Re: RE: cats: the real extreme position
From: Norman Gauss (normangaussmediaone.net)
Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2001 22:17:21 -0600 (MDT)
When I used the word "environment", I did not necessarily mean outdoor
environment.  I too am a lover of birds, frogs, and lizards and feel that 7
cats on 3 acres can kill a lot of small animals.
If people want to have cats in their houses, that is fine with me.  But they
should stay indoors most of the time, or have a caged outdoor area.

For reasons of sustainability, we should have as little impact on our
natural surroundings as possible.  Predatory pets in green areas are a no-no
in my view.

Norm Gauss
oakcreekcommons [at] yahoo.com


----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Wolf" <kjwolf [at] dcn.davis.ca.us>
To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>; <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2001 7:55 PM
Subject: Re: [C-L]_RE: cats: the real extreme position


> At 06:25 PM 8/30/2001 -0700, Norman Gauss wrote:
> >Yes, having domestic plants and animals in our environment is justified.
>
> Well I am finally motivated to weigh in on this subject.  N Street has a
> lot of cats - probably seven outdoor ones for our 3 acres.  The
> environmental damage they do is incalculable because we only see a small
> percentage of the death they cause. We used to have snakes, lizards and
> toads in the gardens. They are all gone from death by well-fed cats doing
> what they like to do.  The only birds that seem to survive are the jays
and
> crows.  Some of the rarest birds we have seen have been found dead by the
> cats thus we know the bird species do visit.  Studies all over the world
> confirm that one of the biggest causes for the decline of song bird
> populations is from house cats.  Bells don't help much either and most of
> the people in our community who start out saying that their cat will be an
> indoor cat give in and let it become an outdoor one, and add another
> well-fed predator to the environment.
>
> Our community is a retrofit one so as we added neighboring houses many
came
> with cats.  Thus cats were never outlawed like dogs were.  Now we have
dogs
> in the community and us wildlife lovers would much prefer dogs over cats
> because dogs don't kill as many (or any) wild animals.  We gave up having
> our community be a haven for endangered wildlife. Some of us feel bad that
> our gardens attract birds that then become prey to the cats.
>
> Sorry Norman but I don't believe cats in garden environments are
> justified.  Keep them in indoor environments and keep dogs out of wildlife
> areas where they chase down deer and wreck havoc.
>
> And we won't talk about the amount of animal protein most cats eat and
> where it comes from and the harm it does to the environment in the process
> because most cat owners don't want to think about this.
>
> By the way, you can probably guess that I am not an animal "lover" in part
> because I believe what M. Scott Peck said - we can only love those who can
> grow spiritually from our love.  We can't really love chocolate or
> pets.  And if we think we can help them grow to their full spiritual
> potential, wouldn't it be better to use that love and attention on a
human?
>
> Awaiting the outcry from the pet lovers,
>
> Kevin
> ****************
> Kevin Wolf
> N Street Cohousing Community member
> 724 N St, Davis, CA  95616
> 530-758-4211
> kjwolf [at] dcn.davis.ca.us
>
> To download my facilitation manual or other material on
> consensus decision making, visit www.dcn.davis.ca.us/go/kjwolf
>
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