Feral Cats In The News

It seems that an outraged citizen of La Crosse, Wisconsin, has a thing about cats.

Because he sees their footprints in the snow around his bird feeder, he is trying to introduce a to allow the unlimited shooting of feral cats. One of the arguments for it is that cats kill birds. So do cars, foxes, dogs, coyotes, other birds and hunters. Cats also kill mice, rabbits, insects and other small animals. I always get a funny feeling when I hear about the hunting of predators. The need to keep a balance in the environment between species is important. Granted, small cats are an introduced species here. The larger cats, who would fill this role in the aboriginal ecology are mostly gone. What has changed is habitat. Birds adapt well to a variety of conditions. So do cats. So do various types of vermin. Vermin spread dangerous diseases - the plague reached epidemic proportions at about the same time that persecution of witches (and their cats) reached a zenith. Some people don't care for birds and the messes they leave when they occupy certain environs. Birds are also known to spread disease. Perhaps we should shoot THEM all? One solution has been proposed that all cats be kept indoors. I think the people who propose this should always be kept indoors, so as not to be offended by anything unpleasant in the natural world.

Of course, if we shot all humans, these problems would disappear. Some kind of balance would be restored, probably with a much greater biodiversity than that which flourishes in our current asphalt and concrete Eden. This is not about cats and birds. This is not about hunting. This is about a hatred of natural life: of nature - in all its glory, ruthlessness, and efficiency.