Greetings and Salutations....

On 19 Mar 2005 22:40:15 -0800, "Too_Many_Tools"
wrote:

That is an option ;)...that is unless they have BIGGER guns ;)).

What I would do is live trap the cats and hand them over to the local
animal control department.

If the neighbors want their cats, they can pay the price...over and
over and over again to get them back.

Be prepared to be unpopular with the neighbors though...those who are
unable to act responsibily with their animals usually blame others for
their problems.

I take it that the neighbors know about your problem?

TMT

I suppose this is more a sign of the increasing urbanization
of society than any sign of a lessened sense of responsibility of
pet owners.
While dogs may be domesticated, and, cats semi-so, they
have deep roots in the "wild animal" community, and, so the "natural"
thing for them is to move round in the great outdoors, hunt, build
territories, reproduce, and play. The problem is less with the
animals than it is with the attitudes of the humans that seem
to push them into cartoon parodies of their reality.
Years ago, before my area of Knoxpatch got too bloody overrun
with people, we kept a dog as well as a cat. They were mostly
"outside" creatures, only being let into the house at intervals. They
also roamed at will. It was not a problem because my neighbors were
both spread really far out, and, were not all that up-tight about
animals. We all knew each other's pets, and simply made friends with
them.
This was a great benefit to the area, actually, as it kept the
mole, rat, and rabbit problem down. Since most of us had gardens of
moderate size, this made a real difference.
Alas, over the past 30 yrs or so, the area has become infested
with rows of tacky, little apartment buildings, filled with too many
folks. While many of them may well be folks of good will and
friendliness, they are also very transient, and, it seems that a lot
of them have a real fear of nature (in general) and dogs/cats in
specific. This fear is a complicated, many-rooted thing, but, I think
that some of the blame for it lays on the back of the media - who seem
to delight in massive reporting of ANY incident involving a dog, and,
then continue to go on and on about how any dog has to be considered
a danger, and should be treated as such.
These factors, combined with the fact that the typical
apartment dwells has neither a clue WHO a given critter belongs to,
or, a desire to integrate enough WITH the community to find that out,
seems to mean that the automatic response is to call Animal Control
and let it become the state's problem.
So...because of this, I no longer keep a dog, and any cats
that come to live with me are inside only animals. Cats deal with
this fairly well, although they STILL want to go out and play in
the real world.
As for their impact on the songbird population...I suspect
that the problem THERE is more the level of visibility than actual
impact. There may be areas where the landscape is denuded of
songbirds due to a massive collection of feral cats...but if that
is so, it is probably because the songbirds were so bloody stupid
that having them gone raised the IQ of the gene pool by at least
a couple of points. In years past, my property has always been
a favorite hunting ground for neighborhood cats to use. I always
had a LOT of songbirds too, and, as a matter of fact, I recall
a number of times where I saw the songbirds pestering the cats
by deliberately flying down and perching on the ground or a low
branch, then, springing into the air and flying off when the
cats would try to catch them. If the songbirds were that concerned,
or frightened, why would they circle back and land NEAR the cats
(a known preditor) again?
Nature is a complicated and intricate process, and, alas
many humans are getting slightly too far away from the process...
which leads to irrational actions and general stupidity.
Now...as for roaming cats....once again...I suspect
that the main thing they are going after are rodents and moles,
both of which are small, and furry, and some folks consider
them to be cute (I don't). If that is a bad thing for you...
Let me know what your address is, I have a number of pesky
squirrels and mice that I would LOVE to find a good home for.
If you MUST do something "socially responsible", then, catch
the cats, have them neutered, THEN let them go back to their
owners.
Regards
Dave Mundt