Back to problematic normality…. or a cataclasm?

I am a cat lover. So after spending time pontificating about the problems of coronavirus and how the powers that be intend to solve them, I decided to have a swift eyeballing of some of the other, lesser ( of course), annoyances that had become troublesome.

So to lay aside and dispel everyday agonies like the ripping up of the local marijuana groves, child killers on the loose, motorway banditry by ‘ Romanian’ stand and deliver criminals, drug muggers and private pugilistic OAPs thumping each other to death in public, etc… I decided to check out some of the situations and problems facing the local fourlegged animal fraternity and what a surprise I was in for!

I’ll begin with a ‘ flash back’ to the early seventies, when it occurred to me that cats were largely considered hereabouts as being as obnoxious as rats and mice. The banks and slopes of a slimy pond adjacent to the nearby ‘ playa’ was home territory for a host of feral half- starved cats that survived on anything vaguely consumable. To observe these sad, illfated animals was not a pleasant experience; quite heart- breaking in fact.

In my previous life before moving to Spain, I had a couple of pet Siamese cats, which were a delight to behold in every way. Sadly and by comparison, when I arrived here the first felines I came across were feral and starving. A short distance inland the country ‘ campo cats’ were regarded solely as rodent deterrents by farmers, but that’s another story.

At this juncture, rather sickened, I tried to turn a blind eye to animal problems.

However, my new home sat amidst several square metres of orchard. Almond, citrus and pear trees shared the territory with any number of wild, and I mean wild creatures. There were reptiles and rodents, a couple of grass snakes, a viper, several types of rats, a pair of heavy breathing iguanas, a lurking salamander and a family of geckos gymnastically skittered around the bedroom ceilings.

My daughter, who studied at Sierra Bernia school, was having none of this. She took matters into her own hands and drove home from school one evening with a kitten in a basket strapped to the front of her Derby moto. When she was chastised – by now I was also ‘ up to here’ with four legged lodgers – she told me that a Spanish friend had advised that to get rid of rodents and reptiles a cat was needed. Oh dear… it transpired that one of her friend’s feline litter was available!

Moving on, we did follow the ‘ cat’ advice and saw off the wild life, but it was replaced by a rapidly increasing family of deterrent cats. That the cats cost a fortune to feed was something else! Eventually we moved away but I reckon… thirty years on, the feline family could still be living there!

Now, tempus fugit, probably due to the influx of pet- loving northern Europeans, the fashion for ‘ house pets’ arrived and became something of a cult. Almost every breed of dog, many from distant parts of the world, became playthings and walking companions for strutting señoritas!

Inevitably, cats also gravitated from mangy scroungers to house pets too. As with the melange of dogs, the cats reemerged as preening pets, whatever the breed, with some having been imported from other climes.

I did not import one despite my feelings for felines but from my veranda, which overlooks green sward and a semi- tropical, tree- shaded area, I am able to watch the antics of house trained pussies once more. There are black ones, ginger ones, white ones, even multicoloured ones, all of which appeared to claim their territories and patrol parking places like guard cats! In a short time, things have changed once again.

Probably due to the mass exit of many folk, probably coronavirus influenced, in some areas cats have become feral again and are multiplying rather rapidly. History repeating itself… who knows?

Recent reports have indicated that the business of dealing with stray cats has become an ongoing problem. Obviously, sterilisation is a logical answer but the necessary veterinary aid costs can be high.

Needless to say, the problem is by no means confined to one area. Cats in nuisance numbers have been giving local authorities headaches to such a degree that pussy lovers are even offering help with rodent clearance too.

The precept is that felines naturally keep down rats and mice infestations, so they should be protected. Once more, sterilisation may be necessary but separating rogue wild cats from domesticated cats will be a problem.

SO WHAT’S NEW?!