Editor,

I am writing a reply to your Sept. 28, 2017 column in the JT Beacon.  I know it was meant to be funny; but I found it to be disturbing. 

I have a cat and I have a bird feeder in the yard.  I love my cat and I love the birds.

I adopted my cat from a local shelter.  Even though the shelter was really busy that day, the young lady who finalized the adoption sat me down and gave me a heartfelt lecture about keeping my cat indoors and safe. 

She told me about frantic calls from owners whose cat had disappeared and they didn’t know if it had wandered off, or had been hit by a car, killed by predators (coyotes and foxes are more common now, due to habitat loss), or maybe even stolen. The owners were hoping against hope that their beloved pet had been turned in to the shelter. 

I was confused as to why you would put out a bird feeder to and then allow your cat to roam outside during the day to kill the birds, (and chipmunks) that the feeder attracts.  Please remember that when your cat leaves a dead bird in your driveway, there is a good chance that there is a nest of baby birds that will now starve to death.

You should at least take down the bird feeder.  Or better yet, keep your cats indoors.  Cats that are allowed to roam outside have a much shorter life expectancy (around three years) than cats that live a protected life indoors. 

Domestic and feral cats kill from 1.4 billion to as many as 3.7 billion birds each year.

Please don’t add to that grim statistic.

Linda Dumey

Wells