The front page of the May 24 News was certainly an eye-catcher, but the view of a “local advocate” who maintains domestic cats should be licensed and kept indoors to reduce wildlife casualties is not shared by everyone.
Why would you license a pet that is kept indoors? Seems like yet more restriction of animal and citizens rights. Of course one always needs responsible pet owners – but not imprisonment of innocent pet cats indoors for life.
One often hears pets are “like family,” and not many people would lock up family members and never allow them outdoors.
The real problem may be that other factors are more to blame than might at first be apparent. If government would curtail clear-cutting of large areas of green space for more and more development, might not birds and other wildlife have sufficient areas to live that are not so close to residential homes? Who is to blame in these conditions?
There are so many examples where the fault lies firstly with humans, but putting in cruel laws is not an acceptable solution. If some think licensing and imprisonment is a viable lifestyle for any animal, I suggest they try visiting an animal “factory farm.”
Lila Rauh, Mission
