Putnam patriot., 1912-05-03
The Problem of the Cat

On wild tract of land in Connecti- cut used as a game preserve, remote from any town or village, during the first year and half of it's recent opera ton the keeper in charge killed forty rowing cats, and during the next year two dozen more. Many of these were evidently homeless, having relapsed into the condition of wild animals. Others were house cats, accustomed to roam, mostly by night, miles from their homes. All were preying on birds and wild game. This Is no ex-' ceptional case, but typical of what goes on everywhere.
 People often wonder why our song and insectivorous birds which are pro tected by law do not increase. The real wonder Is that they have not long since been eXterminated, with an army of hunting felines, especially in the vi- cinity of towns, roaming every where in the breeding season, searching for nests and young birds. If the nest is
 
 can climb, the case is almost hopeless Even if out of reach, the young when learning to fly are almost sure to fiut- ter down and get caught. If one will look around near home, he will often find empty nests which have been rob- bed of eggs or young.
 The cat Is a born hunter, and nearly all of them hunt for wild game, even though their owners do not suspect It. It is very moderate estimate to as- sume that each cat, on an average, stays one bird week, say fifty each year. Think of the countless thous- ands of useful birds thus killed in the United States every year
 IE most parts of Europe birds are said to be much more abundant than with us, though they are shot and trapped much more freely. A we'll known naturalist who has travelled much in those countries considers this due in considerable measure 10 the comparative absence of cats. IL seems to him local peculiarity of the Amer ican people to tolerate in their homes numbers of these half-wild animals, queer, abnormal fad. In Europe the possession of cats is said to be regulat. ed by law.
 A common barharity is the practice of abandoning cats by people chang. ing their residence, leaving them 10 suffer and to prey upon society. In pity have taken in these homeless, starving creatures and fed them. Al one shore resort in Connecticut l have been told that there are from fifty to enc hundred homeless cats, abandoned by summer cottagers, eking out wretched existence around the piers.
 With us the cat has no standing in law, and is not recognized AS property. No one can obtain redress if his cats are poisoned or shot. Yet even this permission to kill does not abate the nuisance. Alike from the standpoint of kindness 10 animals, of the owner of the cat, and of the lover of birds, is 1t not high time that this matter should be regulated by law,-how many and what sort of cats one may keep, how they must be treated and restrainedP Any one who is sufficiently responsi- ole to be permitted by society to keep eat ought 10 have public spirit enough 10 be glad to pay small li- cense fee for the privilege. This could be attended to by the same officials in charge of dog licenses. A fund would ! thus be provided for the maintenance of the work and for the protection and attracting of wild birds, to help save our foliage, fruit, gardens and crops. | Hitherto this matter has been laugh. ed out of court, but the problem has