back channel this discussion, please -----Original Message----- From: Minnesota Birds [mailto:MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU] On Behalf Of Chuck Cole Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2013 7:14 AM To: MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU Subject: Re: [mou-net] Minneapolis City Council looking at trap & release of feral cats
Your tunnel vision about birds, like a lobotomy, blinds you to over-all nature and animal behaviors. Don't ask me to research stuff that YOU have not, and that you have not given ANY balanced attention in your prejudicial stance. Your tunnel vision is obvious. Apply your view to predation by birds. Study THAT. If that exists, it needs as much elimination as predation by other species. _____ From: Matt Dufort [mailto:zeledo...@gmail.com] Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2013 1:29 AM To: Chuck Cole Subject: Re: [mou-net] Minneapolis City Council looking at trap & release of feral cats Natural behavior of cats? What's "natural" about a domesticated, introduced, subsidized predator? And since you said "predation and disease spread from birds seems a bigger problem", I'd ask you if you can point to any evidence of that. Certainly West Nile Virus knocked a lot of bird populations way down, but I believe they're mostly recovering now. There's pretty good evidence that cats kill a whole lot of birds (see the article cited in the original email). And it's not just pigeons and house sparrows they're killing. Matt On Thu, Mar 21, 2013 at 1:09 AM, Chuck Cole <cnc...@earthlink.net> wrote: MUCH better to eliminate the city's pigeons and sparrows and let the cats concentrate on the very common rats and mice. Predation and disease spread from birds seems a bigger problem than the natural behavior of cats. > -----Original Message----- > From: Minnesota Birds [mailto:MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU] On > Behalf Of Matt Dufort > Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2013 12:46 AM > To: MOU-NET@LISTS.UMN.EDU > Subject: Re: [mou-net] Minneapolis City Council looking at > trap & release of feral cats > > Thank you for raising this. Mr. Gordon is my city councilman, > and I will be > contacting him about this issue. > > On a related note, the lead author of the recent study on cat > impacts on > wildlife, which got so much press, was Dr. Scott Loss. Dr. > Loss received > his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota just a few years > ago, and was > for several years an active member of this listserv. > > Matt Dufort > Minneapolis > > > On Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 11:33 PM, Stephen Greenfield > <tapac...@q.com> wrote: > > > In spite of the recent release of a comprehensive analysis of the > > destruction of birds and other wildlife by cats, City > Council member Cam > > Gordon has proposed ending Minneapolis' program for trapping and > > euthanizing > > feral cats [http://m.startribune.com/news/?id=196232891]. > The study by US > > Fish & Wildlife and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute > > conservatively estimates the annual loss in the billions of > birds and > > mammals, mostly by un-owned feral cats, and summarizes that > "free-ranging > > cats cause substantially greater wildlife mortality than > previously thought > > and are likely the single greatest source of anthropogenic > mortality for US > > birds and mammals" > > > [http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n1/full/ncomms2380.html]. The > > alternative policy of "trap, neuter, and release" makes > people feel more > > humane, but just encourages people to release and foster > feral cats and > > extend the damage. > > > > > > > > City Council members need to hear from constituents who > care about birds > > and > > other wildlife. (Of course you may want to encourage > programs for adoption > > or shelter of these animals instead.) The only site where I > can find their > > e-mail addresses is the following: > > http://www.mpls.dfl.org/elected-officials. Cam Gordon's is > missing, but I > > believe it is cam.gor...@minneapolismn.gov. You can also > find other ways > > to > > contact individual members at > > http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/council/index.htm. > > > > > > > > Yours, > > > > A cat owner > > > > > > > > Stephen Greenfield > > > > Minneapolis > > > > tapac...@q.com > > > > > > > > > > ---- > > Join or Leave mou-net: > http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html > > > > ---- > Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net > Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html > ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
