A looming catastrophe

NATURAL PERSPECTIVES

For several days, a horrible caterwauling has emanated from our yard

as two feral cats go through their mating rituals. A big yellow male

yowls his lovesick intentions to the small gray female, who yowls

back at him. They’ve howled all night long.

Periodically, the two felines catapult themselves off our deck in

a frenzy of pursuit. Eventually, the little gray cat will hold still

long enough for mating to occur, and in 62 days, there will be a

litter of unwanted feral kittens born into this world.

We’ve usually had a cat or two in the household. But after some

staggering vet bills and many tears at the ends of our last three

cats’ lives, Vic suggested that we not get another cat.

About six months ago, the gray ghost, as I call the little female

cat, wandered into our yard from Central Park. Vic has seen her in

the park while he’s on his bird-finding forays and the cat is on

hers. She’s obviously a stray. Despite six months of gentle talking

to this animal, she remains terrified of humans and runs at our

sight.

We don’t put out food for her, because we really don’t want to

encourage her to stay in our yard, but she seems to find enough food

on her own. That creates other problems.

We haven’t seen any of the lizards that normally inhabit our yard,

so we believe she has eaten them. We have seen her take birds at our

feeders. She may be eating pet food left out in other people’s yards.

Some pet owners leave food for their animals outdoors, which is a

problem because it attracts stray cats, opossums, raccoons and

skunks.

Whatever the source, this cat seems to be getting enough to eat,

but it’s at the expense of the wildlife in our yard and in Central

Park.

Cats that are allowed to run free kill a tremendous amount of

wildlife. This is a major concern for the Bolsa Chica Ecological

Reserve. One of the concerns about having houses on the mesa is that

pet cats will hunt in the ecological reserve and kill endangered

species such as the Belding’s Savannah sparrow.

Health care is another issue. Our pet cats were always very well

cared for. They got their annual shots, they had the advantage of

high-tech anti-flea ointments and they went to the vet whenever they

were sick or injured.

Wild cats have no such luxuries. They suffer from injuries

incurred in the inevitable fights between cats. They are subject to

every cat disease that comes along and they spread them since they’re

not vaccinated. They also harbor and spread fleas.

Our options are limited. No-kill shelters such as the National Cat

Protection League in Newport Beach don’t take stray feral cats.

Because our city doesn’t have a contract with them, the American

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Huntington Beach

doesn’t take animals from Huntington Beach. If we live-trapped the

cat and took her to the county animal shelter in Orange, she’d

certainly be euthanized because of her lack of sociability and her

rather unattractive appearance. With all the cute kittens that are

available, most of whom don’t get adopted, no one is likely to pick

her.

This is a major problem with cats in our society. Unless owners

are responsible enough to have their pets spayed or neutered, the

cats that go outdoors are free to reproduce. Some cats just get

dumped in parks to survive, or not, on their own. Those that do

survive, contribute to the ongoing problem of feral cats.

We loved our pet cats and made sure that they had the best of

care. We had them vaccinated, treated for parasites, and made sure

they were spayed or neutered. Our last cat was an indoor cat because

we had become concerned about how many wild animals a pet cat can

kill.

Cats in the wild live short, brutish, ugly lives. We feel sorry

for the little gray ghost, but our options are few, even if we chose

to intervene. We leave her to her fate, which apparently is going to

be to have a litter of kittens in two months.

* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and

environmentalists. They can be reached at vicleipzig@aol.com.