Wednesday, June 16, 2010

A roaming cat turns garden into litter box. And kills birds.

From an article in the Boston Globe we learn that a town in Vermont is debating a proposed law that would mandate leashes for cats. Apparently, there are many sides to this important issue.

"A City Council meeting with cats on the agenda drew an unusually large crowd of about 30 people Tuesday night, including one woman who brought three large signs, one of which said, "Arrest criminals, not cats. Can Barre afford a jail for cats?"
"City officials cited complaints from some residents about a roaming cat that turned a neighbor's garden into a litter box."
"Cities around the country and at least one state have enacted or considered cat restraint laws. In 1949, the Illinois Legislature passed "An Act to provide Protection to Insectivorous Birds by Restraining Cats."
"Scientists estimate that free-roaming cats kill hundreds of millions of birds, small mammals, reptiles and amphibians each year," the Virginia-based American Bird Conservancy, which runs a "Cats Indoors!" campaign, says on its website. "Cat predation is an added stress to wildlife populations already struggling to survive habitat loss, pollution, pesticides, and other human impacts."

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