News

Letters to the Editor: June 19 – June 25

By
• June 18, 2013

Claws come out in the debate over Santa Cruz’s feral cats.

In Defense of Feral Cats

Re: “Wild Things.html” (Cover, June 12): Why do you pit one organization against another?  This article should have been about the Project Purr program only. They do a remarkable and gratifying job. They have done everything possible to safeguard the feral cat population in our county for many years with their various programs. I have personally fed converted feral cats for over 20 years after they were dumped by their irresponsible pet owners that just dumped their pet cats when they moved. There have been very few birds killed in my backyard as I feed all cats that come into it. I also have four birdfeeders in my backyard, and one on my front porch. When the feral cats are around, the birds do not come as frequently. I have rescued two birds that fell out of nests, which did not result in the bird's demise. Bird feathers show me the results of the ones that did not get away and they certainly were not endangered species. Maybe a total of 3-5 birds in 20+ years.

Where does Cliff Bixler get his figures from, the top of his head? I would like to know if he could even handle a feral cat. People dump pet cats, not feral cats. Many of these feral cats keep the rat population under control, which would be out of control without the Project Purr program whether at a boat harbor, farms, malls, educational facilities and other local areas where mice and rats can be a problem.

Melanie Sobel is not giving an accurate account of both cat intake and feral cat euthanization numbers when she says the numbers at the Santa Cruz County shelter are up.  Her figures are completely inaccurate—just look online for yourself. It covers a 3-year period from 2010, 2011 and 2012.  If you are going to project a figure make sure it is accurate, and again not off the top of your head.

We should appreciate everything Project Purr has done to try and control the cat population with over more than 20 years experience. People that dump cats are not dumping feral cats; they are just dumping their pet cats that they no longer wish to take care of. They definitely are not responsible pet owners. I have adopted three pet cats (one only six months old) over the last 20 years that were just dumped in our neighborhood.

Educate the cat owner that cats do not and cannot survive well when just dumped. I have fed cats in my own area that were pet cats but became feral cats. These few cat owners that dump their pets because they don't want to take care of them or are moving are grossly negligent. Those few cat owners should be held responsible for their actions. These owners should be responsible in having their pet cats neutered. Laws have been made regarding mandatory dog neutering—why not cats?

Shirley Coleman
Aptos

Nest Worth

Having read your article, “Wild Things.html,” by Georgia Perry, we were appalled to learn how many birds are killed by cats every year. We have noticed our neighbors’ cats feast on baby birds regularly. Just in the past two weeks, we had two nests on our property. Both nests had birds that died at the paws of our neighbors’ pet cats.

We love both cats and birds and have a solution.

We noticed that spring  is when most birds migrate to our neighborhood to build nests. The eggs hatch. During this period, the baby birds are most vulnerable. We suggest that during each spring, cat owners keep their cats indoors. This solution will not solve the entire problem, but will help spare the lives of newly hatched birds who are not just the old, sick and dumb ones Ms. Achterberg thinks are the ones cats prey upon.

As for feral cats, something should be done to prevent people dumping cats no longer wanted as pets.

Lil Phillips
Aptos

  • https://www.santacruz.com/news/letters_to_the_editor_june_19_june_25.html Nature Advocate

    I think the worst part of all, anyone associated with TNR aren’t adhering to the mandatory REQUIRED BY LAW SIX-MONTH QUARANTINE for any animal when harvested from the wild and intended for any sector of the pet-trade. This is why rabid kittens are now being adopted direct from shelters. Like this one of hundreds for example, Google for: RABID KITTEN ADOPTED WAKE COUNTY.

    The 10-14 day holding period for bite & scratch cases is ONLY meant to see if they were infectious at the time of the incident, but DOES NOT IN ANY WAY prove that that cat does not have rabies. The incubation period for rabies can be (on average) from 21 to 240 days. And in some cases as much as 11 months. One rare case being 6 years. This is why when you take your pet to another country they MUST quarantine your pet for a MINIMUM of 6 months to be relatively sure (not 100% certain) that you are not bringing rabies into their country. Giving a rabies shot to an animal that already has rabies and has not been quarantined for AT LEAST 6 MONTHS FIRST does NOTHING to ensure that that animal does not have rabies!

    But these TNR advocates, and the community-college educated veterinarians with web-based degrees, and the moron shelter managers, and local government “officials” who don’t even have high-school educations, and all those that support them? EACH AND EVERY ONE IS IN *DIRECT* *VIOLATION* OF WELL-ESTABLISHED *NATIONAL* & *INTERNATIONAL* DEADLY-DISEASE CONTAINMENT *LAWS*. They ALL need to be sued so fast, hard, and deep that they never recover from it for the rest of their sorry and criminally negligent lives.

