North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Matt Demmon" <mdemmon@gmail.com>]

I have to jump in here and say that it's possible to both have a pet
and a ferocious hunter! I thought my cat was just a soft little
indoors cats until I moved somewhere where it was fairly safe for her
to be out unattended. Over the course of the year she became a killing
machine, first emptying our house of mice, and then bringing a stream
of voles, chipmunks, and mice to our doorstep. I admit she hasn't
tackled a squirrel yet, but she's taking care of everything else. And
she's very street-wise, never goes near it, stays in the backyard, and
comes in when called or at dusk and cuddles. It all depends on the
cat!

-matt

On 2/11/07, road's end farm <organic101@linkny.com> wrote:
> On Feb 11, 2007, at 10:50 AM, Thomas Olenio wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > Every farm with a barn has a couple of barn cats.  They are necessary.
> > Losses are expected.  You do not get attached to them, they are simply
> > farmer's tools.  Allow them to be feral friends.
> >
> > Later,
> > Tom
>
> A lot of people around here do treat their barn cats more as "wild
> beneficials" than as domestic animals. I find I can't do it like that.
> My indoor/outdoor cats do a great deal of hunting during the day and
> sleep in the house at night (there are coyotes); and yes I am attached
> to them.
>
> If you have pet cats who don't go outside at all, and you live in an
> area similar to mine, you will soon also have barn cats; the excess
> population coming from other people's barns will move into any
> available spot. If you let your indoor cats go out the space is more
> likely to register to other felines as "taken", though you may get
> occasional wanderers anyway.
>
> There are some disadvantages to the feral or semiferal barn cat method:
> rabies is potentially one of them. The population is likely to zoom and
> then crash due to other diseases, also.
>
> There are of course intermediary techniques: some people get their barn
> cats tame enough to immunize and spay them. Getting them this tame,
> however, is likely to result in your also getting attached to them; and
> of course, there's the expense; though in some areas you can get
> discounts.
>
> --Rivka
> Finger Lakes NY; zone 5 mostly
>
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--
-matt
aim: farmerdemmon
www.flickr.com/photos/farmerdemmon