While I am a cat lover, I also am concerned about the welfare of all animals, not only felines.  I know some people who believe that just because you like cats, you cannot like dogs or vice versa.  But that has never been the case with me.

Likewise, I worry about the animals I see on television and read about who are going extinct through loss of habitat and the encroachment of human ways.  I also care about the wildlife in my own front yard–the birds and chipmunks and moles that call our pine trees and flower beds home. Because of this, we stopped having chemicals and pesticides sprayed on our lawn by the local “Yard like a Golf Course” company.  I read that lawn chemicals cause more deaths for birds and wildlife than any other reason beyond loss of habitat due to humans taking over their homes.  So now we have dandelions, which our neighbors hate, because they blow on to their perfectly manicured, sprayed lawns.

Bring on the dandelions.

Because I do care about the wildlife in our yard, I get upset with our two feral cats who live outside and sometimes bring me “gifts” in the form of dead birds and mice.  I have taken several of these injured creatures to our local Wildlife Center to have them treated and given medical care.

Let me assure you, my tame, indoor cats stay inside at all times.  They do not go in and out as I find this too dangerous. We have a screened in area where they can go to lay in the sunshine and chew on grass, but they are confined.  There are too many coyotes, cars, and other dangers for me to allow them to roam.

And although I do have one inside kitty that was once a feral cat and is now the biggest lover ever, the two cats outside are not ever going to be house cats. So outside they remain.

While I wish I could stop the predatory instinct in the outside cats, stop them from harassing the mice and birds that also call our yard home, I do not believe that the answer is to kill the cats.  Killing one animal to save another produces the same result: an animal dies.

Because I consider myself more than just a cat lover, I was upset to see a recent article, in one of my favorite bird and animal magazines published by a group I hold in high esteem for their work on behalf of wild creatures, that advocated killing feral cats.

The September Edition of Audubon Magazine, published by the National Audubon Society, of which I am a member, contains an article by “Incite” columnist, Ted Williams (who calls himself “an independent advocate for the environment”) concerning the failures of TNR, Trap-Neuter-Return.  

You can read the article yourself by going to http://audubonmagazine.org/incite/incite0909.html

I would ask that you read the article and if you have problems with any of the ideas presented therein, please contact the National Audubon Society.

Since I am a huge advocate of TNR and our group focuses on this very valuable activity to reduce the overpopulation problem among stray and feral cats, I was deeply upset to find that this article is completely against spaying and neutering free-roaming cats and instead advocates killing the cats.

As Mr. Williams writes, “The University of Hawaii is overrun by feral house cats—more than one per acre—and it smells that way. They are fed by university professors and students, who also trap and medicate them, get them spayed and castrated, then release them. The idea is that the colony will eventually die out without individuals being subjected to the perceived hideous fate of euthanasia. Pioneered in North America at the University of Washington in the 1980s, it’s called Trap, Neuter, and Return (TNR). It’s all the rage across the United States. And it doesn’t work.”

Yes, Mr. Williams does not believe that TNR works, but our group has seen that it does in our rural area among the people we have helped, people who are no longer overrun with litter after litter of unwanted kittens each year.

In another paragraph, he writes, “In rural areas where feral cats are killing threatened or endangered wildlife, sometimes the only practical way for state or federal management agencies to deal with them (and therefore the way required by the Endangered Species Act) is for animal-control professionals retained by state or federal resources agencies to shoot them in the head with rifles, a form of euthanasia approved as humane by the American Veterinary Medical Association. This approach is certainly kinder to the cats than stressing them with traps, transport, and eventually and almost inevitably lethal injection at shelters.”

Yes, that is correct, he advocates shooting the cats in the head with rifles.

While I do not agree with Mr. Williams, I do believe that we must find a way to control the feline overpopulation problem while also protecting the other animals that often fall prey to hungry cats. I do not want to see any animals suffer–either those harmed by cats or those threatened by humans–and believe me, I often feel we humans are the most destructive, the greatest predators on this planet.  

It is time to change that.

Carol in her PetSmart t-shirt and Brian in his B and O shirt

Brian showed up at PetSmart this morning while we were there to clean the adoption room to show off his B and O t-shirt and his kilt designed by “AmeriKilt,” which calls itself “The American Kilt.” It is made to look as if it is produced from the same material that CarHart uses to produce many of their coats.  Unlike more traditional kilts, it also features pockets and a “sporran” or “man-purse” right on the front of the kilt.

We wanted to make sure we got PetSmart in the background, because they do so much for us and we could not get as many cats adopted as we do without our cage space.  

We thought it was very appropriate that Carol was wearing her PetSmart Charities t-shirt while Brian had on one of our B and O t-shirts.  We could not have planned it any better.  Brian also posed in his kilt with little Milton, one of our newest kittens.  

We thought we might all get black and orange tartan kilts to wear in October for our adoption event.  Be on the lookout for us!!  

Brian and Milton, the kitten, in the adoption room

Brian with his B and O t-shirt and his kilt

While it is often the age old question, “What does the Scotsman wear under his kilt?” that gets pondered, we now have inside knowledge on the perfect attire to wear above the belt with a kilt—–a Black and Orange Cat Foundation t-shirt!!

We would like to thank Brian, who is one of our favorite employees at PetSmart, for always supporting all of our fundraising endeavors.  He was, of course, a very good sport and purchased a B and O t-shirt just so he could wear it with his kilt.

Bloody good, we say.

Christina and Jimmy Crum, circa 1984

We recently learned that one of our volunteers, Christina, was a 1984 Easter Seals poster child and was featured with Columbus, Ohio television news celebrity, Jimmy Crum (who my grandmother loved–if Jimmy Crum said it, it was gospel) on a Columbus Dispatch “TeleView” guide. If you look closely at the photo above, you can see where Jimmy Crum signed the guide for Christina.

I have to say that when I first discovered this about Christina, I was startled, because honestly, I never think of her as having any type of handicap.  She does so much for Black and Orange–fostering kitties, cleaning cages at PetSmart, helping at adoption and fundraising events, and just going above and beyond for the stray and abandoned cats that come into our care–that she seems like a power house of energy. Nothing slows her down.

I now realize where Christina’s compassion comes from for she must have faced enormous challenges growing up, challenges most of us would find insurmountable. And yet, every time I see her she is smiling and happy and ready to take on the world for the next dog or cat in need.

Christina, all grown up, helping at a fundraising car wash.