    Or how about this fun one, Google for: RABIES PROMPTS CARLSBAD CAT PROGRAM SUSPENSION TNR

    Rabies Outbreak Caused by TNR! 50+ Pets Euthanized! ALL Stray Cats Destroyed! All livestock destroyed! More than a dozen homeowners pay for their own $3000+ rabies shots.

    Google for: Rabies Outbreak in Westchester County

    Google for: Rabid Cat Adopted Wake County

    Google for: Rabid Kitten Jamestown Exposure

    There’s hundreds more like those on the net showing everyone how these phenomenally ignorant and foolish cat-lickers “help” their communies by allowing TNR CAT-HOARDERS to continue their criminally negligent behavior.

    These are just the diseases cats have been spreading to humans, not counting the ones they spread to all wildlife. THERE ARE NO VACCINES against many of these, and are in-fact listed as bio-terrorism agents. They include: Afipia felis, Anthrax, Bartonella (Rochalimaea) henselae, Bergeyella (Weeksella) zoohelcum, Campylobacter Infection, Cat Scratch Disease, Chlamydia psittaci (feline strain), Cowpox, Coxiella burnetti Infection (Q fever), Cryptosporidium Infection, Cutaneous larva migrans, Dermatophytosis, Dipylidium Infection (tapeworm), Hookworm Infection, Leptospira Infection, Giardia, Neisseria canis, Pasteurella multocida, Plague, Poxvirus, Rabies, Rickettsia felis, Ringworm, Salmonella Infection, Scabies, Sporothrix schenckii, Toxocara Infection, Toxoplasmosis, Trichinosis, Visceral larva migrans, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. [Centers for Disease Control, July 2010] Sarcosporidiosis, Flea-borne Typhus, Tularemia, and Rat-Bite Fever can now also be added to that list.

    Yes, The Plague is alive and well in the USA, and it is now being spread by CATS. Google for: Cat-Transmitted Fatal Pneumonic Plague, for a fun read. One of hundreds. Totally disproving that oft-spewed manipulation tactic by cat-lickers that more cats could have prevented The Plague in Europe—cats can CAUSE IT!

    Now add on top of that that anyone who feeds these cats is training them to approach humans for food (contrary to them always claiming feral cats run from humans). What happens to the child or foolish adult that reaches down to pet or try to pick up that now seemingly friendly “cute kitty”? The wild animal lashes out and bites or scratches the hand that has no food for them.

    Google for: FERAL CAT ATTACK RABIES

    Don’t be surprised at the number of search-hits you get nor the horrendous stories that go with them. The number of suspected rabies cases and the then required mandatory rabies shots for each individual costing them well over $3000 out of their own pockets, has been growing as exponentially fast as cats breed. Ask a vet that released that cat, a cat-feeder, or your local government to pay for your shots and lost work-time and suffering? Neither they, nor shelters, nor the local government who supports TNR carry ONE PENNY of liability insurance for the deadly dangers they are bringing to your communities by allowing them to feed and TNR stray cats. Two recent reports even document rabid cats entering a home through their pet-door and one even came through their ceiling searching for human-supplied foods—one attack so bad it required hospitalization for the family.

    Let’s make 2013 the year where ALL aspects of TNR are ILLEGAL nationwide. It’s the only solution.

  • https://www.santacruz.com/news/2013/06/18/letters_to_the_editor_june_19_june_25 Nature Advocate

    I think the worst part of all, anyone associated with TNR aren’t adhering to the mandatory REQUIRED BY LAW SIX-MONTH QUARANTINE for any animal when harvested from the wild and intended for any sector of the pet-trade. This is why rabid kittens are now being adopted direct from shelters. Like this one of hundreds for example, Google for: RABID KITTEN ADOPTED WAKE COUNTY.

    The 10-14 day holding period for bite & scratch cases is ONLY meant to see if they were infectious at the time of the incident, but DOES NOT IN ANY WAY prove that that cat does not have rabies. The incubation period for rabies can be (on average) from 21 to 240 days. And in some cases as much as 11 months. One rare case being 6 years. This is why when you take your pet to another country they MUST quarantine your pet for a MINIMUM of 6 months to be relatively sure (not 100% certain) that you are not bringing rabies into their country. Giving a rabies shot to an animal that already has rabies and has not been quarantined for AT LEAST 6 MONTHS FIRST does NOTHING to ensure that that animal does not have rabies!

