HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Bill PresentationLate3 11/02/2009
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Attachments:
November 2, 2009
Petaluma City Council
11 English Street
Petaluma, CA 94954
RE: Animal Ordinance
Bull Frog killings
~~
- ~~
Janice Cader-Thompson [Janicecader@comcast.net]
Monday, November 02, 2009 1:47 PM
Brown, John; - City Clerk; 'Pam Torliatt'; 'Dave Glass'; Mike Healy; Teresa Barrett; Tifffany
Renee; 'Mike Harris'; David Rabbitt~
= City Clerk; CityCouncil
Re° janicecader@comcast.net has shared something with you
2009 feral catbullfrog
Dear .Mayor Torliatt and councilmember1s.
I found the attached article in the Audubon Magazine. Please read the September-October 2009
article on Feral Cats. This is where Gerald Moore of PWA got his information on killing cats
and other animals he deems dangerous to birds I do not subscribe to Audubon's approach in
dealing with Feral Cats or other animals deem dangerous to their sport. The new city
ordinance is flawed and is now law. I am not a cat lover, but I know when an ordinance is
unfair. Citizens will turn in other citizens if they have illegal feral cat colonies.
On the subject of Bullfrogs: I would like a cost estimate to drain the ponds in order to kill
bullfrog and their eggs? Growing up in Petaluma the sound of bullfrogs was normal, now they
have to be killed? What's next on the chopping block? I urge the council to have a work shop
through the Park and Recreation committee to discuss the future killing of animals.
Sincerely,
Janice Cader-Thompson, RDH
On 11/2/09 12:30 PM, "ianicecader(~comcast.net" <-janicecader(~comcast.net>
wrote:
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Audubon 1Vlagazine
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An independent atlvocate for the environment.
By Ted Nlillianrs
Felines FataPes
With something like 150 million free-ranging house cats
wreaking havoc on our wildlife, the last thing we need is
Americans sustaining them in the wild.
"Dusk descends over Honolulu, and from the shadows of bushes
'and buildings alien predators come in on little cat feet, sitting on
silent hauriches. But unlike the fog that also hangs over this
city, they do not move on. Instead, they wait to be fed.
The Uhiversty: of Hawaii is overrun,by feral house cats-more
thari one.peracre-and it smells that way. They are fed by
university professors and students,. who also trap and medicate
them; get them spayed and castrated, then release them. The
idea is that the colony will eventuall,ydie out without individuals
being subjected to the perceived hideous fate of euthanasia.
Pioneered in North America at the University of Washington in
the 19806, it's called Trap, Neuter, and Return (TNR). It's all the
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http//www: audubonmagazine. org/incite/incite0909.htm1 11 /2/2009
Audubon Magazine
rage across the United States. And it doesn't work.
David Karl, rare among TNR practitioners in that he understands
and advocates for native ecosystems, is one of the main
organizers of the feral cat welfare at the University of Hawaii.
He is, in fact, an eminent oceanographer-and member of the
Natidnal Academy of Sciences. One of his fellow professors,
ornithologist Sheila Conant, who is committed to removing eats
from bird habitat, describes him as "a fahtastic scientist who
brings in gobs and gobs of money." Karl tells me that .after 10
years of effort, about 80 percent of the feral cats on campus
have been sterilized and that, therefore, T,NR is working. In the
same breath he estimates the population at 400.
The feral cats I encountered at feeding stations at Kapiolani
Community College and Ala Moana Park, also in Honolulu,
looked sick and sad, hdt that the ones at the university had
struck me as perky. Dining with them at the college was a
mongoose, another alien scourge, inadvertehtly sustained by
cat feeders. At the park feral cats crouched, slunk, and
crunched kibbles all around me, and above me they padded
over rooftops.
My guide was Rachel Neville, manager of the Oahu Invasive.
