12/09/2022
KUOW produced what amounts to an self-embarrassing hit piece on feral cats, promoting the ill-informed argument that feral cats are a major source of wildlife death in urban areas.
https://kuow.org/stories/murder-kittens-outdoor-cats-take-heavy-toll-on-wildlife
With astonishing tone-deafness, the article opens with animals injured—not by cats, but by the effects of human habitation. But MURDER KITTENS.
Fortunately, the article quotes Deborah Sorensen, who heads up the Alley Cat Project in Seattle, and rebuts the arguments quite handily. Bless you, Deborah.
The article also quotes UW biologist John Marzluff, who studies urban songbirds, and blames Murder Kittens for disrupting the ecosystem—and mystifyingly not things like parking lots, deforestation, pollution, global warming, resource limitation, waste management, or any of a bazillion other androgenic factors. Moreover, he and a few other biologists call for outdoor cats to be declared an invasive species and their populations "controlled." Which would be great if we were talking about spaying and neutering, but he's talking about shooting outdoor cats.
One might reasonably ask: what is to be done about the biologists disturbing the natural behaviors of urban wildlife? Certainly there's a high-enough caliber of argument there to ponder. (We're kidding. Don't shoot biologists. No matter how invasive they seem.)
Sharon was annoyed enough by this that she has discontinued her subscription to KUOW.
Friends of Campus Cats has, for decades, advocated for indoor-only cats. Other responsible cat-rescue agencies do so as well. In cases where cats cannot be safely adopted, managed feral colonies, which are generally healthy and well-fed (and spayed or neutered) have not been shown to be the biggest source of strain on the songbird population. However, they ARE known for helping to keep rodent populations in check—which, last I checked, wasn't a bad thing. (Ask anyone from the mid-1300s.)
Nevertheless, while we do advocate for managed feral colonies for cats who cannot be domesticated, we do encourage any responsible cat owner to please keep your cat indoors—especially with rapacious predators like Dr. Marzluff on the loose.
Even though we're stepping down as a charity, it appears that the work must continue nevertheless. We will always advocate for the responsible care of feral cats as opposed to the thoughtless eradication of them based on fallacious argument.
Despite the wildlife hospital’s best efforts, 80 percent of cat-attack victims brought there do not survive.
