OK, guys, I'm sitting in a corner, blasted, flamed, and properly punished.
Enough now, please. I never imagined the depth of vitriol that would
appear in reply to a conflicted message about cats. Until I joined this
discussion group (December), which I now feel roundly isolated from, I had
truly never seen the numbers that were quoted. Though I knew that cats
killed birds, I never knew there were so many cats, or that they could have
such a collective effect. Yes, as someone pointed out, I am emotionally
attached to my cats. That doesn't prevent me from being able to see the
inconsistency in my behavior that was both gently and in some cases
extremely rudely pointed out. Michael, I'm sorry you feel that pet owners
are so roundly deserving of contempt that you would discuss one in the third
person as if they were not reading the message, and as if they were not
capable of change without even knowing the person or giving them a chance to
get use to the idea that their previously held outlook on pet behavior was
going to have to change

In spite of how upset I am over the tone of some of the messages, I agree,
YOU'RE RIGHT. There is no other conclusion that can be reached after
reading the evidence offered, and I'm sure there's plenty more to back it
up. I plead guilty to naivete and ignorance...

I appreciate those who actually took the time to send suggestions or ideas
on what I can do with the cats I have (other than drown them). Some folks
apparently didn't realize that the whole reason I put the second message on
was to work through what I should do. I have only lived in my new home for
about six months, and have become increasingly concerned about the birds and
mice being brought into the house. Give me a break though, neither people
nor cats change overnight. I was serious when I said that my first cat died
because I confined him after being used to living outdoors. Not knowing
anything about the environment then, (I was a kid in a big city), I swore I
would never do that to a cat I loved again. Now it's fairly obvious that my
mistake was ever letting the cat out in the first place. I have also
learned from the messages that appeared, that while some cats don't adjust,
some do just fine. So there's no reason not to try with these two.

But I submit that if you really want to educate people, try to be a little
kinder. I'm new at bird-watching, it's a new-found area of enjoyment for
me. Some of you have obviously spent your careers trying to get the message
out about cats and other detrimental practices, and I can imagine it's very
frustrating. But the way I feel now is that I'm reluctant to go to the
birding by ear class that I was looking forward to this May and on Audubon
field trips, in case any of you are there. Some people that I was looking
forward to getting to know and learning from I will probably avoid, as i
don't really know how to deal with this. I'm also new to the Internet, and
I'm fairly dismayed at the way people say what they have to say. I no
longer feel welcome and I would like to know, is this what you intended.

I hope people realize that there are many kinds of behavioral
inconsistencies. I have dedicated my career to cleaning up the
environmental pollution that our society has caused, and I have come to
believe that introduced species of any variety pale in comparison to HUMANS
(native or otherwise). Having a child is the single most destructive
environmental action a person can take, and no amount of recycling,
bicycling, composting, or carpooling can make up for the resources and
habitats that a single first world person uses up in their lifetime (not to
mention their kids, and THEIR kids, and so on). Yes, you can teach a child
not to kill birds. But you can't prevent people from reproducing,
developing, cutting down forests, paving over the world. One of the reasons
my pets are important to me is that I truly think that the world does not
need more people and the artificial habitats we create to support our
ever-increasing selves, and this is one of the reasons our family does not
include children. People condemn other people's environmentally
irresponsible behavior, and insist that dogs and cats be prevented from
reproducing (which I agree with), but for some reason it's considered OK to
have any number of children as long as you teach them to be environmentally
responsible (as if their very existence were not the main problem). The
longer I work in this business, the more appalled I get at what we have done
to the earth. And having children really is a good example of an emotional
act (at best) or a careless one (at worst).

I am also sickened and disheartened at the passage yesterday of the property
rights initiative out of the Legislature. I have been spending all week
fighting the budget wars at Ecology, trying to get our own agency to
recognize that some money should be spent reducing environmental risks and
restoring habitats, not just reducing risks to human health which is where
90% of our money gets spent. So please, I am going to echo the person who
said that not voting is really a problem. The passage of I164 is a direct
result of those who didn't bother in the last election. Even one additional
democrat in the Senate would have prevented its passage (only the fact that
one D-senator was ill allowed the republicans to pull it out of committee
and bring it to a floor vote). That initiative, if we don't get busy and
put together the votes to oppose it (90,000+ initiative signatures by July)
will result in habitat destruction of a serious and irreversible nature in
Washington.

I truly hope this ends the cat thread that I sincerely wish had never
started. i promise I will never utter the C-word on your network again.-
Teresa