A house divided?
Jan. 15th, 2012 08:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
urbpanAnimal lovers and Environmentalists are usually thought to be the same people. Realizing that certain animals, through the acts of humans, have themselves become environmental problems, complicates the matter.
Perhaps no issue polarizes animal lovers and environmentalists like free-roaming and feral cats. While I was on vacation, I read this magazine article about the subject. It's a relatively long piece that deserves to be read, but I'll boil it down: Free-roaming cats in present an environmental problem through the killing of native species and the spreading of disease; trap-neuter-release programs are spreading and growing through the perception that they help solve the problem, when the evidence is that they do not. In other words, animal lovers who oppose lethally controlling feral cats, are coming into conflict with environmentalists. The animal lovers are currently winning this conflict, with more and more municipalities accepting and promoting TNR programs.
The article provides some helpful resources, including some information from the American Bird Conservancy. Also included is a link to this product, a bib that your cat can wear to protect bird species--it has the added benefit of making the cat more visible to drivers.
Perhaps no issue polarizes animal lovers and environmentalists like free-roaming and feral cats. While I was on vacation, I read this magazine article about the subject. It's a relatively long piece that deserves to be read, but I'll boil it down: Free-roaming cats in present an environmental problem through the killing of native species and the spreading of disease; trap-neuter-release programs are spreading and growing through the perception that they help solve the problem, when the evidence is that they do not. In other words, animal lovers who oppose lethally controlling feral cats, are coming into conflict with environmentalists. The animal lovers are currently winning this conflict, with more and more municipalities accepting and promoting TNR programs.
The article provides some helpful resources, including some information from the American Bird Conservancy. Also included is a link to this product, a bib that your cat can wear to protect bird species--it has the added benefit of making the cat more visible to drivers.
