To the editor:
With the approach of warmer weather, potential and actual predators are coming out of hibernation or extending their ranges. Prowling cats will then again be at greater risk, and in my view that will be a good thing. Tracks in the new snow this morning (Friday 15th) are proof of unwelcome wandering cats on my property.
Despite numerous scientific studies that document the horrendous tolls taken on already threatened populations of songbirds and small animals, the misguided owners of Halfway Home Pet Rescue continue to post fawning weekly appeals for cat adoptions in the Aroostook Republican. That constant in-your-face coverage is offensive to anyone who cares about our threatened natural resources, and that boring repetition of misguided policies for release of destructive ferals and should be stopped. The same goes for so-called “barn cats.”
Calling the cat featured in this week’s paper (March 13, 2013) a “good hunter” certainly is not any recommendation. It shows that the owner and operator of HHPR is not only aware that domestic cats prey on wildlife, but openly chooses to ignore it – or even praise it as a desirable trait.
The continued capture, neutering and release of feral cats, and the distribution of any cats from the shelter to irresponsible pet owners who will allow them to run outdoors unrestrained and prey on birds and other small wildlife on my property is a direct affront to me and a violation of my personal rights to freedom from such continual annoyances. Roaming dogs were brought under control years ago when a new city ordinance required that they be restrained and licensed. The same thing needs to be done with cats.
Halfway Home Pet Rescue has ample free advertising on its Facebook page and doesn’t merit free publicity — if that’s what it’s getting — in a local newspaper that needs to satisfy the majority of its subscribers with authentic news and genuinely interesting features. Not everyone wants to be endlessly regaled with cutesy references to “kitties” anthropomorphically misnamed “big boys” or “little girls.”
Carroll B. Knox
Caribou
