It's For the Birds

Gay Davidson-Zielske

As the folk song goes, "All God's creatures got a place in the choir" and I agree with that. The next line goes "some sing lower and some sing higher." Of those that sing higher, we have to count our friends the birds.

Right now there are flocks of winged things dotting our skies and resting in our backyard havens. We promise to leave the light on at our makeshift Motel 6 and they show up and delight us--at least until the three housecats next door make their dramatic entrance.

Yes, they are God's creatures too, and yes, in a natural world they would not be clipped and neutered and spayed and made to roam behind glass. But guess what? This is not a natural world we live in. And their high voices, yowling at night while they make like Jesse Ventura with other roaming animals, are the kind that make neighbors chuck shoes at them. (Then they move ten feet and start up again. If you haven't heard it, drop by some moonlight night for a chorus of yowling love songs.)

Let me establish my credentials, though, as a felix domesticus fan, lest you leap to the conclusion that I'm a cat hater. I love cats as a species and have owned them since I was a wee thing, sitting next to the coal-burning stove in the kitchen in a flannel gown cuddling a heat-seeking feline on my lap. Grey Boy (renamed Grey Girl the next year when she returned to have a batch of kittens in the potato bin in the cellar), Frisky, Furball, Fernando J. Subgum (who saw me through more bad relationships than men ever saw me through bad cats) and now Anthony and Cleopatra, (whom we also call "Get offa the Table" and "Stop That") So I dig cats, okay? But I also have discovered a fascination with birds-and after a doomed indoor debacle between our poor canary, Erika Snowball (don't ask; Alex named her) and Get Offa and Stop That--I think cats need to stay INDOORS and birds have to be OUT.

But don't take my word for it-here are some recent facts and stats from the recent Cats Indoors Press Release, compiled by Linda Winter, Director, forwarded to me by Dave Fallow, local bird expert and leader of fearless birding jaunts. People who care about birds, please take note...

Below is an ABC press release on the new Montgomery County, MD pet ordinance, which we strongly support. Cats Indoors! Campaign 202)778-9619 George Fenwick, PhD, President (540)253-

AMERICAN BIRD CONSERVANCY APPLAUDS NEW PET TRESPASSING LAW

Washington, DC-- Cat owners in Montgomery County, MD have a new incentive to keep their cats indoors, on a leash, or confined to their property. Under a new law, owners of all types of pets, including domestic cats, may not allow their pet to enter other private property without the property owner's permission. Violations of the new law could result in the issuance of a $100 fine. Second offenses or offenses committed after a warning could increase the fine to $500. In addition, private property owners legally have the right to humanely trap or capture trespassing animals and bring them to the County's animal shelter. Dogs and unaltered cats must be leashed when off their own property.

Linda Winter, director of American Bird Conservancy's (ABC) Cats Indoors! Campaign stated, "People write or call me every day wondering what they can do about their neighbor's cats in their yard. They are sick and tired of watching other people's cats kill birds at their feeders or bird baths, defecate in their gardens, or create a health risk in their children's sandboxes. If owners of outdoor cats respected other people's property rights, this legislation would not be needed. " The city of Newport News, Virginia is considering similar legislation. "ABC's Cats Indoors! Campaign seeks to educate cat owners and the general public that the nation's estimated 100 million free-roaming cats kill hundreds of millions of birds each year in the U.S.," said ABC president Dr. George Fenwick. "Outdoor cats often suffer and die prematurely, and can transmit diseases and parasites to people, such as cat-scratch fever, toxoplasmosis, and rabies. Montgomery County has set an excellent standard to promote responsible pet ownership that will help protect cats, wildlife and people. We encourage other counties and municipalities to follow their example," said Fenwick.

"We encourage people to politely ask the cat's owner to control their cat. Besides just keeping the cat indoors, they can train the cat to go out on a leash, or build an outdoor enclosure or cat run. [This one wouldn't help me-the cats would be so close in our sardine-can isthmus backyards that they would still cause any birds to have heart attacks.] Cat-proof fencing is also available. [Maybe for MY yard?] We also have a fact sheet on how to make an outdoor cat a contented indoor pet," said Winter. So, while Madison already has a leash law that allows for fining irresponsible pet owners who let their pets roam, kill, bite, poop, and destroy other people's persons, pets, and things, we need to toughen up. Hold that tiger indoors, neighbors. To quote Emily Dickinson, "Hope is a thing with FEATHERSÖ." Let's not let a few creeps murder hope for the rest of us.

Campaign materials include a four-color brochure and poster, Keeping Cats Indoors Isn't Just For The Birds, an education kit with 13 fact sheets, and a new teacher's activity guide for grades K- 6. One of the fact sheets is titled, What Can You Do About Your Neighbor's Cats In Your Yard? Campaign materials are also available on ABC's Web site at: www.abcbirds.org.

For a free brochure and an order form, call (202)778-9666 or write: American Bird Conservancy, Cats Indoors! 1250 24th Street, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC 20037.

Linda Winter, Director

Cats Indoors!

The Campaign for Safer Birds and Cats

American Bird Conservancy

1250 24th Street, NW, Suite 400

Washington, DC 20037

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