Just before Christmas our cat Runty died and I wasn’t in any rush to find a replacement. I like cats well enough but I wouldn’t consider them one of life’s essentials. You can’t ride them; they won’t come with you on walks or bark at burglars or gaze at you like you’re the most wonderful, special, adorable person in the entire universe; plus, of course, they are the most evil, deadly and inappropriate predator.
Domestic cats kill an estimated 55 million birds each year in the UK alone — and an estimated total (when you add in all the mice, voles, slow-worms, newts and so on) of 275 million wild animals. When you live close to nature, as we do in the country, you see what a terrible struggle it is for animals just to stay alive under normal conditions. Introducing a moggy to your local ecosystem seems an act of wanton vandalism: like letting a hungry lion into a school playground.
Read the rest in the Spectator.
I know what you mean James. Georgie, my Maine Coon died back in October, and I miss him terribly. I think I can help though, the reason that you may be worrying yourself to death like this, is because those cats are more like dogs or horses than any other cat. I remember a Christmas lunch in a previous house when George was still knee h to a gh, and he entertained us by playing with an urban fox for at least an hour, they were both playing a game of tag with a bush just outside the window. Marvellous.… Read more »
James, I suggest you actually look into where those figures came from, for birds and small mammals killed by cats. They are incorrect but are repeated often in lazy journalistic pieces. Shame, as otherwise it’s a nice article.
I have dogs and cats, of various breeds. The key to a stress-free home is zero tolerance with the dogs. They take instruction; cats generally don’t.