Here are some facts that will hopefully settle the debate over stray/outdoor/indoor-outdoor cats. While I can only hope that this information will be viewed in the logical way they will presented, I know that there always be the “crazy cat ladies” out there who will continue with wanton disregard for these facts and the law, continue to argue their “point” of how cats should be able to do anything they want. Common sense puts them in the category of what they are, lonely trolls, while the rest of us use our brains to see things as they truly are.
First we will start with the description of vermin. The following description can be seen at various sources from dictionary’s, encyclopedias and wiki’s.
Vermin is a term applied to various animal species regarded as pests or nuisances and especially to those associated with the carrying of disease, through transmission of larvae in their feces, direct contact, and the transmission/transportation of fleas.
Now, for those with common sense, you will now realize that cats are vermin. They carry diseases such as mange, rabies, plague, zoonotic diseases, ringworm, strep, salmonella, campylobacteria, Pasteurella, and the list goes on and on. In addition, their feces carry and transmit a plethora of diseases known to cause serious illness and even death to humans and canines. Cats also carry fleas, and are as suspect as rats for the transmission as spread of the numerous plagues that have decimated human populations throughout time.
Any cat, whether a stray or a cat that is allowed to wander outside of a strictly controlled indoor environment, has the potential of carrying diseases that are spread through direct contact, spread through their feces, or through the fleas and ticks that live on them. It only takes letting your cat out once to come into contact with these diseases or parasites, and then from that point on they will spread them wherever they go.
I personally have lost two beloved family pets because of cats. One came into contact with feces left in my fenced yard, and the other with fleas carrying disease. In both instances, they died because even though I kept my pets strictly confined in a controlled environment, neighborhood “indoor/outdoor” cats had easy access to that environment, and contaminated it. Whether a “pure stray” or a cat that is let outside for short amounts of time, they cannot be stopped from spreading disease wherever they go. Simply put, if you have contributed to a cat that is loose in the environment, even if it is only by feeding strays, you are guilty in turn of contributing to the contamination of that environment, period. This means all you people out there that want to plea about being kind to animals, wake up. You are actually hurting it.
Moving on, as cats are a non-native species to 99-plus percent of the areas they are currently found in, we must consider what damage they have done to those environments. Just like any other non-native species, such as the African bee, rats, mussels and the list goes on, it is a simple fact that introducing a non-native species will in turn cause unbalance and severe damage to the natural habit of those species already there. In the Hawaiian Islands alone, the introduction of cats into the environment has directly caused the extinction of many entire species of rare birds and other animals. Cats in these environments have no natural predators, so they breed unchecked and destroy the native species of those areas. This problem has gotten so bad that programs were developed to pay “ransom fees” to those providing proof of killing feral cats. Knowing this, and claiming yourself to be an “animal lover,” are you still willing to deny the facts and defend cats that are let out of a restrictive environment? I am sure there will be, because some people are so blind as to their own ideas, they will continue to defend cats no matter what proof of the damage they are causing to all the other wildlife in the area, as if cats should somehow be the only animals on the planet with the right to live. I personally find it disgusting that people could blindly and without any regard, make such an argument.
Every year, more and more cities and local towns are coming to realize the impact of having cats run free, and like my city, have finally taken serious steps to counter the out of control cat situations. Jacksonville Florida has such a severe problem with cats running free and being supported by people feeding them that they have passed laws that declare anyone who feeds a cat as its legal owner, and therefore legally responsible for anything it does. Along with this, laws were introduced to subject “owners” of cats that were allowed to wander out of their yards into another to be subject to severe fines. In addition, there are large fines for that animal not being tagged, not being leashed, allowing cats to defecate in others yards, and so on.
Cities, towns and states are finally coming to realize that simply capturing, neutering and releasing cats is doing nothing for the environment, and is only placating those against the euthanization of the out of control cat populations. One of my neighbors recently was fined a total of $6,200 for seven violations of these laws by just one cat. This came after years of our neighbors making complaints about her cat terrorizing the neighborhood, incidents ranging from the cat attacking their family pet while being in their fenced back yard, to several cases of disease spread to pets, damages to personal property such as window screens to paint on cars. These things happen all the time, and for some reason are defended by so called “cat lovers” everywhere.
Tell me this: if a dog were running out of control in your neighborhood, would you allow it to happen? Would you defend its “rights” to do these things? I’ll bet not. Cats are no different than dogs, (or humans for that matter) in that they have no inherent right to run free and do as they will, period.
Several of my neighbors and I have worked diligently over the years to curb this problem, because it got to the point that, in addition to the problems stated above, local housing prices went into the dump just because there were so many cats running around loose, that potential buyers wouldn’t even consider moving here, no matter what the price. Many have joined in the effort to trap and remove the cats to the local animal control, where they are euthanized. We now have a neighborhood relatively free of free-roaming animals, and a safe place to live for our children and pets. Stand up and do something to defend your rights to protect your family, pets and property from vermin of all kinds.