    But these TNR advocates, and the community-college educated veterinarians with web-based degrees, and the moron shelter managers, and local government “officials” who don’t even have high-school educations, and all those that support them? EACH AND EVERY ONE IS IN *DIRECT* *VIOLATION* OF WELL-ESTABLISHED *NATIONAL* & *INTERNATIONAL* DEADLY-DISEASE CONTAINMENT *LAWS*. They ALL need to be sued so fast, hard, and deep that they never recover from it for the rest of their sorry and criminally negligent lives.

    Or how about this fun one, Google for: RABIES PROMPTS CARLSBAD CAT PROGRAM SUSPENSION TNR

    Rabies Outbreak Caused by TNR! 50+ Pets Euthanized! ALL Stray Cats Destroyed! All livestock destroyed! More than a dozen homeowners pay for their own $3000+ rabies shots.

    Google for: Rabies Outbreak in Westchester County

    Google for: Rabid Cat Adopted Wake County

    Google for: Rabid Kitten Jamestown Exposure

    There’s hundreds more like those on the net showing everyone how these phenomenally ignorant and foolish cat-lickers “help” their communies by allowing TNR CAT-HOARDERS to continue their criminally negligent behavior.

    These are just the diseases cats have been spreading to humans, not counting the ones they spread to all wildlife. THERE ARE NO VACCINES against many of these, and are in-fact listed as bio-terrorism agents. They include: Afipia felis, Anthrax, Bartonella (Rochalimaea) henselae, Bergeyella (Weeksella) zoohelcum, Campylobacter Infection, Cat Scratch Disease, Chlamydia psittaci (feline strain), Cowpox, Coxiella burnetti Infection (Q fever), Cryptosporidium Infection, Cutaneous larva migrans, Dermatophytosis, Dipylidium Infection (tapeworm), Hookworm Infection, Leptospira Infection, Giardia, Neisseria canis, Pasteurella multocida, Plague, Poxvirus, Rabies, Rickettsia felis, Ringworm, Salmonella Infection, Scabies, Sporothrix schenckii, Toxocara Infection, Toxoplasmosis, Trichinosis, Visceral larva migrans, Yersinia pseudotuberculosis. [Centers for Disease Control, July 2010] Sarcosporidiosis, Flea-borne Typhus, Tularemia, and Rat-Bite Fever can now also be added to that list.

    Yes, The Plague is alive and well in the USA, and it is now being spread by CATS. Google for: Cat-Transmitted Fatal Pneumonic Plague, for a fun read. One of hundreds. Totally disproving that oft-spewed manipulation tactic by cat-lickers that more cats could have prevented The Plague in Europe—cats can CAUSE IT!

    Now add on top of that that anyone who feeds these cats is training them to approach humans for food (contrary to them always claiming feral cats run from humans). What happens to the child or foolish adult that reaches down to pet or try to pick up that now seemingly friendly “cute kitty”? The wild animal lashes out and bites or scratches the hand that has no food for them.

    Google for: FERAL CAT ATTACK RABIES

    Don’t be surprised at the number of search-hits you get nor the horrendous stories that go with them. The number of suspected rabies cases and the then required mandatory rabies shots for each individual costing them well over $3000 out of their own pockets, has been growing as exponentially fast as cats breed. Ask a vet that released that cat, a cat-feeder, or your local government to pay for your shots and lost work-time and suffering? Neither they, nor shelters, nor the local government who supports TNR carry ONE PENNY of liability insurance for the deadly dangers they are bringing to your communities by allowing them to feed and TNR stray cats. Two recent reports even document rabid cats entering a home through their pet-door and one even came through their ceiling searching for human-supplied foods—one attack so bad it required hospitalization for the family.

    Let’s make 2013 the year where ALL aspects of TNR are ILLEGAL nationwide. It’s the only solution.

  • https://www.santacruz.com/news/letters_to_the_editor_june_19_june_25.html Nature Advocate

    Here’s how these delusional, self-serving, and uneducated TNR-advocates are destroying all life on the planet.

    The TNR CON-GAME

    FACT: Trap & Kill failed because cats cannot be trapped faster than they exponentially breed out of control.

    FACT: Trap, Neuter, & Re-Abandon (TNR) is an even bigger abject failure because these man-made ecological disasters cannot be trapped faster than they exponentially breed out of control, and they also continue to cruelly annihilate all native wildlife (from the smallest of prey up to the top predators that are starved to death), and the cats continue to spread many deadly diseases that they carry today—FOR WHICH THERE ARE NO VACCINES AGAINST THEM. Many of which are even listed as bioterrorism agents. (Such as Tularemia and The Plague—Yes, people have already died from cat-transmitted plague in the USA. No fleas nor rats even required. The cats themselves carry and transmit the plague all on their own.)

