04-14-2012, 08:45 AM
I am happy to say that I keep my cats off the palila nesting slopes of Mauna Kea. If there were native birds around where I live in recent years, they were gone when I moved here. What was here when I came is still here.
The topic came up of responsible pet ownership of domestic cats, not feral cats, basically saying keep domestic cats locked inside all the time.
My cats are spayed, well fed, have shots, don't bite, fight, meow loudly, and run away if a stranger says boo to them. They spend most of their time in their own house and yard, but like all cats they do explore a little.
Where I grew up in California, population was much denser, many families had cats and dogs. It was accepted that kitties wander around and dogs don't because they can scare people (and bite). No one complained. The dogs didn't bark and howl all the time. Most people spayed their tom cats so they wouldn't carouse and fight.
But here in the country, people (at least here) complain if a pet cat comes through their yard and compare that to the annoyance and neglectfulness of having a pack of half starved pig dogs chained up next door and barking and howling 24/7.
I am all for controlling feral cat populations (humanely), especially in fragile habitats.
It seems to me that people here are annoyed by the large feral population and by the local way of having choke cats and not feeding them well, so they carry that over into an attitude that includes loved and cared for family cats and even threaten to kill them for crossing a property line, which no cat comprehends.
I have no problem separating out loved and well cared for and trained dogs from the ones that are menaces to the community or neglected and abused so that they become nuisances.
Re the new law, I hope it helps bring some greater quiet where it is needed. Many people who grew up here simply don't notice barking, as it's been a near constant noise their whole lives. I get that. It will take time to raise awareness that barking is not OK when it's incessant. Taking the requirement for officers to sit and take time from greater crimes seems a good step to me.
The topic came up of responsible pet ownership of domestic cats, not feral cats, basically saying keep domestic cats locked inside all the time.
My cats are spayed, well fed, have shots, don't bite, fight, meow loudly, and run away if a stranger says boo to them. They spend most of their time in their own house and yard, but like all cats they do explore a little.
Where I grew up in California, population was much denser, many families had cats and dogs. It was accepted that kitties wander around and dogs don't because they can scare people (and bite). No one complained. The dogs didn't bark and howl all the time. Most people spayed their tom cats so they wouldn't carouse and fight.
But here in the country, people (at least here) complain if a pet cat comes through their yard and compare that to the annoyance and neglectfulness of having a pack of half starved pig dogs chained up next door and barking and howling 24/7.
I am all for controlling feral cat populations (humanely), especially in fragile habitats.
It seems to me that people here are annoyed by the large feral population and by the local way of having choke cats and not feeding them well, so they carry that over into an attitude that includes loved and cared for family cats and even threaten to kill them for crossing a property line, which no cat comprehends.
I have no problem separating out loved and well cared for and trained dogs from the ones that are menaces to the community or neglected and abused so that they become nuisances.
Re the new law, I hope it helps bring some greater quiet where it is needed. Many people who grew up here simply don't notice barking, as it's been a near constant noise their whole lives. I get that. It will take time to raise awareness that barking is not OK when it's incessant. Taking the requirement for officers to sit and take time from greater crimes seems a good step to me.