I expect that the cats would be more likely to be in his garden chasing down the rats and mice attracted to his garden, by all the tasty treats he puts out for the birds.
I have a stray tom cat that lives in our shed, the poor darling gets harrassed by blackbirds when he's eating, as they wait their turn to eat his cat food. I've seen him laying a few feet from his bowl with blackbirds perched on the rim of it, eating away.
I have also seen crows, and sparrow hawks attacking other birds in the garden, especially when there is a large concentration of smaller birds, attracted by a constant supply of food.
The RSPB are primarily a money making organisation, they aren't stupid enough to alienate millions of cat owners.
I see a few members have posted things along the lines of 'I see Sparrowhawks kill more birds than cats'. The key difference is that Hawks are natural predators which require a healthy songbird population to survive. Cats are mostly well fed, domesticated animals with a population artificially increased well beyond natural bounds.
Well exactly. The whole argument about them being predators is disingenuous shite from cat owners, they're fat pets, they have no need for predation!
Personally I lean far more toward this guy's side than the smug twonks who almost seem proud of their pets being troublesome pests to those around them.
He'd love my cat then, not a day goes by without a present. I've done all the usual to stop her to no avail. She's well fed and stays in at night, she's young though, she may slow down as she gets older.
Yes cats are domesticated, they don't need to hunt and there is certainly loads about. How do we go about retraining a whole species to do what comes naturally?. Yes we've domesticated dogs with the use of leads and fences, can't do the same with cats though!. I would love my cats just to stay in my garden, I can't make them without using barbaric spikes!.
He'd love my cat then, not a day goes by without a present. I've done all the usual to stop her to no avail. She's well fed and stays in at night, she's young though, she may slow down as she gets older.
Yes cats are domesticated, they don't need to hunt and there is certainly loads about. How do we go about retraining a whole species to do what comes naturally?. Yes we've domesticated dogs with the use of leads and fences, can't do the same with cats though!. I would love my cats just to stay in my garden, I can't make them without using barbaric spikes!.
Considering there's no need whatsoever for them to be let outdoors, it seems the answer is very simple really.
It reads to me like the Oxford educated doctor has allowed his infatuation with the species aves to get the better of him.
I have no idea what he means by "drastic action" but if it in any way involves attempting to capture a cat, he might find that feline domesticus is very adequately equipped with the means to defend itself. He should wear protective clothing. And lots of it.
But I understand where he's coming from. We've been plagued by badgers for a number of years now. A sett was discovered on some ground that was purchased by a developer and wildlife conservationists were in quicker than a footballer's wife at a handbag sale to slap a protection order on them.
The upshot of it all is that, not only did the poor sod who purchased the land have all his planning applications turned down (costing him a fortune in the process), but the sett has since grown from mummy and daddy badger to a dozen or so of these rodents. Awwwwwwwwwww, bless, I hear you all say.
I despise the little b a s t a r d s.
They roam at night, digging under fences and creating havoc in the places that they visit. It is not uncommon to go out into the garden in the morning and find my beautifully tended lawn and flower beds mutilated almost beyond recognition.
There have been many complaints to the council about them, but that damned protection order means nothing can be done. They can't even be culled.... an offer I made to the council.... I said I'd even buy my own shotgun cartridges to do it but they declined, going so far as to warn me (and others who have made similar offers) that should I "do anything" the police may become involved.
So I understand where the Oxford doctor is coming from, but fear he is on a loser if he carries out his threat of "drastic action". Regardless of our frustrations, we have to share a planet with wildlife.... and that includes domesticated varieties.
Cats will be cats, and badgers will be badgers. We're stuck with it.
I've rewritten the BiB for him!
"I was watching a sparrow whilst writing to The Independent to complain about absolutely everything, when a small helicopter carrying three cats in balaclavas and flak jackets landed on the shoulder-height bird table. The cats then machine-gunned the sparrow to death before launching a miniature Hellfire missile at a nesting box. A seond group of terrorist cats then kidnapped a jackdaw and a blackbird, and I have now received a ransom note for their safe return. This is the final straw!"
Just as a matter of interest, a question to any of the cat owners posting, if there were several dog owners near you who threw their dogs out every day and every day they jumped the fence and had a shit in your garden.
Each day you have to go out and pick this Dog shit up so that your little children can go out and play in the garden. Not now and again, every day, even the days when you are lucky and there isnt any and some other poor sap getting your deposit, you still have to go and check. How would you feel about that?
It amazes me how decent people with a social consience, the sort who would tell their own kids to keep the noise down to a decent level on a summers day in their own garden, so as not to anoy the neighbours, have this massive blind spot when it comes to having cats.
