Editor:
As wildlife rehabilitators, we strongly agree with a bylaw that would restrict cats to live indoors.
Contrary to the comment by Sarah Vatnsdal (Coast Reporter letters, July 27) eating birds and other wild animals is not part of a cat's diet. Domestic cats are fed by their owners and do not need to kill wildlife to live. They hunt and mutilate wildlife for pleasure.
Over the last five years, we have admitted 256 cat-caught wild creatures to our rehabilitation centre. Not only do cats kill nestlings, fledglings and young mammals, they kill parent birds, causing nestlings to starve to death. This number represents a small percentage of wildlife killed by free roaming cats on the Sunshine Coast.
The SPCA advocates inside cats, so why would Sarah Vatnsdal say it is cruel to keep them indoors? What is cruel is allowing your cat to mangle, tear apart and puncture wild creatures. Cats cannot be blamed for killing wildlife. Your pet cat is a domestic animal. It is not a natural part of the ecosystem. By letting cats outside, the owner is placing a higher value on the freedom of their cat than on the life of the wild bird or mammal that it kills or maims, yet the wild creatures are in their natural home - the cat is not.
The ideal is to provide a safe outside enclosure such as a screened porch or build a play area accessible from a cat door. Give them places to hide, toys to play with and baskets to sleep in.
Indoor cats are safe from vehicles, becoming lost, caught in traps, eaten by cougars or coyotes, exposure to fighting, parasites and diseases from other cats, dogs or raccoons, poisonings from pesticides, anti-freeze, etc.
If you truly love your cat and wild creatures, please keep them both safe.
Irene Davy
Gibsons Wildlife Rehab Centre