    FACT: THERE IS ABSOLUTELY _NOTHING_ HUMANE ABOUT TNR. Nearly every last TNR’ed cat dies an inhumane death by road-kill, from cat and animal attacks, environmental poisons, starvation, dehydration, freezing to death, infections, parasites, etc. And if very very lucky humanely shot to death or re-trapped and drowned (the two most common methods employed on all farms and ranches to protect their gestating livestock’s offspring and valuable native wildlife dying from cats’ Toxoplasmosis parasites). This doesn’t begin to count the thousands of defenseless native animals that cats skin alive and disembowel alive for their daily and hourly play-toys. The only difference in destroying cats immediately and humanely instead of trapping, sterilizing, then releasing them to an inhumane death; is that money isn’t going into an HSUS or SPCA board-member’s pocket, veterinarian’s pocket, cat-food company CEO’s pocket, or a drug-company CEO’s pocket. And that’s the ONLY difference!

    FACT: Cats are a man-made (through selective breeding) invasive species. And as such, are no less of a man-made environmental disaster than any other caused by man. Cats are even worse than an oil-spill of continent-sized proportions. They not only kill off rare and endangered marine-mammals along all coastlines from run-off carrying cats’ Toxoplasma gondii parasites, they destroy the complete food-chain in every ecosystem where cats are found. From smallest of prey gutted and skinned alive for cats’ tortured play-toys, up to the top predators that are starved to death from cats destroying their ONLY food sources. (Precisely what cats caused on my own lands not long ago.)

    FACT: Hunted To Extinction (or in this case, extirpation of all outdoor cats) is the ONLY method that is faster than a species like cats can exponentially out-breed and out-adapt to. Especially a man-made invasive species like these cats that can breed 2X-4X’s faster than any naturally occurring cat-species.

    FACT: In _FOURTEEN_YEARS_ Alley Cat ALL-LIES of NYC have only reduced feral cats in their own city by 0.08% to 0.024% (as the months go on that percentage becomes more insignificant), allowing more than 99.92% to 99.976% to exponentially breed out of control. Here’s how Alley-Cat-ALL-LIES’ deceptive math works: If you TNR 4 cats and 3 get flattened by cars this translates to 75% fewer feral-cats everywhere. Alley Cat ALL-LIES can’t even reduce cats in their own city, yet they promote it as a worldwide solution. Then even bigger fools fall for it and promote it.

    FACT: When researching over 100 of the most “successful” TNR programs worldwide, JUST ONE trapped more than 0.4%. Oregon’s 50,000 TNR’ed cats (the highest rate I found) is 4.9% of all ferals in their state. Yet, by applying population growth calculus on the unsterilized 95.1% they will have trapped only 0.35% of all cats in their state sometime this year. Less than 0.4% is a far cry from the required 75%-85% to be the least bit effective.

    FACT: Their mythical “vacuum effect” is a 100% LIE. A study done by the Texas A&M University proved that any perceived “vacuum” is just the simple case that CATS ATTRACT CATS. Get rid of them all and there’s no cats there to attract more. I proved this myself by shooting and burying hundreds of them on my own lands. ZERO cats replaced them FOR OVER 3 YEARS NOW. If you want more cats, keep even one of them around, more will find you. That university study also found that sterilized cats very poorly defend any territory. Non-sterilized cats, being more aggressive, take over the sterilized cats’ resources (shelter & food if any). If there is any kind of “vacuum effect” at all, it is that sterilizing cats cause non-sterilized cats to restore the reproductive void.

    FACT: During all this investigation I have discovered something that is unfaltering without fail. Something that you can bet your very life on and win every last time. That being—IF A TNR CAT-HOARDER IS TALKING THEN THEY ARE LYING. 100% guaranteed!

  • https://www.santacruz.com/news/2013/06/18/letters_to_the_editor_june_19_june_25 Nature Advocate

    Here’s how these delusional, self-serving, and uneducated TNR-advocates are destroying all life on the planet.

    The TNR CON-GAME

    FACT: Trap & Kill failed because cats cannot be trapped faster than they exponentially breed out of control.

    FACT: Trap, Neuter, & Re-Abandon (TNR) is an even bigger abject failure because these man-made ecological disasters cannot be trapped faster than they exponentially breed out of control, and they also continue to cruelly annihilate all native wildlife (from the smallest of prey up to the top predators that are starved to death), and the cats continue to spread many deadly diseases that they carry today—FOR WHICH THERE ARE NO VACCINES AGAINST THEM. Many of which are even listed as bioterrorism agents. (Such as Tularemia and The Plague—Yes, people have already died from cat-transmitted plague in the USA. No fleas nor rats even required. The cats themselves carry and transmit the plague all on their own.)

