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.”
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
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.
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!
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!
Thursday, August 6, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, August 3, 2009
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)
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)
Friday, July 31, 2009
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!
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!
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?
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!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
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!
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!
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!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
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!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
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.
Monday, July 20, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
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.
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.
Thanks.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Friday, July 17, 2009
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?
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?
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