Joe, The fact that some animals may get sick or have a bad time is NOT a reason to kill them. If that was the criterion then any species including humans would be fair game and should be killed...
If you don't want your cat to have contact with feral cats then keep it inside - don't go out and trap and kill the feral cats. That's not fair... What actually happens today is that feral cats are trapped and killed. They are NOT neutered and released. Edgar On Oct 7, 2012, at 9:49 PM, desert_woodworker wrote: > Edgar, > > You have a point. > > But, you say "killing"? (I didn't). > > I live in cities, and always have done. > > Except when I lived for years in the Andes on the observatory mountain, among > Puma. > > In cities, feral cats are not in a state of nature, even here in the State of > Arizona. They are dependent on humans, and this is why they are called > domestic cats. There is a lot of pressure on them. > > If they are dependent on humans, it is humans's responsibility to limit their > numbers, so many do not die of starvation, nor undergo scourges of disease > which cityscapes bring to feral animals. > > "Kitty-AIDS" is rampant, and so is Hepatitis, among the ferals. The ferals > sniff or scratch the noses of domestic cats, and infect the domestic cats. > > So, there are reasons to interact, act, and react. Are these the reasons you > were looking for? > > Is feeding a feral cat "interfering with nature"? > > No: it's interfering with a domestic-cat population. > > Well, it is definitely interacting. > > Even if we don't "interfere", we have no choice but to interact. Some folks > interact as they feel is best for the animals and for the humans (in other > words, for Nature). Neutering is one way people jump in to make a difference. > > Not too fine a point on it, I don't think. > > I would be against killing feral cats, unless they were rabid. I advocate > neutering them so populations won't grow in town. Out of town, let them be, > if they choose to live in the wild. Predation there will cull their growth. > Coyotes here are real pet killers, and not timid to come into town along > washes, arroyos, etc. I lost a 17-year old Tuxedo cat to a coyote in the > middle of town: "Mikey". I see their lanky legs trotting in the morning > twilight light here, a block or two from intersecting 5-lane major city > thoroughfares. > > --Joe > > > Edgar Owen <edgarowen@...> wrote: > > > > Why in the world would you want to interfere with nature? Let them all be I > > say. Why do humans insist on trapping and killing wild cats instead of > > letting them live as part of nature? > >
