Didn’t get the result you wanted? You are probably a victim of unintended consequences. Here is the Wiki article on the subject: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unintended_consequences
I like to think that most of us want the best in
everything. We don’t choose disaster, do
we? No, we want the best for everyone
and everything. We want to leave things
better than the way we found them. I
like to think that about everyone, anyway.
I’ve been picking on dog owners a lot on this blog. Not all of them or even most of them, but
many of them. Poorly cared for dogs are
a public health and safety disaster.
Poorly cared for dogs make their presence KNOWN to all. If a dog has a problem, everyone around him
has a problem. First and foremost, a dog
can create an absurd amount of noise driving everyone in the vicinity insane
with those shrill, explosively loud exclamations.
Today, I am going to pick on cat owners. Keep in mind that I am a cat owner, and very
much a cat person. Cats are clean, cats
are quiet, cats are independent, cats are cool.
If a cat has a problem, they are not quite so in-your-face about
it. Cats can be very sneaky, and will
operate under the proverbial radar.
There was a discussion thread started under one of my
essays about “TNR”. TNR stands for Trap,
Neuter, and Release. It is a program
intended to reduce feral cat populations in various areas in
the United States. A “feral” cat is a free roaming outdoor cat with no human "owner" and is often non-socialized with humans. Note that it IS the
same species as the house cat, felis catus:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felis_catus
Feral cats are house cats, or descendents thereof, that
have been dumped by human owners. These
cats live in dangerous, filthy conditions under bridges, in abandoned
buildings, sewer systems, etc… They live short, brutish lives rife with disease
and malnutrition. They feed on trash,
native wildlife, and any tidbits left by sympathetic humans. They spread disease to humans, each other,
and other animals. They threaten native
wildlife populations.
There are an estimated SIXTY MILLION feral cats
in the United States. These cats tend to congregate in so-called "colonies".
This website says it a lot better than I can: http://www.tnrrealitycheck.com/failure.asp read through the website in its entirety, it
is mind-blowing. Note this is just an
example, as there are feral cat colony nightmares all over the country.
In short, the result of “maintaining” these feral cat
colonies includes but is not limited to:
-
Rabies
outbreaks, including rabid cats attacking humans.
-
Outbreaks of toxoplasmosis.
-
“Management”
of TNR “facilities” (colonies) is a sick joke. How
any cat lover could tolerate these conditions is way beyond me.
-
This
program creates a perverse incentive
for irresponsible cat owners to dump their pets in these “colonies”. These pets are not spayed/neutered and thus
add to the problem.
-
Essentially
creates miserable conditions for cats that have been bred to be human
companions.
It is clear that we have completely, utterly failed in
maintaining our cat population. The “maintenance”
of these feral cat colonies has created the following unintended consequences:
-
It gives irresponsible cat owners an “out”: They can now dump them in these colonies and
just figure they will be cared for. Hey,
its better than euthanization at the city pound, right? RIGHT??
-
The dumped animals are usually NOT
spayed/neutered and breed uncontrollably.
You can trap all you want, but the irresponsible cat owners are one step
ahead of you with all their DUMPING.
-
These colonies create a health hazard for human
beings as toxoplasmosis, rabies, and other diseases are spread by these
colonies.
You see, the fundamental flaw in TNR is the assumption that
there will be NO NEW ADDITIONS to the colonies.
You figure: “Hey, we will trap
all of these cats, spay them and re-release them and eventually the problem
will go away”. Yeah, right, but AGAIN the
irresponsible cat owners are one step ahead of you all the way. Pursuant to the article, intact cats get
dumped at a high rate, burgeoning the feral cat population. Moreover, house-cats are not fit to live in
these conditions. They are NOT wild
animals. Whatever survival instinct they
have left will result in a devastation of bird and small mammal wildlife. They pee and poop everywhere, too.
The root cause of this problem is irresponsible cat
owners that allow their pets to breed uncontrollably. They allow their cat to have kittens to show
their kids the “miracle of birth” but of course no one wants the cats, so they
get dumped at the pound or a feral colony.
The solution to this problem is strict controls on
breeding. Mandatory registration for ALL
dogs and cats and if you want a “breeder” you pay BIG BUCKS for a breeder
license. I’m thinking well into the
thousands of dollars. This should be a
strict compliance issue and failure to comply be a major felony.
Is this horror scenario the outcome we wanted?
Animal Uncontrol, you are playing my song!
ReplyDeleteI can't tell you how many times I've had to remove the shredded bodies of cat-killed birds from my yard. And cleaning the urine off my doors. That's really fun too.
Not to mention the crap in my gardens. I've had to put a lattice work of thorny mesquite branches over them so that the feral cats don't use my gardens as their toilets.
As far as I'm concerned, the initials TNR are just fine. But the "R" should stand for "Remove." As in, remove the cats from the outdoor environment. Because they don't belong there. They're too destructive.
Thank you so much for this post.
Splendid writing!
ReplyDeleteEvery government's politicians should read this and legislate accordingly.
Thanks for the food for thought re TNR and the link to that very intelligent site.
ReplyDeleteReally I think most of all there are way too many of us, and of that 'us' way too many are behaving as unthinking consumerists towards way too many animals (not only domestic ones). At this point all I can do is agree with your final paragraph.
This post made me very sad, just simply by the truth of it.
Dogs and cats should be "fixed" and chipped at the mill by law. Then with the "VIN" registered like cars as they walk off the production line. Buyers should have a license to own a pet like we already do with cars.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to breed (open a new plant) you pay BIG bucks for the priviledge including getting unfixed animals. Except for a select few manufacturers like the Big 3, all the pets are fixed. THIS would slow the euthanisation rate like nothing else. Cars don't spawn little cars. Neither should pets for normal consumer enjoyment.