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From: gmr044@leah.Albany.Edu (Gregg Recer)
Newsgroups: rec.birds,rec.pets
Subject: wandering domestic cats
Message-ID: <2196@leah.Albany.Edu>
Date: 27 Nov 89 17:54:32 GMT
Organization: The University at Albany, Computer Services Center
Lines: 53


O.K., I know I should leave this alone but I couldn't help myself.


There's been a string of good cat/bad cat messages coming through
lately.  I really thought the post that originally suggested "trap
'em, shoot 'em, etc." was just being a little sarcastic; maybe so,
maybe not.  I certainly don't think shooting your neighbor's cat is a
sound approach.  However the idea that cats have some sort of legal
_right_ to roam through anybody's property seems pretty unlikely to
me.  Granted there may be no cat leash laws (although I've heard of
movements to create such where I live).  I think the issue has just been
ignored as opposed to there being a law guaranteeing free access for
any cat to anyone's property.

Personally, I think letting your domestic animals run loose in other
people's yards is irresponsible and rude, even if it isn't illegal.
There's nothing natural about semi-feral animals being let out of
someone's back door to go kill off the local wild bird or rodent
population.  This is no less irresponsible than dumping a tankfull of
guppies into the local trout stream, IMHO.  

This argument that cats do some kind of service by killing rodents is
pretty flimsy.  Are there a lot of tabbies out there killing hordes of
lice-infected sewer rats and thereby saving us all from the plague?
(As an aside: the way to solve such a problem would be to provide lots
of barn owl nest boxes; these guys really love rats!!)  The only
rodent-killing action I've seen is several chipmunks which were killed
right under our bird feeders by a neighbor's cat.  I'd actually be
quite intrigued if an occasional chipmunk or squirrel was taken by a
red-tailed hawk in our backyard (not terribly likely) but knowing that
the cat that is killing these chipmunks will go home later and have
all the cat chow and milk it wants is rather annoying.

I know some people enjoy the independent nature of cats; personally I
like the more dependent (maybe it's dumb 8^] ) nature of dogs.
Regardless of how independent they are, to me, letting cats, or any
domestic pet, roam the neighborhood shows a lack of respect both for
the neighbors and for the local environment.


Gregg



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