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Our planet’s wildlife belongs to you and me. It is our responsibility to protect and provide for them.
What’s the problem? Humans are the #1 predator of wildlife. The #2 predator is literally unleashed by humans: the domestic cat. - Many of these cats belong to you or your neighbor.
- Others are feral cats that are being trapped, neutered and released by well-meaning, but uninformed, cat lovers.
Cats are the only domestic pet that we allow to roam free in North America. We don’t even allow horses or cattle to roam free without providing an enclosure to protect them. We have been brought up to believe that cats must be free to catch bugs and small animals in order to be happy. - This argument could be made for any domestic animal. Nevertheless, we do not allow any other domestic animal to have this same freedom because we are concerned for their safety.
We know that cats are pretty self-sufficient. If left to their own devices, they will feed, walk and entertain themselves and then come home. How convenient for us. - Although this is true, we also choose to accept this because we are uninformed, lazy, or irresponsible pet owners.
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Why is this a problem? 1. Each free-roaming cat kills between 200 and 400 wild animals every year. These wild animals are yours to protect and enjoy. If your neighbor’s pet came into your yard and killed one of your animals, you would justifiably be upset. This happens every day, probably in your yard. 2. The bacteria in a cat’s mouth is deadly poison to small animals. Any small animal attacked by a cat likely has a puncture or scratch wound. That wound, no matter how minor, represents sure death to the animal if it is not put on strong antibiotics in the first 6 to 8 hours. - If you rescue an animal from a cat, please assume that it has a wound under the fur or feathers.
- Find a rehabilitator who can treat the animal with the proper medications. DO NOT release the animal back to the wild to suffer and die a slow, painful death.
3. By allowing our cats to roam free, we expose them to: - Being run over, poisoned or stolen
- Being killed by others
- Being a threat to others
- Contracting a disease
- Getting into fights with others and potentially injured
Then, when something happens to them, we blame the car, the dog or the coyote. Not ourselves. As pet owners, it is our responsibility to provide safe haven for our pets. We need to take responsibility for the fate of our cats. 4. The killing doesn’t stop when the cat is dead. Cat lovers who allow their animals to roam free and kill wildlife show no concern for their cat or our wildlife. - First, the owner's cat kills hundreds of wild animals each year.
- When the cat is killed by a coyote or a fox, the irresponsible pet owner blames the coyote or fox.
- This causes a vigilante mentality within the neighborhood to rid the area of coyote and fox.
- As a result, even more wild animals die.
The coyote and fox are only doing what nature intended and should not be blamed. 5. Feral cat rescuers who trap, spay/neuter and release feral cats, stop short of completing the process It is wonderful that the rescuers care so much for these unwanted animals that they go to the trouble of providing them care and birth control. Nevertheless, if these rescuers think the process through and truly care about saving lives, they would see that they are promoting the needless killing of hundreds of thousands of wild animals by re-releasing feral cats. These cats are not a part of the natural order and should not be allowed to kill our wildlife. Feral cats need to be caught, taken to shelters and adopted. If they are unable to be adopted, they need to go to a sanctuary. If no one can find the money to create sanctuaries, the remaining alternative is euthanasia. Unleashing them to kill our wildlife is not acceptable. (back to top)
AWARE can help Protect your cat and our wildlife, while at the same time, extending your cat's life expectancy by 30%. To do this, simply provide the same safeguards that you would for any other domestic pet. - Construct an enclosure for your cat that will allow it to spend its entire life outside, without facing the dangers that await.
- Then, attach the enclosure to your house with an overhead wire tunnel through a cat door into the house window.
- This enclosure will allow your cat to enjoy wildlife without being able to kill for fun.
Aware recommends that homeowners trap feral and free-roaming cats and take them to the local human society or animal control agency in your area. If your neighbor has free-roaming cats, please provide them with this article and let them know that you are taking the proactive measure of trapping. Trapping of coyotes and foxes is not the answer. Virtually every scientific study on this issue has concluded that trapping only increases the population because the remaining members of the species over breed to fill the gap that was created. (back to top)
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We must first AGREE TO PRESERVE the earth if we hope to LIVE TO DISAGREE on its use. We hope this article has been informative and gives you food for thought.
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Living with Wildlife 
