Our house abuts a wilderness area that’s been home to a colony of feral cats that the neighborhood has cared for for years (including spaying and neutering, and finding homes for the amenable ones). A couple of months ago a new family moved in across the street, and just now they had Animal Control out to gather up the cats. These are not adoptable cats, else they’d all have been homed already.
They took out a hit on the cats, basically. Motherfuckers.
We bought a house that, courtesy of the previous owner, has a very “bird friendly” yard. We also have an outdoor cat that someone dumped in my front yard when she was a kitten. We nursed her back to health and had her spayed. She has lived at my in-laws farm for a few years. We discussed bringing her to our new house and decided that, because she is an extremely effective serial killer, she will stay on the farm. It’s possible to love cats while also recognizing that they can be an invasive species in some circumstances. Their nearly unparalleled hunting skills are an asset to them and a serious threat to the creatures around them.
I live in a town that seems to embrace ferrel or outdoor cats. It’s really unfortunate that I have to consider if I am setting up a bird feeder or a cat feeder in my yard.
Thanks for letting yours live its best life on the farm. The real farm. Not the proverbial one.