All of a sudden its " tough shit everyone else, its a cat, I want one and Im not going to keep it in so, get on with it"
My last three cats have been house cats. Hasn't hurt them. Way to many dangers imo out there for cats to roam anymore.
I know loads of cat lovers and all of them have had a cat killed in some way or other.
Cats in some places are becoming pests and once that happens people take the law into their own hands.
Its not even unusual for someone to have 4,5,6 cats anymore.
Dogs always roamed when I was a kid and then a law came to stop that. You would not let your dog roam anymore so why a beloved cat.
The owners, however, are well aware. It is (or should be) their responsibility to control their animals.
Cats are independent creatures. You cannot control them. They are allowed to 'roam'. It's part of their nature to hunt. Whether you like this or not doesn't matter.
Cats are independent creatures. You cannot control them. They are allowed to 'roam'. It's part of their nature to hunt. Whether you like this or not doesn't matter.
Of course you can control them, just keep them in the bloody house.
Also, I'd accept this argument a lot easier if cat-owners were so quick to accept the counter argument "If it keeps being a pest on my property I'll dispose of it permanently, whether you like this or not doesn't matter". For some reason that shitty, self-interested absolute doesn't appeal to them half as much as the one they spout.
I have two cats (indoor ones) but my neighbours have many. I am also a keen 'bird supporter' and have several feeding points in my garden, which is also designed as a wildlife friendly zone, with the planting designed to support insect, bird and mammal life.
I sit in the 'get a grip' camp here. I keep records of the bird population and the fact that at least 7 local cats regularly use my garden (numbers vary with the various 'border wars') the bird population remains stable... in fact the population of sparrows has risen over the last five years (we had none when we moved in and now there are a couple of healthy flocks). The only problem group has been chaffinches but their numbers declined following an outbrealk of 'bumble foot' a few years back.
Of course cats take some birds - but the causes of death out there are so many - including blackbirds killing each other; our local sparrow hawks; bad weather; the squirrels who love bird eggs and baby birds; etc etc.
Cat owners can help by having bells on cat collars and keeping their pets in at night (better for the cats anyway); bird enthusiasts can help by placing feeders in sensible places that make it harder for the cats to reach or approach unseen. I have a cat-proof ground feeding area (basically a cage!) that I use during breeding season when birds will take more risks.
So come on - cats are now part of the environment and people who love gardens and wildlife need to accept that and do what they can to reduce the impact and encourage cat-owners to do the same.
Bit over the top with the leaflets and so on.
But I sympathize with the chap. There are loads of cats around here, we don't get the birds in the gardens, you can't leave your door open or they are in the house.
My next door neighbour left his door open just to bring his shopping in from the car not noticing a cat had got in gone up the stairs. Later he found the cat on his bed and it had shit on the carpet.
A couple of weeks ago one of the horrid cats was ripping crap out of a wood pigeon in front of my house.
One lady on the street now has nine of the bloody things, another family has at last count five other have more than one.
People with dogs have to keep the under control and not let them roam the streets.
Cats are independent creatures. You cannot control them. They are allowed to 'roam'. It's part of their nature to hunt. Whether you like this or not doesn't matter.
That's true, and the law supports their right to roam.
There are no specific laws which relate to cats and fouling.
The law of trespass
The law relating to the trespass of domestic animals is contained in the Animals Act 1971. However, cats enjoy a unique position as the Animals Act 1971 does not apply to them. A cat cannot, therefore, in law trespass. As a cat cannot trespass its owner cannot be legally responsible for what their cat does outside of their property.
Nor should those terminally offended by a tiny bit of cat shit found in their garden get any ideas about hurting the cats, as cats are protected.
What can’t I do?
You should not do anything to harm a cat. Under the Protection of Animals Act 1911 it is a criminal offence to cruelly beat, kick, ill-treat, torture, infuriate or terrify any animal. It is also a criminal offence under the Protection of Animals Act 1911 and the Animal Welfare Act 2006 to administer poison, injurious drugs or substances to an animal. Under the Animal Welfare Act 2005 it is a criminal offence to allow an animal protected by the act to suffer unnecessarily. Cats are protected by the Act.
A cat is treated by the law as goods and, therefore, the taking of a cat from its owner will amount to theft. You should not, therefore, steal any cat on or caught fouling on your land.
I'm afraid the anti cat brigade will have to live with it. Mind, if a cat in their garden is all they have to worry about, let's be honest, in the grand scheme of things they're quite fortunate individuals.
Just as a matter of interest, a question to any of the cat owners posting, if there were several dog owners near you who threw their dogs out every day and every day they jumped the fence and had a shit in your garden.
