If you have a dog

[MarkP]

Again I am mostly in it for the argument, but "the lady doth protest too much, methinks". Cats are predators foreign to Hawaii who are out of place anywhere in Hawaii and will be until the last Palila is gone and there is nothing left to preserve. I am mostly intrigued by the way that dogs are rightly recognized as potential threats while cats tend to get a pass. Since I am mainly being argumentative I don't care so much how much of a pass they get, only that they are judged by different standards. Kathy, I don't think your cats are up on Mauna Kea, but if all feral cats were eradicated today, by tomorrow the process would start again as peoples' beloved furballs ventured out to explore, because people find it acceptable that their beloved furballs go out to explore.

On the other hand, I incurred the wrath of my sister-in-law and nephew because I planted some of the red strawberry guava. They were shocked and presumed to educate me how I have made the problem worse, going into great depth about how strawberry guava takes over the forest and pushes out the native vegetation. I tried and eventually I think succeeded to make my point that the place is already infested with the very close cousin the yellow (lemon) guava that fills the same niche so I have not really changed anything. So Kathy, are you and I guilty of callous disregard for the native environment or are we just being pragmatic?