You can’t reform a four-paw killer
THE Mail reports that authorities in Amsterdam are bringing in a law which says every cat must have a bell on its collar, to reduce predation of wildlife. As the owner of a cat with a bell on its collar, I have to tell them it won’t work. Ever since we got our rescue cat, Panda, nearly four years ago, he has worn a collar with a bell. It in no way limited his hunting ability. We live in a rural area and the local countryside serves as a large buffet for him. In the past month alone he has brought into the house two squirrels, a thrush and a dozen mixed mice, voles and shrews (not all dead). How many creatures he has killed and left outdoors we have no idea.
We suspect that, having lived wild for a period, he had to hone his hunting skills to survive. At any rate, hanging a bell around his neck has had no effect. I attach a picture of Panda (top right), should you care to illustrate this letter with his mugshot, as you would articles about other murderers.
BOB CUBITT, Daventry, Northants.
CATS that hunt are expert predators, hence the alarm calls from the bird community if a cat is in the vicinity. As Jane Fryer pointed out in her excellent recent article (Mail), cats that hunt, unlike those predators which hunt only when hungry, do so relentlessly and will catch, maul and kill any wildlife that moves. Without swift treatment, any mauling that breaks the skin will result in death, usually from sepsis contracted from the bacteria on a cat’s teeth and claws. Cats that are allowed to roam, unlike house cats, are more likely to contract diseases from rodents and elsewhere. Kittens learn hunting skills from their mothers; those kept indoors usually don’t develop a hunting obsession. Fitting a bell to a cat collar, though, which has long been optimistically promoted by the RSPB, simply means you have a musical predator.
BILL NAYLOR, Wilsford, Lincs.
I’D LIKE to believe the bell-on-collar theory but my daughter, who once had a ‘shop moggie’ with a bell on its collar in the business she ran, often found dead mice and birds on the floor when she opened up in the morning.
MARTIN HAVARD, Chulmleigh, Devon.
CAN people please add a nappy as well as a bell (Mail) to their cat’s outdoor wear? It would save us having to pick up poo from our gardens.
ED JONES, Hertford.
CATS do what nature has programmed them to do, which is jump on anything that moves. The thought of millions of small mammals at large does not bear contemplating. Cats have their uses and we should be grateful. The Ancient Egyptians were.
Mrs DOREEN HALE, Willingham, Cambs.