Each day you have to go out and pick this Dog shit up so that your little children can go out and play in the garden. Not now and again, every day, even the days when you are lucky and there isnt any and some other poor sap getting your deposit, you still have to go and check. How would you feel about that?
If dogs behaved exactly like cats, they'd be cats, so I personally wouldn't have a problem!
Just my opinion (of course!) but it's a bit of a strange argument. An old boy a couple of streets away keeps racing pigeons. Being pigeons, they tend to crap in mid-flight and I've even had one of his pigeons "drop a bomb" in the passenger seat of my car as I reversed out one morning! If I decided to take umbrage and used the argument "If someone owned 20 dogs which they let loose several times a day, and they crapped all over the place, including in your car, how would you feel", I think the old boy would have every reason to look at me as though I'd just lost the plot!
Cats are independent creatures. You cannot control them. They are allowed to 'roam'. It's part of their nature to hunt. Whether you like this or not doesn't matter.
It's not nature for there to be so many roaming free.
Keeping a cat indoors is cruel. They have an instinct to hunt birds and mice etc and play outside, we already cut off their 'furballs' to curb their other instincts, which is just barbaric.
It seems to me that a true animal lover would not have a pet cat.
Of course you can control them, just keep them in the bloody house.
Also, I'd accept this argument a lot easier if cat-owners were so quick to accept the counter argument "If it keeps being a pest on my property I'll dispose of it permanently, whether you like this or not doesn't matter". For some reason that shitty, self-interested absolute doesn't appeal to them half as much as the one they spout.
How would you like to be kept indoors forever? Cats need to go out. Some can be kept in but most want to go outside. It's part of being a cat. You clearly hate cats. So of course you would say that.
Nor should those terminally offended by a tiny bit of cat shit found in their garden get any ideas about hurting the cats, as cats are protected.
I'm afraid the anti cat brigade will have to live with it. Mind, if a cat in their garden is all they have to worry about, let's be honest, in the grand scheme of things they're quite fortunate individuals.
Exactly. There are more important things to worry about then a cat coming in your garden. .
Keeping a cat indoors is cruel. They have an instinct to hunt birds and mice etc and play outside, we already cut off their 'furballs' to curb their other instincts, which is just barbaric.
It seems to me that a true animal lover would not have a pet cat.
Not cruel if that is how they were brought up and if the owner provides a good environment for them. I had no choice but to keep mine indoors when they were both about 7 years old... that was a harder transition, but they are happy enough because we have created an environment where they can 'be cats' indoors.
Several cats round here that visit & sit on the path or in the shubbery where the bird feeders are. None of them are very good at hunting, they just sit watching the birds who of course are very vocal in warning other birds. Maybe they've caught something i don't know, never seen it or evidence of it. I don't chase them away, I like cats anyway.
Comments
I have a stray tom cat that lives in our shed, the poor darling gets harrassed by blackbirds when he's eating, as they wait their turn to eat his cat food. I've seen him laying a few feet from his bowl with blackbirds perched on the rim of it, eating away.
I have also seen crows, and sparrow hawks attacking other birds in the garden, especially when there is a large concentration of smaller birds, attracted by a constant supply of food.
Personally I lean far more toward this guy's side than the smug twonks who almost seem proud of their pets being troublesome pests to those around them.
Yes cats are domesticated, they don't need to hunt and there is certainly loads about. How do we go about retraining a whole species to do what comes naturally?. Yes we've domesticated dogs with the use of leads and fences, can't do the same with cats though!. I would love my cats just to stay in my garden, I can't make them without using barbaric spikes!.
They've no need for predation?
So why exactly do they do it? Are they perhaps unaware they've no need to do it?
I have no idea what he means by "drastic action" but if it in any way involves attempting to capture a cat, he might find that feline domesticus is very adequately equipped with the means to defend itself. He should wear protective clothing. And lots of it.
But I understand where he's coming from. We've been plagued by badgers for a number of years now. A sett was discovered on some ground that was purchased by a developer and wildlife conservationists were in quicker than a footballer's wife at a handbag sale to slap a protection order on them.
The upshot of it all is that, not only did the poor sod who purchased the land have all his planning applications turned down (costing him a fortune in the process), but the sett has since grown from mummy and daddy badger to a dozen or so of these rodents. Awwwwwwwwwww, bless, I hear you all say.
I despise the little b a s t a r d s.
They roam at night, digging under fences and creating havoc in the places that they visit. It is not uncommon to go out into the garden in the morning and find my beautifully tended lawn and flower beds mutilated almost beyond recognition.
