Cat People Win, Birds Lose

This week a property management company in Virginia caved into pressure from Alley Cat Allies, and will allow over 200 feral cats to remain on their property (story here). That means there will be hundreds, or more likely thousands, of birds and other small animals killed by cats in their community over the next year.

Alley Cat Allies essentially has a rigid bottom line--no euthanized stray cats. I can understand and mostly support that. But will they also accept the bottom line of bird and wildlife experts that birds and wildlife killed by free ranging cats is unacceptable?

There is a way to satisfy both the bird and cat lovers--trap, neuter, and restrain stray and feral cats in fenced sanctuaries where they pose minimal risk to birds and other wildlife. Of course that will take raising money to create cat sanctuaries. But I'm sure if the bird and cat people worked together on this, we could create a place for unadoptable stray cats in every community, and protect the birds and wildlife that are otherwise threatened by cat predation.

Whatcha say Alley Cat Allies? You ready for a real solution? A win-win solution? One that protects both cats and birds?