Species Committee, which has accomplished the monumental
task of ridding the, island of coqui frogs from Puerto Rico..Her
charicesof ridding Oahu of feral cats: exactly zero. On this
island alohe there are 1,200. people registered as feraP eat
colony earegivers. And from July 1, 200.7, to June 30, 2008, the
Hawaiian Humane Society sterilized 2,573 feral cats at no
charge for 461 .people. That sounds impressive unless you
consider that 71 percent to 94 percent of a colony needs to be
sterilized before there can even be a .decline: (provided there's
no immigration), and that there are thought to be.,aG°feast
100,000 feral cats on the island. Moreover, it's nearly as hard to
trap cats as it is to herd them, and welfare programs for feral
cats encourage the dumping of unwanted pets.
According to Alley Cat.Allies,, a Bethesda, Maryland-based group
that promotes both TNR,and feral cats, there are now more
than two hundred 50.1-C3'-registered feral cat organizations
dedicated to TN12. Funding-from private donations, the pet
industry, and municipalities-is lavish. Alley .Cat Allies, for
example, has a staff of 25' and an annual operating budget of $4
million. With an endowment of $300 millioh, Maddie's Fund
(named for a deceased miniature schnauzer) awards large
grants for TNR.
Wildlife biologists and law-enforcement officials contend that in
most situations feeding feral cats violates federal law because it
facilitates "take" of species protected by the Migratory Bird
Treaty Act and/or the Endangered Species,Act. T.he take is
prodigious. The American Bird Conservancy estimates that 150
million free-ranging cats kill 500 million birds a year in the
United States. And according to apeer-reviewed study
published February 24, 2009, in Conservation eio/ogy, TNR
causes "hyperpredation," in which well-fed cats continue to prey
oh bird, mammal, reptile, and 'amphibian pbpulations so
depressed they can no idnger sustain native predators.
The political power of wildlife advocates is dwarfed by that of
the feral cat lobby. fast year, for example, it squashed federal
legislation to remove exotic species from national wildlife
refuges because feral cats might be among them. In Hawaii
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Audubon Magazine
legislation to ban the feeding of cats on state property is
invariably shouted down. "TNR advocates are very well
organized and funded," declares Steve Holmer, director of
public relations for the American Bird Conservancy. "They're
getting ordinances passed all over the place."
One of these places is the City of Los Angeles, which has
recently embraced TNR and whose animal~,services manager, Ed
Boks, proclaimed on his blog that National Audubon supports
TNR. With considerable effort, Audubon's director of bird
conservation; Greg Butcher, got him to remove that gross
misinformation.'He describes Boks as "ohe of these: people who
believes that the only reason you don't agree with .him is that
he hasn't talked to you enough." Butcher patiently explained the
virtual impossibility of'trapping and sterilizing enough cats to
eliminate reproduction in a colony, and he reminded Boks of all
the gopd wildlife areas in the jurisdiction df Los:Ahgeles. Finally,
he cited National Audubon!s board. resolutidn opposing TNR,
which reads' in part: "Feral cat colony programs; wherein feral
cats. are captured; trapped,. vaccinated, neutered, and fed, do
not eliminate predation on native wildlife or reduce the'size of
feral cat colonies; and ...bites; scratches, and fecal
contamination. from feral and free-.ranging pet cats' pd"se a risk
to the general public Yhrough transmission of diseases such as
toxoplasmosis, roundworm, and rabies."
Each time rep~esentatiyes from the environmental, commuhity
approached the city to remihd itfhat its commitment.'to TNR
required environmental review under California law, they were
blown off. Finally,. Los Angeles Auduboh, Falbs Verdes/South
Bay Audubon, the Endangered Habitats League, ahd the Urban
N/ildlands Group emphasized the. request with a lawsuit, now in
progress.
One thing the animal=rights commuhity and wildlife
advocates agree on is fhe impoctahce of keeping pet cats
indoors. But hat's only half a solution or less because cats have
beeh reproducing in the wild since. European contact. For
instance, recalling his 1866 visit to Hawaii; Mark Twain wrote: "I
saw eats-Tom eats, Mary Anh cats, long-tailed cats, bobtail
cats; blind cats, one_-eyed cats, walleyed cats; cross-eyed cats .
..platoons of cats, Companies of cats, regiments of cats,
armies of cats, multitudes of cats."
