Bernadette E. Kazmarski
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On the Blog Post Pittsburgh's Shelters Full, and Hoping for Change
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On the Blog Post Pittsburgh's Shelters Full, and Hoping for Change
Bernadette E. Kazmarski
1:19 am on Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Tyrion, I completely agree and I'm so glad to see the open-door shelters offering things like affordable dog obedience classes as part of the cost of adopting. Pittsburgh's shelters do their best to be careful on both ends of an adoption, when a pet is chosen that the adopters know what they are getting into, and when a pet is brought for surrender, and I know they've actually avoided surrenders by educating people on the spot. The most important lesson is spay and neuter so there just aren't so many pets who need homes.
The shelters are at least below 50% kill rate, some of them well below, much better than years ago when it was something horrible like 90% and even 75% just a decade ago. But it's still better than the alternative, dumping them somewhere, which rarely has a happy ending, though people often choose that alternative thinking what they see as certain death in the shelter as worse. Unfortunately for some people a pet is just a possession.
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On the Blog Post Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat: Start Planning Now
Bernadette E. Kazmarski
3:37 pm on Friday, October 12, 2012
Maria, this is gorgeous! Thanks for writing all the way from Long Island. How big is this, I'd love to have more space. You're an artist too, I see!
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On the Blog Post Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat: Start Planning Now
Bernadette E. Kazmarski
2:18 pm on Friday, October 12, 2012
ReplyJS, I'm glad we've all had the chance to discuss it. I have one commenter on The Creative Cat who writes about how he got his modified AK-47s and pulverized the feral cats on his land, this is mild compared to him. I actually block his comments, he goes on and on with violence and I allowed his comments a few times but he threatened readers, that was enough for me.
We are very dense here too, Cubbage Hill in Carnegie is a completely developed neighborhood well over 100 years old. There are a few of us here who work with the outdoor cats and keep them under control, but there was a huge colony, over 100 cats, at the top of the hill years ago from people who dumped kittens in the woods all the time.
I really think we ought to keep cats inside, and not just for the wildlife, for their own health. I have people tell me all the time that "cats are supposed to go outside" and I ask them what rulebook they found that in. There are two issues, but it doesn't mean we couldn't work toward it. First, laws are difficult to enforce because it's usually done by police and they have more than enough to do without chasing down cats--and dogs since most communities also have a leash law. Second, there are people who don't spay and neuter because they're lazy or don't believe in it, but there are also people who really can't afford it. I've cleaned up several households of stray cats by providing low-cost spay/neuter information: http://thecreativecat.net/downloads/#.UHhed1FrrIs
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On the Blog Post Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat: Start Planning Now
Bernadette E. Kazmarski
1:25 pm on Friday, October 12, 2012
ReplyI would also add that talking to people who are actually out in the field and observing wildlife, they are not finding cats to be a problem.
There are ten cats outside in my area at this time, most of them belonging to neighbors. In all the years I've been here, I've not seen any reduction in any wildlife, and I'm not a casual observer, I've been out there literally counting the species I see.
Most of it seems to be neighborhood issues, and if we're unhappy with that, that's where we need to focus.
Anybody have anything to say about the other things happening in your yard besides your neighbor's cats?
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On the Blog Post Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat: Start Planning Now
Bernadette E. Kazmarski
1:19 pm on Friday, October 12, 2012
ReplyQuite true, I find it horrifying to watch a blue jay beheading nestlings, and this year the crows joined them. And the Cooper's Hawk is always a new juvenile and catches a cardinal, sparrow or even a mourning dove every day. If you have a varied habitat, it's happening there too.
The interesting point of what they were hunting was that they were not hunting or catching any species that was endangered or even in decline, but the most populous species around not posing any threat to starving out the raptors--and they were not catching thousands of song birds.
There is no enforceable legislation about keeping cats outdoors. I keep mine in, I wish more people would, but the more constructive action is to work with people instead of trying to round up cats. But I find trying to convince people of something much more difficult.
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On the Blog Post Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat: Start Planning Now
Bernadette E. Kazmarski
12:38 pm on Friday, October 12, 2012
ReplyMike, apparently you've never seen a cat open a door and run outside, or pull a screen out of a window, or hide and run past your feet as you go out the door or come back in. I've watched cats do all these things. Yes, I swear they have thumbs, and they are very fast, faster than humans can follow. I am not kidding. Especially rescued cats who have been living on their own outdoors, they've learned to be very skilled at getting out of places they don't want to be in. Sure, some people get tired of the yowling and let them out, but on their own they don't need much help.
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On the Blog Post Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat: Start Planning Now
Bernadette E. Kazmarski
12:20 pm on Friday, October 12, 2012
Joyce, I can help you with some tips for keeping even the most outdoor-oriented cat inside. All my rescues came from the outside and I've bad some pretty wily ones, but managed to keep them all in. I take a few of them out in the yard with me for a short time and that seems to suffice.
You're so lucky to have a pond--I've always wanted one but there are so many trees in just the wrong places, even my bird baths are constantly filled with leaves. That's a neat idea with the coneflower stems!
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On the Blog Post Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat: Start Planning Now
Bernadette E. Kazmarski
11:59 am on Friday, October 12, 2012
PR Proud, it's really not nice to talk about killing any animal, though I understand your frustration. There have always been outdoor cats, but we've all noticed with the housing situation in the last several years cats have been abandoned and tend to collect near apartment buildings and institutions, and there is no law against roaming cats, even feral cats. In my neighborhood many older homes were converted to rental units and the turnover is high with lots of cats left behind. At any given time there are a half dozen cats out there but often there are more. I find out who if anyone they belong to and spay/neuter and rehome or return if possible, but I never manage to convince others to keep their cats inside.
There are colonies who I and others trap en masse and spay/neuter, removing the adoptable ones and returning the few others, but ironically in some areas we've been told by businesses or property owners not to do that or be arrested for trespassing, and cat populations have grown enormously in those places. If we had more opportunity to do this we'd be able to manage and also educate neighbors.
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On the Blog Post Your Backyard Wildlife Habitat: Start Planning Now
Bernadette E. Kazmarski
11:46 am on Friday, October 12, 2012
Sandra, my neighbor used to let her two big dogs, who were actually very nice dogs, out the front door to use my front yard as a bathroom every morning, and she let them roam all the time. I had to replace the screen door in the back because they jumped on it so often trying to get to my cats it just couldn't hold up. We have a leash law, but all the police did was write letters. It lasted the entire time they lived here.
Bernadette E. Kazmarski
11:36 am on Thursday, October 18, 2012
Sandra, you're exactly right--black cats and dogs are often left behind in shelters, especially if you read their statistics. There seem to be a number of reasons ranging from superstition to the fact that they are difficult to photograph and don't stand out in a crowd of spots and tabbies and calicos. I actually have five black cats because they move so slowly in shelters.
What a wonderful story of Midnight! Who would think you'd go to a show and adopt a cat? But you never know where you'll meet your new best friend. Best of luck to your daughter, and perhaps she'll choose a career in working with animals. And it is heartbreaking with senior pets, I wish more people would consider adopting not just adults but the ones in the double digits. I've fostered several and adopted one at age 15 who lived to be 20.