The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

There is a horrible avian flu striking at the wild bird population across North America. The Avian Flu H5N1 has caused devastation within the poultry industry, and may have killed over a billion wild birds too.

Statistics show that between 197-976 million wild birds have died striking windows, doors, buildings across the continent.

72 million have been poisoned through the use of pesticides

75 million struck by vehicles,

175 million by high tension wires

Female feral cats kill over 1.7 billion wild birds annually, domestic felines kill a further 764 million (science news).

Feral cats (pests) threaten our communities, pets, children, elderly. How? Feral cats can and do carry many diseases, infections by simply scratching a family members showing human emotional responses to a cat, believing the feral cat is perhaps a stray domestic cat when it is much more. Feral cats are social, living in any area of the wilderness, bush, sheds, abandoned buildings and just out back of your school or someone’s home. Young and old see a furry cat, not a infestation to happen. Ticks, fleas, infection ridden are just some threats you should see.

If you love wildlife, the song of a beautiful wild bird, the feral cat is your enemy. Wildlife has enough problems living beside humanity, but with all the above challenge’s only technology can help save bird lives. Making high rises, windows and tension wires much more visible to the bird, allowing it to miss a potential obstruction, stopping the use of all pesticides. What about the feral cat? Spading the critters is very difficult and costly. The feral cat population is multiplying with no technological method available to stopping it. What to do?

1. Communities need culling programmes to be established with the disposal of these bodies once studied.

2. Domestic cats should be licenced, and if found loose within the community the owners fined and the cat destroyed. You don’t care for it, bye bye bye Kitty.

3. Government studies of feral population will provide needed information on rodent populations, disease spread.

4. Possible tranquilizer teams let loose upon feral communities, to gather and dispose of the critters.

Possibly saving the very young cats that have not entered the dangerous period of wilderness conformity. Thing is that there are too many cats in North America. What can we possibly do with them? Adoption is out, since over a billion domestic cats are waiting for adoption or death already. The community needs to be aware of the costs involved in the protection, caring for unwanted domestic cats.

Perhaps a new sport should be developed, where feral cats and those on the loose can be harvested by licensed hunters as a form of community service.

Think about it folks, what do feral cats provide us? Nothing at all. Do I sound heartless? Maybe, but I want wild birds to bring their song to next generation within my community and family too.

STEVEN KASZAB

Bradford, Ontario

June 11, 2023