The ".multitudes" of feral cats that blight America hasten the
extinction process. Oh Hawaii's Big Islahd, for example, they
depredate about one of every ten nests of the palila-an
ehdangered honeycreeper (see "Last Chalice," Ihcite, May-Juke
2009). 'Ten thousand feet up on Mauha Loa, aats_are snatehing
endarigered Hawaiian petrels from their burrows. Tfie single
chick can't flyfor 15 weeks; and adults d.oh't breed until they're
at least five. On Kauai threatened Newell's shearwaters get
disoriented by lights and crash..Usually they're unhurt, but
because they can't take off from land pedple pick them up and
deposit.them in large "mail. boxes" at'fire stations from which
they're collected and returned to the.aea. But feral cats have
learned to congregate under the lights, :and; increasingly,
they're killing the. birds before they can. be rescued.
On Maui, where, at last count, the public maintains 110 feral cat
colohies, two cats killed 143 wedge-tailed shearwaters in one
night. Wedge-tailed shearwaters lay one egg a year after
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Audubon 1Vlagazne
they're :seven years old, and if one parent is killed, the chick
dies. One study turned. up Hawaiian stilt parts in 12 percent of
feral. cat stomachs. Scott Fisher of the Maui Coastal Land Trust
points out.thaE.seabird guano that used to enrich coastal
wetlands throughout the state has-declined to the point that
alien plants ate destrbying these habitats.
Wh"en Fern Duvall, a biologist with the Hawaii Division of
Forestry and Wildlife, compared seabird production on main
islands ahd offshore-islands where cats were absent; he found
13 percent nesting success on the former, 83 percent on the
latter.
.Duvall points out that the fact that there are fewer birds in
urban areas doesn't mean TNR_ is okay in cities like Honolulu.
"1Ne finally have ,the amakihi, one of our native~honeycreepers,
somehdw~~adjusting+to avian malaria," he says: "Ths;,is the thing
eve~yohe's'been waiting for, a forest bird adjusting to
introduced disease. They're recolohizing former`habifat in
Honolulu only to be taken out by feral cats."
Although feral cats.'elsewhere in the nation must contend
with coyotes, foxes,. fishers, bobcats, and harsh winters, they
frequently outnumber°all :fictive, midsized. mammalian predators
combined and compete with-them and raptors for prey. This is
the case in; Wiiscpnsin; where; in the late 1980s, the U.S.
Department of Agriculture and the state Departmentof`Natural
Resources fretted that ih creating new habtatfior declining
grassland. birds they were funneling them into cat gullets.
Accordingly, 'they commissioned Stanley Temple, then'a :wildlife
ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to undertake a
majorfield study of feral cats.
Temple surveyed. 1;;200 landowners in rural Wisconsin, finding
that feral cats; 'it they can be called that in a place where
winters force dependence on humans, live in barns; scavenging
and with no'vet care. Most pet cats, he learned, were allowed to
hunt outdoors. The. data provided an .accurate estimate: of at
least l.g, million.,free-ranging cats in ruraf'Wisconsin. Qnd from
observing cats he'd radio-collared and examining scats-and
stomach contents .(the latter obtained with a mild` emetic<), he
got,an accurate estimate. of between five 'and six birds killed per
cat per year: That means;that;eats,were annually knocking off
somewhere in the neigfiborhood of 8 million birds just in rural
Wisconsin.
It got so bad that in 2005 the Wisconsin Conservation
Congress-a purely advisory entity sired:by Aldo Leopold to
ensure public participation in pNlt decision making-considered
a proposal to recbmmend that free-ranging. cats'be placed' on
th,e unprotected. list;alohg'with skunks,. starlings, and the like.
At hearings ih ZZ counties the proposal was supported by a
majority°of,the public., It was hardly a radical notion because ,
cats have long been classified as unprotected wildlife in other
states. It wasn'E even necessary becausethere had'ri_ever been
a Wisconsin law against drowning, or shooting problem eats bn
one's:own property.
Still, cat lovers caterwauled. Failing to grasp the, difference
between .game protected by seasons and bag limits and
unprotected nongame, the press wrongly reported fhatthe state
was considering opening a hunting season on house cats. One
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Audubol 1Vlagazine
inflammatory piece, .in .the Wisconsin State Journal, was used. in
a Society of Environmental Journalist§-workshop as~arn-example
of howfo warp hews. The din ultimately induced Governor Jim
Doyle`to issue a proclamation that cats wouldn't be hunted in
W isaonsin..
