I'm sick of it; there is no respectable study that shows cats are anywhere near a principle cause of bird species decline. Breeding ground destruction and pollution are. Yet, birdmen still get "the moral high ground" and cat people are dumb, if not evil. Is this the Middle Ages? For their information, TNR does not release cats into the environment who were not there before; it neuters the ones who are there, so they disappear by attrition. We start from where we are to get to where we are going. Utopian solutions have always led toward slaughter. I am in the process of moving to eastern Oregon, and for all the talk we hear about Portland "hip", I am finding open minds more prevalent here. Maybe it is because mountain man types have more time to reflect.

Cats kill. The NYT correctly cites several studies; the information from Audobon sounds like a conservative estimate.

"Feral" cats are a problem. TNR is not enough; evidenced by their ever-rising numbers. Why we are supporting an invasive species is beyond me (especially since we're getting rid of other invasive species, like those invasive ivy plants).

"Indoor-Outdoors" are also a problem. Our one I-O cat has a bell on his collar: gives the birds some warning. But that solution isn't going to work for ferals.

Yes cats kill. All predators do, native or non-native. No one really knows how many feral cats there are, but neutering them reduces numbers and feeding them obviates their need to hunt (not the instinctual predisposition.)If major humane organizations would get behind TNR, the numbers of feral cats would decrease more rapidly. I have seen that there is a greater demand for it than the smaller organizations and Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon can handle. Perhaps part of the reason that hasn't happened yet is they are pandering to reactionary bird types instead of getting together to make TNR official policy and thus reduce feral cat numbers more quickly.

Respect for life , imo, means not distinguishing between "invasive" and native species. After all, humans are "invasive". We aren't going to recreate Eden, but what we can do is learn to listen to each other and be open to learning instead of pretending that we know it all. My major beef with local Audobon is that it seems to want its way at the expense of even listening to those of us who know something about cats. And despite what these folks say and how they influence the Oregonian, cat people are teachable. Keeping cats indoors is now quite common (note that almost all petfood companies now have indoor foods). Ferals are like wild animals, predators yes, but so do coyotes. kill .Killing cats because they are non-native species when there is a more humane-if less extreme method of controlling feral cat populations- strikes me as effete (sp?) snobbery. My experience with the bird types is that they just want to be right, and don't care about learning what doesn't fit in with their agenda. I think this slows the process of making things better for all of us.

Our beautiful Kara, rescued from the pound, has a passion for birds. The starling she ripped apart wasn't pleasant to see...but then that was a starling. When she took down a song bird, a bell was added to her collar. Then again, she and CJ are awesome mouse hunters.

The fact is, it's a jungle out there. And man's push into the jungle has certainly had the most profound impact on animal populations. How to level the playing field in the environment we created? What's natural in nature? Can't we all just get along?

I just don't know that we can, not when attacking and eating each other is a fact --and way-- of life.

The problem with the Audubon figures is that it's not based on a sampling of all birds killed but on the number of injured birds brought into the center. It can't account for birds that are eaten by a predator or simply killed and not worth taking to the center.

Cats are amazing hunters; a neighbor's cat (a kitten I fostered and gave to them) could use her tail to imitate the sound of worms underground, to attract birds into her scope. My parent's cat has a lame leg, but still throws toys into the air and catches them. I think we tend to moralize about the fact that they are the ultimate carnivores and dam good at what they do. I saw something about lions in Africa that would leave their pray to hyenas-or was in jackals?) when confronted with a pack, because a scavenger-induced injury was too big of a risk. Then there is the famous poem "To my Cat, Geoffry, where a guy locked in a medieval insane asylum observes that the cat spares one in seven mice by his dallying. And why are birds so much better than cats. Don't they spread pandemics and relieve themselves on cars? The Portland thing is just a little too, too for my tastes. Maybe the fact that the birdman in Texas blew a cat away with a gun will make them think about the ramifications of one-sided pro-bird propaganda.