Your Letters

This month, a reader asks whether cats and birds can get along, and another has a suggestion for global warming fighters: vegetarianism.

Go Veggie
I read your information about involving all family members in saving the environment. I am curious as to why you didn't include one overwhelmingly obvious thing -- and that is to make a change towards vegetarianism.

Certainly you realize that cattle ranching uses more resources and contaminates more water than anything else we're doing. Animals raised for food produce 130 times the excrement of the entire human population -- 87,000 pounds per second. Much of the waste from factory farms and slaughterhouses flows into streams and rivers, contaminating water sources. Then there's deforestation to create grazing land for cattle, and the list goes on.

I ask that you tell it like it is. We all need to be informed to preserve the earth.

T. Cross

Readers, do you have a suggestion for fighting global warming? Send in your ideas at info@naturecanada.ca and share them with us!

Feathered Friends and Felines
I have a conundrum for you, how does one keep outdoor cats, and man's feathered friends?

By having two outdoor cats, we’ve discouraged the hawks and owls and several species of ground predators, simply because there are few other food sources. We do have lots of trees, and fruit, which we share, not always willingly.

H. Watt

By and large, cats and birds simply do not get along. The most effective way to protect birds and other wildlife from cats is to keep your cat indoors.

Keeping cats indoors not only helps prevent predation of birds and wildlife; it also reduces the spread of disease, unwanted reproduction, and prevents the cat from being struck by cars.

If you must allow your cat to roam free, be sure to locate bird feeders in open areas where cats cannot ambush birds. Place guard fencing or other obstacles at the base of the feeder to make it harder for cats to climb feeders. Do the same around trees where you have nesting birds.

Other ways to prevent cats preying on birds:

• Keep only as many pet cats as you can feed and care for. Make sure all your pets are spayed or neutered to prevent the birth of unwanted animals.

• If you live on a farm, keep only as many free-roaming cats as you need to control rodents.

• Remove garbage, pet food dishes and other sources of food that may attract stray cats to your yard.

• If you have an unwanted cat, do not abandon it in a rural area (or anywhere for that matter). Try to find a new owner or drop it off at a shelter.

Finally, two relatively ineffective methods include:

• Putting bells on cats. Birds rarely respond in time to a bell, and often don’t even understand the significance of the sound.

• Declawing cats. Even a declawed cat is a skilled predator, and some owners consider the practice to be cruel to the cat.

Questions? Comments? Send your letters to Nature Canada at info@naturecanada.ca.