In all his research.Temple never killed a cat. He never
advocated cat removal,. He never took a positioh oh placing cats
on the unprotected list. But because, his data 'had been cited by
wildlife adVOCatessome cat lovers.,confronted hi.m with
hysterical shrieking'sufficiently sustained to preclude response.
Others vowed to kilh him. One, womah„ recorded. on his
answering machine, hissed:"'You.cat-murdering bastard. What
goes! around comes around. I declare Stahley Temple season
open,"
Such isahe mindset oflferal cat lovers across the country. "It's
like a religion;" remarks Fern Duvall, who also gets death
threats. "You can't sit ,do.wn and reason with most of these:
people:"'Facts'.a~e dismissed, data den'ied,.sufferng^of"wildlife
and' cats"ignoted. For example; the official policy of~the No Kill
Advocacy Center of Oakland,, California, is that fecal cats-must
be protected, as "healthy-wildlife." The Santa Monica-tiased
Voice for the Animals Foundation even stocks feral.cats
(supposedly for'rod'eht control). Elizabeth Parowski;
communication"s manager fog Alley Cat Allies,. informs me that
-the American Bird Conservahcy's estimate of 500 million birds
annually killed "try. free-,ranging cats (conservative b"ecause some
estimates place the figure at,a trillion) is'°conjecture~and the
conservancy',admits that.!' Butwhen I ran her statement by
Steve Holmer, he explained that'fhe estimate isbased'on
excellent data from the'pet industry`and extrapolaEions,by
researchers like Temple. Dismissing Templetsr,statistics;
Parowski. said: °`I know:about his work. It's never 6:een ;peer-
reviewed, neverbeen published." It was subjected'to extensive
peer review and, hasi been published many limes, originally'in
the Wi%d/ife'society Bu%letin, a scientific journal.
"Feral cats are territorial," Parowski continued. "They will keep
other cats from:moving. ihto their territories. That's why trap
ahd kill is so ineffective-b'ecause' of the vacuum effect:''
Without exception I gotffiesame lihe from every" TN12 outfit I
consulted. It's rubbish. "The, very fact that you can create `a
feral eatcolony tells you they're not}territorial" says Temple.
Last-yearNawaii Audubon Society president John Harrisoh
attempted, to penetrate the feral cat mihdset by fi'osting a
presentation by the state's seabird, shorebird, watertii~ii
coordinator„Norma B'ustos. "No amount of exposition of rational
facts could sway.the cat lobby;"'he.told me. "Norma was very
calm and even-handed." Still, cat lovers screamed at her after
she showed photos of :cat feces full of bird 6andsy Hawaiian
petrels decapitated by cats, cat-mangled wedge-tailed
shea~water5,:and a video of a cat dragging a palila chickfrom.
its nest. Attehdees trotted out the old fairy tale that if more
people fetl feral-cats, they wouldn't eat;tiirds, WhenBustos
;suggested that pet cats should ,be kept ihdoors, a cat lover
,angrily intoned: "If you`re so worried ..about the birds, you
•should keep them indoors:"
'When.. L' met with; Bustos at the town of Kailua she. expressed as
much":concerh,about damage to wildlife by cat diseases as cat
clavJs a"ndtteeth'. About 73 perceht.of feral cats ;in her state aye
infected' with toxoplasmosis, a parasite that sheds oocysts .into
'the bowel. Cats are the only vector. Copious~oocyst-laden cat
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11 /2/2009
Audubon Magazine.
feces is killing, red-footed boobies and endangered nene geese..
- - _~..
When fhe~disease startetl killing ehdangered Hawaiian crows; "all
bids had to be evacuated from the wild and now must be
,maintained in :captivity,:Endangered monk seals have died frdm
it. It's nearly as bad in,ofner states. Cats. have passed'
toxoplasmosis to harbor seals, California sea lions; and sea
otters. Ohe study found toxoplasmosis_ in 42 percent,of live sea
otters and 62 percent of dead ones.
