What do you do when you – a citizen whose rights are protected by the U.S. government – are threatened with harm and/or death by armed criminals, and their apprehension is beyond the scope of the local police? You call the SWAT team.
This is what we need for birds, whose rights as government-protected species are violated every day by free-roaming cats. Thanks to groups like Alley Cat Allies, outdoor and feral cats have become above the law. What birds need is their own SWAT team.
Instead of Special Weapons and Tactics, think: Sealed With A Trap.
Here’s the prospective scenario: Neighbor A has a carefully tended backyard, a garden, and two birdfeeders. Neighbor B has nine outdoor cats. Neighbor B’s cats are constantly on neighbor A’s property, urinating and defecating all over her garden, spreading disease, maiming and killing the birds who flock to her feeders. Neighbor A asks neighbor B to contain his cats. Neighbor B tells her that his cats wouldn’t be happy indoors, that cats’ hunting is “natural,” and that he has no intention of keeping his cats inside.
Neighbor A calls the police, and they tell her there is nothing they can do. She is not capable – physically or psychologically – of trapping and getting rid of one cat, let alone nine. Neighbor A’s private property and peace of mind are both suffering because of the cats, which are killing government-protected species. What can she do?
She could call the SWAT team. SWAT teams would have to be organized privately, town by town, county by county. They would be made up of people who are sick and tired of government-protected species being slaughtered by domestic cats.
The SWAT team member would arrive with Havahart traps and catch the cats. There would then be three options: 1) re-home them to people who will keep them inside; 2) drop them off at an animal shelter as far away as possible; or 3) humanely euthanize them.
Outdoor/feral cat people are bullies who prey on people unable to fight back, just as their cats do with birds. It’s time for this to end. Enough hand-wringing, enough taking butchered birds to exhausted, emotionally battered wildlife rehabilitators.
How can we get this idea going? Suggestions are welcome.
Sealed With A Trap. Human rights, property rights, and wildlife rights – all in one steel container.
Triple S whenever and wherever possible.
People who get all fired up because of outdoor cats and don’t give a shit if they live or die forget two important things. 1) they are there because of humans and they suffer JUST LIKE YOU WOULD IN.THE SITUATION; 2) How many of you have eaten chicken or turkey lately? Why are cute songbirds worthy of your protection while you pay people to torture and kill other bird species?
Just for the record: I think no cats should he outside, mainly because I fear for their safety at the hands of people like you. YES I am vegan and do not eat one species of bird and want to protect another.
They aren’t domestic cats, they are feral, stray and abandoned. Which is not the cats fault its peoples fault. and just because someone feeds these animals doesn’t mean they’re domesticated. and they have every right to live just like the birds do. If you people actually did some research you would learn that the majority of birds are dying from pollution and problems caused by people not cats.
In the meantime, for the love of God, can Neighbor A please take down her two bird feeders? The last thing birds need is to be lured into a death trap.
First off…. bird people are sorely misinformed if they think cats of any kind are the biggest threat to populations of wild birds. 95 percent plus of feral cat populations of any size are located in urban settings (since that is where food, and the humans they depend on for it are) 60 plus percent of bird populations are located outside of urban areas. The so called cat depredation studies, also known as junk science spewed out by the Audubon society, the wildlife society and half a dozen other birding orgs… might actually get some traction and make people sit up pay attention except for the fact that they are both poorly done to the point of being grossly biased / laughable in their methods, and most of them are paid for people that make their living making shit up and selling an agenda to bird people to write checks to pay their wages. Pesticides, herbicides, powerplants and vehicles kill more birds in one month than all the cats in this country do in a year. The reason the birding community is currently screaming in the wilderness about this issue, is they are totally ignoring all the other threats to birds and their focus seems to be that they will demonize cats at every turn. No wonder most people are currently supporting or beginning to support Trap Neuter Return projects for cats as the much better alternative to outright killing of feral and stray cats. When the bird enthusiast community wants to stop spreading lies bullshit and hate and is willing to sit down and work on solutions that do not involve the killing of millions of other animals to support their HOBBY (and yes birding is a hobby) then perhaps something may get accomplished to help improve the habitat of, and the populations of birds.
