungry population of coyotes bring, with them coming into our neighborhoods to hunt the cats they're competing with for their natural prey animals? Is there a valid reason we should wait to find out?

Feral cat problem prompts trapping plans in Freetown

My post there: This illustrates what can be done when we react to the cat issue with a united front! Destructive pets of any kind should never be tolerated in our yards and streets, much less colonized!

Feral cat problem prompts trapping plans in Freetown
"The action comes after complaints to Rep. Stephen Canessa, D-New Bedford, from residents who said the cats have been destroying property and urinating and defecating near people's homes."

On Feb 3, 1999, Executive Order 13112 was signed establishing the National Invasive Species Council.

On Feb 3, 1999, Executive Order 13112 was signed establishing the National Invasive Species Council. The Executive Order requires that a Council of Departments dealing with invasive species be created. Currently there are 13 Departments and Agencies on the Council.

Feral cat outbreak in Freetown

Residents are warned not to feed the
felines

My comment?
There should be no tolerance for pets loose in the wild! The cat lovers create a perpetual environmental problem when they subsidize feed them and enable their constant predation on our wildlife. They choose to inflict those unwanted pets on the rest of us and our ecology!

What you can do to help feral cats.

My post:
Pets loose outdoors in our environment is not a problem of helping feral cats, but one of ending their destruction of our native fauna! It is neither compassionate, non-lethal, or humane to enable them to slaughter millions of our fauna each year.

One more go round with Kristy Winfrey

My post: You will never convince me the life of millions of unwanted domestic pets is worth the cost of one of our natural fauna, much less the billion they murder, no!