In humans toxoplasmosis damages embryos;: cans"ng :infant
mortality, ce~e6~al'.palsy, .blindhess,, mental retardation; and
other birth defects. Recently Bustos'visited a feral cat feeding
station at an Oahu water park... She repoits'that'the place
reeked of'cat urine-,and that~cat feces could be fouling the pool
in which kids and pregnant women were swimming: Feral eats
are also:transfercing°roundwo~ms,.hookworms, and ringworm (a
fungus infectidn) to humans and wildlife. In Florida ~Z5 percent
of feral eats studied'had' hbo,kworms and 93.percent had fleas,
which passsuch,diseaseS as Bartonella, Ricksettia, and. Coxiella
between animals and..humans::About 80 percent of rabies shots
administered;to~humans result from contact°wiEh feral or stray
eats., Feral cats,spread''the'feline leukemia virus td' cougars and
possibly feline;d.istempernnd an immune deficiency disease to
endangered Florida paritners. Stanley Temple was recently
delighted to find a denning bobcat on•his.property.; When all the
kittens died he had' hem autopsied. "They'd succumbed to
feline distemper;'° he told me. "The only source 'in the area is
free-ranging .house eats. The mother may have killed some:''
If there's one' animal=welfare group that deserves respect;
it's the Humane Society'of the United States: It doesn't pretend
thatjfe'ral.cats doii'tSufferorthattfey,ddn't;kill wildlife or
transmit dangerous diseases: In 1992 ih bffered this excellent
advice~'`Responsi.bility means rescuing he cats ahd either
taming ahem and placing them in homes;; or humanely ending
their lives, but nothing;sliort of;either." But now•the Human. e
~. - _
Society tout5TNR. Why the flip-flop, Masked CE0'Wayne '
Pacelle. ?'The-Tabor+that`the T.NR folks hvest is `beyond
formidable ' he,rephed'. ='I'--thought iCwas tietter to work with
them; and'to encourage. others fo'actively .manage these,
populations; than to `simply will This away: I'd rather Kaye
manageij colonies than unmanagetl, and,;those are the two
primary options, based on my experiences and observations."
Some Audubon chapters agree. They'ye settled for TN R, but not
because it's"a goodidea: The City pf'Cape May, New Jersey„
with sbme of the. most important shorebird, habitat in the nation,
recently passed an ordinance permitting'TNR-this"to the horror
of the New Jersey Audubon Society, which fiercely opposed pit.
Town after New Jersey town followed suit: Finally, with the
baffle clearly loch and fiacing the "option ao-do{something
instead'of nothing,".as E~ic'Stiles,`wice;presidehtfor
conservation'and'stewa~iiship,.puts it, New JerseyA"udubon
began working with and thereby marginally controlling TNR
practitioners. Thus was„born the New Jersey Feral Cat Wildlife
Coalition, in which sponsors of feral cat colonies agree to, keep
the colonies away from ne'sfing areas (though. eats can get there
easily enough). In Cape May, at least; stei-'ilization rates are
probably higher than any ohner`TNR program in the nation.
Forty percenh ofahe birds that Bob Sallinger, conservation
director of the Audubon Society of Poitland, Oregon, treats at
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Audubon Magazine ~ Page 7 of 8
his rehabilitation center are-cetvictims, and_ few survive.. He
hates'puttirig'cats:back into the. wild, but=he has hatched a
partnership: with a`TNR group called the Feral Cat Coalition. It's
worth it; _he opines, if the`parthership puts outa'unified
message that pef;;catsneed to be_ kept ihdoors and if the
caretakers keep their promise to ,keep TNR colohies~away from
natural areas.
These°walliances were;high-profiled in theiHumarie Soeiety!s
March'-April 2009. All A'rima/s magazine: The' piece`is "well writteh
and sincere, but they message, is wrong. Attempting. damage I
control bycollaboYating with TNR groups may occasionally be
necessary, but it's hardly something'we should feel warm and j
tingly about or promote as a final .goal. The authors of the
February `24,• 2009; .Conservation .Biology piece. explain why::
"Published researeli has been.:distorted by'TNR' proponents(wifh
little response from the scientific community;. perhaps h part
because TNR has 6eeii approached largely'as an animal welfare
issue ihstead of being reciignized as a broad ehvironmental
issue with;°a.ran;geof ~impacts~on~speciesconse'rvatioh,'fihe i
physical environment;=and' human health."