@s t: Even if they are feral, abandoned, or strays, they are still domesticated animals that do not belong in the wild. And Suzie has done her research and knows far more about this topic than the vast majority of cat crazies like yourself.
@Paul McFarland: You make up statistics and then claim that organizations that aren’t even doing this research are putting out junk science. (Hint: It’s the American Bird Conservancy that has done solid science on feral cat issues.)
The reason that birders – and many other environmentally conscious people – oppose TNR is that it is harmful to our native wildlife and to the cats.
You cat crazies are all the same. Willfully ignorant, unable or unwilling to understand science, and infected with toxoplasmosis.
Corey…you accuse people of making up statistics and prause the statistics of others? Come on Corey, that’s just irresponsible and combative. I love the songbirds and the other birds of my area. I feed them and make notations of each new bird I see….but I also know the realities of human impact upon the environment and as I stated earlier….LOSS OF HABITAT, OVERUSE OF CHEMICAL POLLUTANTS, AND HUMAN PREDATION are the main causes of declining bird populations.
I was only able to find one study done on birds in the us as far as cats go, and it was later shown that the person fudged the data to make the cats look bad because that is what they wanted it to show.
If you people want to save birds, then stop driving your cars – they kill millions of birds a year…. get rid of large windows….they also kill millions per year….. The damage that the cats do is very minor compared to what us humans do by along shot, and I don’t see anyone fighting to make that stop. If you people would all contribute to the idea of TNR we could cut the feral cat population down to almost nothing but you insist on trapping and removing which just leaves empty space for more cats in more crowded areas to move into. You want the cats gone you are going at it all wrong – work with the rescues to spay and neuter them buggers
I suppose you are also going to trap all other predators that eat birds? What about the Falcons, owls and eagles that eat kittens and other animals? You who think killing one species to “protect” another is disgusting. It’s funny to me that feral cat people strive to trap, neuter and return these cats as the only real effective means to downsize populations and reduce killings in shelters and yet bird people find it perfectly ok to kill. Swann are not native- maybe we should kill them. No you know what, I’m a better human than that. I will continue to work to find the correct way to help wildlife and these homeless cats.
@corey you are grossly misinformed on many topics. Most people are exposed to toxoplasmosis from the meat they eat. How can you be so against one species being killed and yet so for another being killed? Yes I do fight for feral cats just as I fight for all species. 14 years in the veterinary field and I’ve saved many lives. Explain to me how tnr is harmful to cats?
@Corey: I’ve done my research too, and all you “bird crazies” are all the same, Willfully ignorant, unable or unwilling to understand facts, and infected with histoplasmosis.
Birds carry at LEAST 60 diseases that are harmful to humans, the environment, our food intake.
Besides human encroachment, urban sprawl etc. the biggest threat to birds is other birds. Do your research.
I feed birds and I feed ferals. In over a decade, I have only had one dead bird by a cat…and it was a non-native invasive species, so in my book, that cat helped the environment.
On the other hand, I can’t count the number of fledglings I have watched starlings or house sparrows throw out of a robins nest. Every year I see and find at least a half dozed dead baby birds. This is NOT done by cats, this is done by birds. My cats are fed and mice are much more fun to play with for a cat.
Let’s relocate or euthanize humans. They can be so destructive to wildlife of all kinds
Joshua, she’s taken her bird feeders down. She can’t enjoy her own property, as it reeks of cat urine. She can’t enjoy the birds, as if they come to her backyard, they die. Paul, what exactly would you suggest she do?
Birding may be a hobby, Paul, but the birds themselves are protected wildlife under US law. The statistics are real and backed up by published scientific papers. Do you have any scientific evidence to back up your statements?
There are cat laws on the books in Aurora, Colorado. We need more like them. Enforcement is another matter.
http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/cats/materials/aurora_law.pdf
Paul, get a grip on reality, please. First off, the birding community is not ignoring any threats to birds. Even the American Bird Conservancy, the top nonprofit on the outdoor cats issue, has on their FaceBook page about 20 posts about other threats to every post about cats. Audubon pays an even tinier fraction of attention to cats, and other groups like the American Birding Association don’t mention it at all. But it’s only on the cat issue that we have to deal with obsessed science deniers like you who have tunnel vision and fail to see the big picture or acknowledge scientific reality.
