Comments cwistomoweina has made

ummm...?

shouldn't stuff like this be illegal?On Walker/Cat's coal-happy ads in rural West Virginia posted 1 year, 9 months ago 19 Responses

ummm...?

couldn't you just, like, drop them off at Goodwil, Salvation Army, or a homeless shelter yourself?On Recycle your jeans at Aéropostale posted 1 year, 9 months ago 4 Responses

Grist...

I love you more and more everyday.
The major media outlets are so unreliable when it comes to addressing environmental issues.
You are a beacon of green, like in the Great Gatsby. On Campaign reporter misrepresents Clinton, responds to correction with pissy snark posted 1 year, 10 months ago 4 Responses

manipulated population growth and decline

The deer and elk populations are probably declining due to being over hunted. Now the hunters want something new to shoot. On Rule change eases restrictions on wolf kills in northern Rockies posted 1 year, 10 months ago 16 Responses

Reply to Greta's suspicions

You say "I, too, am suspicious of the data attributing the decline of songbirds simply to cats. My empirical evidence has shown me otherwise. I have rarely seen even my ferals hunt. (If I do, I intervene.)  Moreover, they always return hungry.  So, they could not have been out filling up on birds."

What valid empirical evidence you gathered! It's like people arguing "How can there be global warming if it's cold?"
Also, cats don't always eat what they kill. Most times they just play with it. On Umbra on cats and birds posted 1 year, 10 months ago 72 Responses

barn or farm cats

what about barn cats or farm cats?

I worked on a small, organic farm last year that had 5 cats.

we did nothing to prohibit our pets from going outside. All but one of the cats slept outside, the outdoor one being the "barn cat". He caught mice and rodents that would have otherwise destroyed our plants. He also patrolled our greenhouse during the early season and caught any mice that snuck in through the holes around the floor. (He was probably in the greenhouse for his own selfish heat seeking reasons, but it helped us too).

He was the only cat who hunted. We have free range chickens and had baby chicks all over the place, but never had a problem with them and the cats. We would have known, because the hunter always brought us his prey.

What I am getting at is that regardless of any philosophical ramblings of cat's true nature and hunter spirit (though humans originally lived in caves and hunted with handmade spears, but you don't see anyone following the logic that far) some outdoor cats are functional, just like some dogs are work dogs. Cats are the one domesticated animal perceived to be solely a pet, but that assumption is false.

And, yes, it would have been safer for our cats to stay indoors. The friendly one actually was killed by a larger animal. But when you live at your work and are bustling in and out of doors all day, it's hard to keep the cats anywhere. (It took us two hours to round them all up for a group trip to the vet.)

besides, not all cats who go outside like to hunt. Our older two just sunned themselves and smelled the flowers in our garden. On Umbra on cats and birds posted 1 year, 10 months ago 72 Responses