In rural areas where; feral.catsare killirig threatened; or ~
endangered wildlife, sometimes the orilypractical way fiir state
or federal management agencies to~deal with them (and
therefore the way-required 6y the'Endangered Species Act),is I
for animal-control professionals retained by state ~or federal
resources agencies to shoot them in the head. with rifles,;. a form
ofeuthanasia .approved; as humane by the American Veteririary
Medical Association. This approach is certairily kinder.toahe-cats
thah sfressing them with traps, trarisport; and ev.entua.lly :and
almost inevitably lethal injection at shelters:
A"pother cooperative:effort profilei;by°fhe;Humane;Societys its
_.
recent agreement with •the U.S. Fish and Wildlife,;Service to care.
for feral :cats the agency traps from 14`,500-acre'San Nicolas
Island, off the California, coast. Despite a. prolonged riafionaf
stink'tluring which the{service received roughly 6`;000 public
comments, all the cats~,have to go because the U,S_. Nauy,;, which
owns the islahd, is committed to protecting wildlife on all its
properties Arid>fherefore forbids'TNR. Cats are!;decimating
seabirds as well as federally'threatened'islapd night I'izards and
western snowy ploversy, They're^also depressing the' endemic
deer mice that sustain the state-threatenetl'San Nicolas Island
foie.
Feral, kittens can be convert"ed'tb pets, but adults have great
difficulty adapting to captivity. Still the HumaheSociety has
agreed to take trapped adult eats from the islarid and maintain
them indoors for the ;remainder of their lives. The' Fish. and
WildlifeServiceclaimsthat it'wll use.l,ive trapping,as ifs j
"primary removal method." But in what iY calls a ^,pilot i ~
program;" in .late 2008 and early 2009-the service succeeded in
trapping only',seven cats; and:no;one who knows feral cats
believes'thaE`the vastriiajority won't be'aontCOlled.by~the
service.?s•little mentioned, secondary methotl'-the rifle:.. j ~
E
E
Like so many of his colleagues, Ferri :.Duvall°would dike to 'see i
cities,,atates, and federal agencies follow the Navy's enlightened
_.
example. In fact, he wahts people who feed feral cats I
prosecuted iinderthe Migratory Bird Treaty Act and/or'the ~
' Endari.gered Species Act. But`the departments 'of Justicerand }
1
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Audubon Magazirie~
Interior lack the stomach. "There's"still a disconnect between
the tower and higher echelons when it,comes to hot political
issues," says Duvall.
That kind of timidity sacrifices. wildlife, 6etra.ys the, public,.
.ignores the Fish and Wildlife,Service's mandate; and flouts
federal law. To borrow Duvall's:analogy, it's as if 19th century
.legislators had declared,; "Well,. American:. women really want
those millinery--'feathers; and :we're just•.riot- goirig'to bother with
that"'.But those legislators, yielded to~the tough,: tenacious
foundecs.of`the Audubon.. movement in the early 19QOs, and .the
feather trade'was permahenEly'shut down. That example seems
lost:on,today's'wildlife advocates, at least when it comes to
dealingwith the feral cat!~~~lo'titiy.
"Uhfortunately; the cat- people have arr emotional, appeal with
the public thaYs superor'to.aoything we bird people. have,"says
Audubon's Greg Butcher,¢ "We,just have to- take tfis!free-
ranging-cat problem head on." ThaYs not• goin'geto be easy or-
pretty:, Sterilizing pee'catsiand keeping ahem indoors, caging
feral cat coldnes, ahd even lethal control won't olve°the
problem:. These measures are, however, the best we' can do;,
and they will ,help.. a lot:
WMAT YOU''CAN DQ
For instructions on how. to ,break ,your cat's outside Habits,
go to the American Eiird' Gonservancy's~Cats.IndUprs!
campaigri.'.Cat "bibs`' can 6elp'save birds; see Field N'i7tes, .
January.-February 2Q08. Push' fir~the permanent removal of
free-ranging cats nearnatural areas. Speak out against '
TNR, especially°municipal ordinances.
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