So, if 95% of feral cat populations are in areas with no significant birds, then you should have no objection to rounding up all of the cats which are harming birds and confining them to the yards of you and your fellow cat lovers, right? After all, it’ll only be 5% of them…
I have native ground nesting birds right now and fledgling California Quail that can’t fly. I’ve got Spotted Towhees (ground nesting) and California Thrashers (low bush) and California Towhees (low bush) . Their fledges forage low and on the ground and don’t fly well. The cats from two acres away spend their days here and think it is a picnic area, just for them. Their owners just keep letting the cats out, even when I’ve trapped them, kept them overnight in a trap, and taken them to the pound, where they had to go and retrieve the cat. Stupid cats are back here every day, especially now with the quail chicks running around. Seriously, the neighbors cats have more rights than a dog, a child, or a native bird, or me, and I own this property. Repellant for the perimeter of 1.25 acre property would be tough to do. I am seriously thinking of paint balling them though, as a form of hazing, but I don’t want paint all over either.
There appears to be an abnormal amount ” entitlement” among this batch of cat feeders….” God created birds for cats to eat”, Really, really, some person who is allowed to drive and possibly vote, not only thinks that but doesn’t have enough sense to realize how stupid it sounds. ..My property is mine, not yours, so best to keep your furbaby home, our region is rife with cat dumpers, and I have filed a complaint with the Atty General because TNR is against the state law which the County tried to bypass. Why would any of you ” free spirits” think you have the right to be on my property without my permission ? I think the cats should be video taped and the responsible person sued for damages.
I haven’t decided I’m willing to go to jail yet. Although in reality, that may sometimes be the only option. I’m a fairly nice short fat white lady, but I’m not sure that will help me much in a court, which is probably where something like this would end up.
Well, I hate to throw a wrench into everything, but I just had a dog walk up to my back yard gate with two robin fledglings hanging out of its mouth. 🙁
Suzie, you know my stance on outdoor cats, you know what I’ve been forced (I felt) to do in the past regarding feral cats in my yard. But I also know that dogs do their fair share of killing and maiming wildlife.
There. I said it. 🙂
Actually Corey, I don’t buy the excuse that feral cat lovers behave irrationally due to Toxoplasmosis infection. Their behavior in denying ecological science is strikingly similar to that of creation scientists denying evolutionary biology, anti-vaxxers denying medical science, or any other group of science deniers you can describe. I think it’s just an unfortunate tendency of some humans to think with their hearts more so than their brains, and in doing so to construct an elaborate fantasy world that interacts poorly with objective reality. Then, because they are so emotionally invested in the fiction that they’ve unconsciously created, they have a hard time adjusting when exposed to the truth, and instead lash out at it or avoid it.
If you can’t tell the difference between the impacts of native predators and unnatural concentrations of an introduced predator you aren’t very bright.
You first!
To all you cat defenders who keep trotting out the tired old nonsensical “it’s not the cats’ fault, it’s buildings, habitat loss, etc etc etc” to excuse what you do, then blame rehabbers for being “cat haters” – we’re the ones cleaning up your bloody mess. You talk as if the only thing we do is rant about outdoor cats. This is news to those of us who fight development, work to bird-proof windows, raise money to safeguard migratory stopovers, clean up after oil spills, etc. We do it all. And then our reward is to have to euthanize yet another maimed fledgling, who didn’t stand a chance against your army of domestic cats. It takes a hell of a lot more guts to give a creature the gift of death – rather than a life of pain – than to bring bags of cat food to a dumping ground and walk away feeling heroic. It’s the emotional difference between leaving a petting zoo and an ER in a war zone.
And Leslie, I agree, loose dogs aren’t great either – but most dogs stay on their owners’ property, and containment laws for dogs are the norm, not the exception to the rule.
I would add that I would prefer that dogs and cats be treated alike, neuter before the first litter, licensed, vaccinated, and kept under control, not running around loose in the neighborhoods and wildlife areas smashing nests and ruining loose through precious habitat.