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I am so sick of the feral cat colonies that infest so many locations that I like to bird. And while I am sick of the cat colonies I am even more sick of the deluded people who believe that by feeding feral cats they are somehow helping them. Feral cats kill huge numbers of birds. Outdoor cats live short, ugly, violent lives.
The other day, Minneapolis, Minnesota passed a feral cat ordinance. So I put together a “carnival” (of sorts) of Feral Cat Ordinances and Issues that samples current events across the US. From the Star Tribune : Feral cats win a round at Minneapolis City Hall. This got me wondering what other cities were doing.
The National Park Service is finally going to remove the feral cat colony from Plumb Beach, part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. Nature lovers, rejoice! Signs like the one above went up late last week. As is only to be expected, the cat crazies are out in force trying to stop this wholly rational and logical action.
I find it astonishing that people argue of whether feral cats are bad for birds in North America. The plethora of approaches to the feral Cat problem is not an outcome of a diversity of great ideas; it is the ugly chimera of inappropriate compromise among biased and often poorly informed stakeholders. Let me tell you this: They are.
KWWC also has a thriving feral chicken sideline. They see a lot of young Brown Pelicans ; they see a lot of juvenile birds in general, all of whom tend to hug the coast on their first migration. Last year, 4,000 young Peregrine Falcons swept through the Keys on their way north.
The relevant numbers involving cats, the people that cherish them, and the birds (and small mammals and reptiles) that they kill are all too large to mean much; you might as well use the funny word “gazillions.” The traditional, supposedly humane answer to the glut of feral cats has been institution of “TNR” programs – trap, neuter, return.
As anyone who follows this blog knows, outdoor cats are a veritable holocaust for wild birds, small mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and even insects. Almost every single outdoor pet cat, feral cat, or stray kills other animals , no matter how well fed the cat is through other sources.
The number of individual birds and mammals alone that are affected by these factors are countless; and when you consider fish, reptiles and amphibians, it is hard to comprehend the magnitude of life that gets wiped out around the world (and certainly including the U.S.) There is nothing abstract or controversial about this.
Rattlesnakes are fair game, as are other reptiles, scorpions, frogs, birds, and insects. Car collisions, feral cats, and run-ins with hunters also cause problems, even for this speed-racer. These ground birds have been clocked going 20 mph, though their coyote predators can go more than twice that.
Rehabbers see reptiles in glue traps, gulls entangled in fishing line, raccoons used as target practice, raptors dying from rodenticides, and songbirds shredded by domestic cats … cats like Puck.
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