The typical adage is that cats are independent creatures that often rebuff the affections of their owners, but in fact, the domestication of cats was born of a mutual need between humans and felines. As agricultural life replaced nomadic, for the first time people began to have stores of food to protect from small but destructive nuisances in the form of vermin.
Cats adapted, to an extent, to life with humans to gain access to a plentiful source of food - namely, those vermin - and humans welcomed their services, and eventually their companionship. Experts traced the origin of cat domestication to the Near East after remains of a cat were found deliberately buried with a human, dating their domestication to more than 8,000 years ago.
Elaine A. Evans, Curator of the McClung Museum at the University of Tennessee, explains that ancient Egyptians kept and prized cats specifically for their hunting skills, which enabled them to control and eliminate vermin. Their agility, soft fur, nuzzling tendencies, and endearing purring eventually elevated them from pest control to revered animal and companion.
With the rise of Christianity, the status of the cat began to decline. The association of the cat with a pagan religion was the animal's undoing. Before long, cats in Europe were associated with the devil and witchcraft. Their popularity and numbers dwindled dramatically in the time leading up to and during the Great Plague of England in 1665, when killing cats was encouraged.
So effectively targeted were the cats that their rapid decline likely allowed the spread of the plague to reach the epidemic proportions it did. The rats that transported the plague-carrying fleas were allowed to multiply and roam freely without intervention by their natural predator, the cat.
Modern U.S. families in the 21st century are back to doting on the furry feline. According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association, in 2004, 37.7 million American households owned cats as pets.
The American Bird Conservancy has launched a campaign entitled "Cats Indoors!" to discourage free-roaming cats from preying on birds. According to the conservation group, "scientists estimate that free-roaming cats (including owned, stray, and feral) kill hundreds of millions of birds and possibly more than a billion small mammals in the U.S. each year." Those numbers are, among other things, testimony to cats' abilities.
According to the late Dr. James Richards, former Director of the Feline Health Center at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, "members of the cat family are among nature's most successful predators. Predation was one of the traits (along with the purr, the snuggle, and the half-closed contented eyes) that made domestic cats such desirable companions during the earlier years of human existence." It's as natural for a cat to kill as it is for one to purr. Not every frisky feline is a skilled hunter - some are better than others.
For those who wish to allow their cat to flex their hunting muscle while undermining their cat's success, researchers at the University of Glasgow offer some hope. The results one of their studies showed that cats wearing bells on their collars killed only half as many rodents and other small mammals and birds as they did when not wearing bells. The statistics also revealed, however, that there was no significant impact on amphibian prey, presumably because they could either not hear the high frequency, or did not associate the sound with danger.
For indoor cats, toys that mimic their predatory chasing behavior may offset boredom and weight gain from inactivity. Anything that creates a stimulating game of chase, from dangling string to a laser pointer, will potentially satisfy your cat's innate desire to hunt. It's just who they are.
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Don't, for even one moment, fall for the song and dance about cat-lovers being animal-lovers, they are anything but that. They don't give one damn about any other animals nor even other humans. Cat-lovers are just like cats, the only thing they care about are themselves. Nobody else and nothing else matters to them.
Their TNR (trap, neuter, release) programs are a dismal failure too. A smokescreen and time & money waster. Don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise. Do a search online for the truth about all TNR failures.
Those invasive-species cats that are released will still be decimating the native food-chain for all wildlife. In most areas any larger native predators that could destroy these non-native cats have also been destroyed by man. And if you feed a TNR cat colony they kill even more wildlife. A well-fed cat kills more animals than a starving one. They don't stop killing other animals just because they're no longer hungry. The healthier they are the more they kill. It's what they do, it's what they are. Lousy little killing machines, nothing more.
The problem is just not the loss of bird populations either. Feral cats and neighboring farmers that let theirs roam free have decimated the natural food-chain in my woods. The resident foxes, owls, and other predatory animals no longer had a food source, the feral cats destroyed all the smaller animals that all the larger ones depended on. The native species all starved to death. That's what cats do to ALL native animals.
I found out that where I live it is perfectly legal to defend your own property and animals from destruction by others' animals. I lost count after dispatching the first 20 piece-of-s*** vermin with a good .22, outfitted with a laser-sight and good zoom rifle-scope. I didn't have to waste even one bullet, making this solution highly economical as well. Just think of how many dollars and hours of your lives that you have spent trapping, transporting, calling, complaining, restoring damaged property, et.al. ... and still all the problems that these useless cat-lovers have caused remains. If your aim is good this is even a far more humane method than what animal-humane societies use. Instead of dying an agonizingly slow death by animal-shelter methods, they don't even know they've been shot. This is why it is the preferred method for disposing of feral cats in many states.
It's time to give cats and cat-lovers the same consideration and respect that they have for all other humans and all other wildlife--that means NONE. Don't bother wasting your time arguing with disrespectful, inconsiderate, and ignorant cat-lovers either, as I stupidly tried to do too many times in the past. Just do what needs to be done and there'll be nothing to argue about.
This year owls and foxes have returned to my woods. Through a large effort of my own, including raising and releasing native mice and voles to help repopulate the species that their piece-of-s*** cats destroyed. Their lousy cats are finally gone. But I'll shoot again on first-sight the first chance I get (and anyone who tries to stop me from doing what needs to be done). The rewards for ridding one's land of ALL cats and restoring the native wildlife population are far too great.
And if you don't live in an area where a firearm can be discharged legally then I offer another valuable and humane method to counter the myriad problems that all disrespectful and inconsiderate cat-lovers cause for everyone and all wildlife.
Google for: pot mod laser. You get these pot-moddable blue or green lasers for about 5$-$10 off of ebay from Hong Kong and China suppliers. You can easily increase their output to 100mw or more. I find that filing a small hole in the side of the barrel makes it easier to reach the potentiometer than disassembly and risking ruining it. I also found that the blue lasers are more powerful and effective than the green ones when pot-modded, lighting a match much more quickly.
Anytime you see a cat off of an owner's property, use a pot-modded laser on it. If you blind a cat in one eye they'll lose their depth perception and won't be able to hunt as effectively. If you blind them in both eyes they'll stay home near their food dish. This is instant and painless. It's even far more humane than declawing. It is also anonymous. In daytime nobody will even know it happened or who did it -- for those of you who don't want to deal with or confront the ignorant and inconsiderate cat-lovers.
I keep one in my pocket for those cats that are too difficult to shoot cleanly with a .22. I don't like to see any animal suffer. If I can't get a clean shot then they get blinded.
The drastic problems that cat-lovers have created by their blatant disrespect and lack of consideration for their environment, all other humans, and all animals now requires drastic actions by all those who actually care. It takes real strength of heart to do the right thing.
If nothing else, now that the useless cat-lovers know this will happen to their cats, maybe they'll keep them indoors where they damn well belong, to prove they actually care. Win win all around. Blind a few in your area, see if any of them actually do care about their cats or your property and wildlife. I bet they'll still not really give a damn, not even about their cats.