    FACT: THERE IS ABSOLUTELY _NOTHING_ HUMANE ABOUT TNR. Nearly every last TNR’ed cat dies an inhumane death by road-kill, from cat and animal attacks, environmental poisons, starvation, dehydration, freezing to death, infections, parasites, etc. And if very very lucky humanely shot to death or re-trapped and drowned (the two most common methods employed on all farms and ranches to protect their gestating livestock’s offspring and valuable native wildlife dying from cats’ Toxoplasmosis parasites). This doesn’t begin to count the thousands of defenseless native animals that cats skin alive and disembowel alive for their daily and hourly play-toys. The only difference in destroying cats immediately and humanely instead of trapping, sterilizing, then releasing them to an inhumane death; is that money isn’t going into an HSUS or SPCA board-member’s pocket, veterinarian’s pocket, cat-food company CEO’s pocket, or a drug-company CEO’s pocket. And that’s the ONLY difference!

    FACT: Cats are a man-made (through selective breeding) invasive species. And as such, are no less of a man-made environmental disaster than any other caused by man. Cats are even worse than an oil-spill of continent-sized proportions. They not only kill off rare and endangered marine-mammals along all coastlines from run-off carrying cats’ Toxoplasma gondii parasites, they destroy the complete food-chain in every ecosystem where cats are found. From smallest of prey gutted and skinned alive for cats’ tortured play-toys, up to the top predators that are starved to death from cats destroying their ONLY food sources. (Precisely what cats caused on my own lands not long ago.)

    FACT: Hunted To Extinction (or in this case, extirpation of all outdoor cats) is the ONLY method that is faster than a species like cats can exponentially out-breed and out-adapt to. Especially a man-made invasive species like these cats that can breed 2X-4X’s faster than any naturally occurring cat-species.

    FACT: In _FOURTEEN_YEARS_ Alley Cat ALL-LIES of NYC have only reduced feral cats in their own city by 0.08% to 0.024% (as the months go on that percentage becomes more insignificant), allowing more than 99.92% to 99.976% to exponentially breed out of control. Here’s how Alley-Cat-ALL-LIES’ deceptive math works: If you TNR 4 cats and 3 get flattened by cars this translates to 75% fewer feral-cats everywhere. Alley Cat ALL-LIES can’t even reduce cats in their own city, yet they promote it as a worldwide solution. Then even bigger fools fall for it and promote it.

    FACT: When researching over 100 of the most “successful” TNR programs worldwide, JUST ONE trapped more than 0.4%. Oregon’s 50,000 TNR’ed cats (the highest rate I found) is 4.9% of all ferals in their state. Yet, by applying population growth calculus on the unsterilized 95.1% they will have trapped only 0.35% of all cats in their state sometime this year. Less than 0.4% is a far cry from the required 75%-85% to be the least bit effective.

    FACT: Their mythical “vacuum effect” is a 100% LIE. A study done by the Texas A&M University proved that any perceived “vacuum” is just the simple case that CATS ATTRACT CATS. Get rid of them all and there’s no cats there to attract more. I proved this myself by shooting and burying hundreds of them on my own lands. ZERO cats replaced them FOR OVER 3 YEARS NOW. If you want more cats, keep even one of them around, more will find you. That university study also found that sterilized cats very poorly defend any territory. Non-sterilized cats, being more aggressive, take over the sterilized cats’ resources (shelter & food if any). If there is any kind of “vacuum effect” at all, it is that sterilizing cats cause non-sterilized cats to restore the reproductive void.

    FACT: During all this investigation I have discovered something that is unfaltering without fail. Something that you can bet your very life on and win every last time. That being—IF A TNR CAT-HOARDER IS TALKING THEN THEY ARE LYING. 100% guaranteed!

  • https://www.santacruz.com/news/letters_to_the_editor_june_19_june_25.html Kathy Cheer

    In our neighborhood, though dogs must be on leashes, secured at all times, feline pets are free to roam at all hours.  I’m sure this the case in most other parts of the city. Perhaps, this comment has already been submitted.

  • https://www.santacruz.com/news/2013/06/18/letters_to_the_editor_june_19_june_25 Kathy Cheer

    In our neighborhood, though dogs must be on leashes, secured at all times, feline pets are free to roam at all hours.  I’m sure this the case in most other parts of the city. Perhaps, this comment has already been submitted.