There have been many complaints to the council about them, but that damned protection order means nothing can be done. They can't even be culled.... an offer I made to the council.... I said I'd even buy my own shotgun cartridges to do it but they declined, going so far as to warn me (and others who have made similar offers) that should I "do anything" the police may become involved.
So I understand where the Oxford doctor is coming from, but fear he is on a loser if he carries out his threat of "drastic action". Regardless of our frustrations, we have to share a planet with wildlife.... and that includes domesticated varieties.
Cats will be cats, and badgers will be badgers. We're stuck with it.
lol
Aren't they always ^_^
Each day you have to go out and pick this Dog shit up so that your little children can go out and play in the garden. Not now and again, every day, even the days when you are lucky and there isnt any and some other poor sap getting your deposit, you still have to go and check. How would you feel about that?
It amazes me how decent people with a social consience, the sort who would tell their own kids to keep the noise down to a decent level on a summers day in their own garden, so as not to anoy the neighbours, have this massive blind spot when it comes to having cats.
All of a sudden its " tough shit everyone else, its a cat, I want one and Im not going to keep it in so, get on with it"
Wild birds>cats
I know loads of cat lovers and all of them have had a cat killed in some way or other.
Cats in some places are becoming pests and once that happens people take the law into their own hands.
Its not even unusual for someone to have 4,5,6 cats anymore.
Dogs always roamed when I was a kid and then a law came to stop that. You would not let your dog roam anymore so why a beloved cat.
love your cat enough to protect it.
Also, I'd accept this argument a lot easier if cat-owners were so quick to accept the counter argument "If it keeps being a pest on my property I'll dispose of it permanently, whether you like this or not doesn't matter". For some reason that shitty, self-interested absolute doesn't appeal to them half as much as the one they spout.
I sit in the 'get a grip' camp here. I keep records of the bird population and the fact that at least 7 local cats regularly use my garden (numbers vary with the various 'border wars') the bird population remains stable... in fact the population of sparrows has risen over the last five years (we had none when we moved in and now there are a couple of healthy flocks). The only problem group has been chaffinches but their numbers declined following an outbrealk of 'bumble foot' a few years back.
Of course cats take some birds - but the causes of death out there are so many - including blackbirds killing each other; our local sparrow hawks; bad weather; the squirrels who love bird eggs and baby birds; etc etc.
Cat owners can help by having bells on cat collars and keeping their pets in at night (better for the cats anyway); bird enthusiasts can help by placing feeders in sensible places that make it harder for the cats to reach or approach unseen. I have a cat-proof ground feeding area (basically a cage!) that I use during breeding season when birds will take more risks.
So come on - cats are now part of the environment and people who love gardens and wildlife need to accept that and do what they can to reduce the impact and encourage cat-owners to do the same.
But I sympathize with the chap. There are loads of cats around here, we don't get the birds in the gardens, you can't leave your door open or they are in the house.
My next door neighbour left his door open just to bring his shopping in from the car not noticing a cat had got in gone up the stairs. Later he found the cat on his bed and it had shit on the carpet.
A couple of weeks ago one of the horrid cats was ripping crap out of a wood pigeon in front of my house.
One lady on the street now has nine of the bloody things, another family has at last count five other have more than one.
People with dogs have to keep the under control and not let them roam the streets.
That's true, and the law supports their right to roam.
link
Nor should those terminally offended by a tiny bit of cat shit found in their garden get any ideas about hurting the cats, as cats are protected.
I'm afraid the anti cat brigade will have to live with it. Mind, if a cat in their garden is all they have to worry about, let's be honest, in the grand scheme of things they're quite fortunate individuals.
If dogs behaved exactly like cats, they'd be cats, so I personally wouldn't have a problem!
Just my opinion (of course!) but it's a bit of a strange argument. An old boy a couple of streets away keeps racing pigeons. Being pigeons, they tend to crap in mid-flight and I've even had one of his pigeons "drop a bomb" in the passenger seat of my car as I reversed out one morning! If I decided to take umbrage and used the argument "If someone owned 20 dogs which they let loose several times a day, and they crapped all over the place, including in your car, how would you feel", I think the old boy would have every reason to look at me as though I'd just lost the plot!
His website needs updating, doesn't layout well on the home page.
Thinking about requesting some cat pictures on his site.
It's not nature for there to be so many roaming free.
It seems to me that a true animal lover would not have a pet cat.
Not cruel if that is how they were brought up and if the owner provides a good environment for them. I had no choice but to keep mine indoors when they were both about 7 years old... that was a harder transition, but they are happy enough because we have created an environment where they can 'be cats' indoors.