Unfortunately, here on the farm, feral and outdoor cats prove devastating to ground nesting birds, mainly quail and killdeer (and our guinea fowl). It goes in cycles: birds, then cats, then coyotes, and finally the local deer hunters come and eliminate the coyotes. Rinse, repeat. Mark Mazer Hertford, NC On Sun, Jun 28, 2020 at 12:53 PM Robin Hansen via pbs < pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote: > The whole issue of domestic cats versus wildlife is a really tough one. > I've had cats all my life and they've gotten me through some very tough > times. One thing I've always done is train my cats to come when called, and > yes, I've let them out. When I got my current cat as a dumped four-week old > kitten, I decided she would always come in at night and stay in the house > if I'm gone for a few hours or days (with cat carer, if needed). I've > always kept the kittens in until they were 6 to 8 months old, after their > spay or neuter and all of them turned out quite sensibly to be afraid of > cars and wary of people. > > Certainly with my current cat, with her particular temperament, she has > been quite amenable to this regimen and has caught very few birds, no mice, > one snake whom I gently put outside quite alive and unharmed. In fact she > seems to have quit hunting and become lazy cat. I train the cats the same > way I train the dog to come, with treats. One brand of treats comes in a > zip bag that makes nice crackly noises when squeezed and she only gets the > treats after she comes in. > > I don't want any more dead birds either, but I'm not giving up my cat, so > I had to figure a way to protect all of us and this is what I came up with. > I cannot bear to lock a cat forever inside. If I'd had two or more kittens > at the same time, I might have reconsidered, but my cat has no buddies but > the blue heeler, so here I am. I absolutely respect the concern about birds > as I have so many here that I've not seen before and I want to keep seeing > them. Unfortunately, I also have neighbors who let their cats roam at all > hours. They cause me and my cat problems although the heeler does a good > job of keeping them away and the birds are safe in my yard. I know this > isn't an ideal situation, but certainly there's huge room for improvement. > Despite all the information and education out there about the danger to > wildlife, people mostly know and don't care, can't be bothered, shouldn't > have a cat in the first place, etc. > > And no, in fifty years of owning cats, I've never had a problem with them > eating anything they shouldn't. Apparently there has been some recent > research that shows cats are as intelligent as dogs, just in a different > way. > > Robin Hansen > Southwest Oregon with a bit of rain to cool things off > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net > http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… > _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/…