And then I didn't

Oh, the agony... better say a prayer for Clyde (and the birds).
— June 7, 2009 10:32 p.m.

I Played God

Thank you Daniels. And nice of you to help out the lady on SSI. Fur associate - very funny! Realistically, controlling the population must begin by educating and behaviorial changes - both hard to come by at times. My strong feeling is that we have difficulty expecting people to be more responsible for their animals if we let them run loose (and not spay-neuter which so many still do not do). But, yes, of course, Grant, very good deed for you to help the cat. For me, I have much trouble not thinking beyond that spool. I have seen too many animals killed by cats (wildlife rehab work) and I have seen too many cats in very bad shape in managed colonies (cat rescue work). If you folks are willing enough to take a look at the links I have posted that is good enough for me. Just here to plant a seed. :)
— June 4, 2009 9:44 p.m.

I Played God

Grant, you are certainly entitled to your opinion about my comment, but you are sorely mistaken. Cats are not a natural part of any North American ecosystem - not only do they not factor into 'the chain' - they deplete biological diversity. The out of control population of the domestic cat is vastly larger than ALL native predators put together. A single cat can extirpate native fauna from a given site. The problem is much more serious than you think. You became involved as soon as you trapped that cat. Your actions to re-abandon him, (my words, my opinion) result in the potential deaths of native wildlife and who knows what for the cat. Visualize this - I am guessing you would never take a shotgun and blast a cardinal or blue jay out of a tree, right? Unleashing your cat outside, KNOWING they regularly bring back 'specimens' as you put it, accomplishes the same darn thing. It is reckless endangerment of wildlife. Daniels, you may think that one cat is not unbalancing things, but it can - an individual cat can, and if not, multiply that by all the folks who feel as you do or do as you do. A conservative estimate these days is that feral and free-roaming cats kill a billion birds a year - that is right up there with window strikes and more than pesticides. The problem is that habitat loss is the biggest problem for native wildlife, but when you add in every other human-related cause of mortality, the effect is cumulative - pretty sad state of affairs, as the first US State of the Birds recently released by the Secretary of the Interior has shown. By annoying the neighbors I meant allowing one's pet to roam off the owner's property and onto someone else's who may not wish to have the cat there (defecating, spraying, killing birds at feeders, cat hair, scratch damage, etc.). "...but it seems unrealistic to expect everyone to keep their cats in outdoor enclosures." If it were a dog, it would not be permitted to roam freely. I don't think cats should be treated any differently. They are the owner's responsibility.
— June 3, 2009 11:58 p.m.

I Played God

I understand what Mindy means, but I am not one of those rescue people that has a mentality to 'save every animal at any cost'. I say socialize to adopt or provide sanctuary or fence in a colony, but if you give me two choices only - release or euthanize, I always would pick euthanize. Cannot in good conscience release a cat knowing the destruction that will come to wildlife and what awful things can happen to the cat. Have not had personal experience using Feliway, but heard good things from several people. As for Clarice, she may be happier, but cannot say the same for all those wild animals she is killing :( See, this is what I mean by still playing God - a decision has been made that the life of that one particular cat is more important than the lives of dozens if not hundreds of wild animals that she may kill over the course of her life time. I not only object, I'd go as far as to say that knowingly allowing a cat to do that is a violation of the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act. We and Clarice can have our cake and eat it too, if she truly needed to be outdoors, some type of enclosure or cat fencing would have been the way to go. I know a woman who has rescued sooo many feral cats - not one of them has showed any interest in ever going back out again. I have had the same experience. If they are experiencing so much grief indoors, some need may not have been met, but the solution should not be letting the cat outside, compromising her safety and that of wildlife and possibly annoying the neighbors.
— June 3, 2009 9:30 a.m.

I Played God

An expert on the subject should know that feral cats are NOT wild animals. They may behave like wild critters, but they can tame down more often than not - these are not bobcats or panthers (true wild cats), they are the same species of domestic cat that sits on your lap at home. Wild animals thrive in their natural habitats, cats do not have habitats and need human assistance. Yes, this can be time consuming, but so well worth the effort. I looked all over the BF website and can't find that taming manual, but try here: http://tapworks.org/taming.aspx Try Feliway for the cats to get along better. BTW, velociraptor - HA! Good one.
— June 2, 2009 9 p.m.

I Played God

Tame, tame and tame. This cat has become your responsibility. Yes, he is in the hands of the shelter, but once you reclaim him, you still play God if you let him loose - you are deciding his fate, so I vote for foster feral. The only obstacle seems to be the other cats. If you tame him down enough, he could even be adoptable. Just think how you would feel if you let him loose and something else even worse happened? By not seeing the outcome, it can be ignored. I know someone who has done TNR for many years and recently witnessed a raccoon attack one of her ferals. The feral disappeared for a week, came back dragging her legs, and when she went to the vet, there was nothing more that could be done but to euthanize. These kinds of things happen all the time. It took seeing such a thing for this woman to realize that letting these cats loose is not in their best interest.
— June 1, 2009 10:17 p.m.

I Played God

Actually, "bird" and "cat" person :) I have socialized many of these cats, even the beastier ones. The use of a taming cage, kind of like what antigeekees said, is great. http://www.petcratesdirect.com/cat-playpens.html This works very well, allows for easy cleaning and the feral usually stays on one of the higher shelves. He is not going to eat in front of you for a while - that is to be expected. I would advise against the use of drugs. Best Friends, don't have the link handy, has a manual online about taming. But again, sending him back outside, just does not seem the right answer. Have you gotten an update on him?
— June 1, 2009 9:25 a.m.

I Played God

First, God's plan did not include the domestic cat. WE did that. We tamed a wild animal (Felis s. lybica) and let them roam free and now we have a serious overpopulation problem. You 'played God' as much as people do who practice TNR. Everything is a choice. Those that release (in my opinion, re-abandon) domestic cats to the wild in TNR make a choice that life and death on the streets for domestic felines is ok. They also make a choice that results in the needless deaths of millions of wild critters that are hunted by cats. No matter what, that cat needed assistance. You did the right thing, and as far as I am concerned, even if the cat is euthanized, you provided him a humane death. If you are not comforted by that and feel that you need to sustain the life of this cat, then consider taming. You sound like you are no novice to the world of cats, and this can be done, but takes time and effort. You could try to contact sanctuaries or provide him sanctuary in your own home. There are countless examples of what happens to outdoor cats, managed or not. This is a perfect example of the failure of TNR. http://tnrrealitycheck.com/ http://tnrrealitycheck.com/responsible.asp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fvN7FNUPas
— May 31, 2009 7:14 p.m.