Readers strike back for birds and support alternative ways to control cat behavior.
Cat Control
Re: “Wild Things” (Cover Story, June 6): “Between 1.4 and 3.7 billion birds a year” killed by “Kitty Dearest,” and still owners and proponents of feral pets ignore these staggering numbers of the beautiful native song bird’s disappearance. If your cat kills a bird, you should have to work at the Native Animal Rescue shelter on 17th Ave. as part of your punishment for not keeping your pet indoors and belled. These volunteers (Lupin Egan) work hard to save birds that should not have been there in the first place (they need a lot of donations of time and money).
Would Fish and Wildlife officials return feral red foxes once captured? No, so why return feral cats to continue the rampage? Vermin exist because there is food available. If the owner of livestock is careful, they can keep grains and the stuff rats want in steel containers and clean up well after the animals to keep rats at bay. Rat terriers will do an excellent job, and they won’t go after the birds, frogs, salamanders and anything else that moves like a cat will.Well-baited traps with peanut butter get a lot of rats.
Cliff Bixler is correct and brave to speak out against the almighty kitty’s “recent” introduction into this ecosystem. There are very strong opinions in favor of a “cat’s rights to kill what it wants” and “it’s in its nature” arguments to letting your cat roam free. I live in a small mobile home park of 20 units, and there are 12 cats roaming it day and night. I find mockingbirds’ feathers in a pile in my yard. You have to keep your dog under control, why not your cat? And do you know where it is doing its “business”? In my garden soil.
Steve Rudzinski
Soquel
Threat Assessment
Re: “Wild Things”: Thank you for your article on the impacts of cats in our environment. However, the discussion of impacts of cats on species listed as endangered species was not very helpful. The only endangered species mentioned with reference to Santa Cruz County was the Clapper Rail, which has not occurred in this county for over 70 years and was never resident in the county. A better bird species to highlight would have been the federally threatened Snowy Plover, which might suffer from feral cats in our area.
David Suddjian
Capitola
Ferrel on Feral
Regarding your recent article on cats vs. birds and Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), I’d like to encourage people to find out more about community cats. “Nuisance behavior” (yowling, cat fights, spraying) can be eliminated without eliminating the cat—spay/neuter is readily available through low-cost/no-cost programs, with information from Project Purr.
This isn’t a “cats vs. birds” argument, it’s about saving lives of cats and birds. We are lucky to have cat advocates like Project Purr, since our local shelter doesn’t participate in TNR, to redirect feral cats from euthanasia to socialization and adoption, or working lives as “barn cats.” TNR does work in a growing number of communities nationwide, as a humane, cost-effective way to reduce feral cat numbers.
On an individual level, even keeping pet cats indoors at dawn and dusk, their natural hunting times, can help. TNR outdoor cats can be fed cat food once a day during daylight hours to cut down on their hunting, while still preserving their usefulness for rodent control. Concerns about cats can be addressed in humane ways.
Susan Ferrel
Aptos
