Editor:
I live in Sechelt, close to downtown. I was outside gardening a couple of days ago, when a small commotion in the bushes nearby caught my attention. A bird emerged, hopping painfully, its tail and a wing in tatters and blood seeping from a wound on its back. It was a beautiful varied thrush. Then the culprit appeared: a sleek striped domestic cat, which I scared away. The bird succeeded in hopping through the fence and across the neighbour’s lawn, but the cat also reappeared and chased it. To my surprise the bird managed to take off, and the cat gave up, but I’m not hopeful about the fate of the poor bird.
I know there is a problem with feral cats, but there are too many cats wandering loose in the neighbourhood that are well fed and cared for – clearly beloved pets. Estimates suggest that between 100 and 350 million birds are killed by cats in Canada every year, nearly 40 per cent of them house cats. Evidence also suggests that cats confined to the house live much longer, safe from disease, predators and traffic. I was sorry to see that in January the Sechelt council failed to pass a cat licensing and control bylaw comparable to the regulation for dogs, but surely Sechelt cat owners can do the right thing by their pets and our wildlife without being required to by law. Attaching a bell to a cat as a warning to birds (and changing the bell regularly to avoid it learning to walk without ringing the bell) might help, but it will probably also annoy the cat. The safest solution for all is to keep house cats at home, where they belong.
Christine Pawley, Sechelt
