That caller, and a lot of others who were slightly less pithy, said forget bird and cat safety, the problem with letting cats out is they poop, and not always in their own yards. In my neighborhood, people take outdoor cats for the 'long ride' if we can catch them. That's why you see so many 'Lost Cat' signs on poles. Sounds like a Raymond Chandler novel. Cat lovers and cat haters have littered my phone tape and e-mail at an amazing rate since Wednesday.
People do have feelings about felines and they're eager to share.
When my son was 2, I seem to remember that he did make like a human squirt gun through the fence one summer. But that's another story. Even the Audubon Society says that. And a reader from Covington who didn't want her name used wrote that one of the realities of increasing population density is that other people's pets become pests. Country cats can go out, she said.