Wish I didn't have a light!

Monocrom

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Ever see those old RoadRunner cartoons where the coyote ends up in a dark cave. Then lights a match to see what's in front of him; then realizes he's surrounded by cases of TNT, drums of black powder, and jars of nitroglycerin. You know that right before everything explodes, he wished he didn't have a light.

I got that feeling earlier tonight. But no explosives were involved.

I feed the stray cats at the industrial job-site where I work. Mainly I feel sorry for Mama cat. She had, and took care of, 3 kittens before all of them were caught and "put to sleep." She's still around, and so are at least 3 male cats. I accidentally came up on her once while she was nursing one of her young. (That's why I call her Mama cat). During another incident, I left some food out. She stayed back while letting her 3 little ones eat first.

As a stray though, she runs away whenever I get near. I feed the cats at one certain spot where I know they can usually be found. Tonight, I went to that spot with some cat food. Found a dead animal very near the spot. Not sure what it was at first. But when I pulled out my single-stage Surefire E2DL, it was obvious what it was. But thankfully not Mama cat.

It was either a small cat or large kitten. (Ironically, one I had never seen before). Something had removed it from this world. Possibly a losing battle with a wild goose, or perhaps with another cat that didn't want to share the food I left. One thing is for sure . . . It was the only time I wished I didn't have a powerful light.
 

Flying Turtle

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Very nice of you to feed the little beasties. I would probably be doing the same. I hope someone where you work hasn't put out baited food for the cats.

Geoff
 

RA40

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Sometimes it is better off not knowing but such is the nature of not knowing what may be seen, good or bad.

We'd taken a walk along a coastal region in Cen Cal. It was dark and with the faint moon, I made out a roundish lump along the beach. Curiosity struck so we wandered down the pathway toward the beach and I used the HDS U-60 on it. It was a partially eaten harbor seal. Over night the tide came in and it was washed back out.
 

LukeA

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It's better not to feed feral cats and other wild animals. You're just propping up an unnaturally large population that will always end up like your example cat there.
 

Monocrom

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It's better not to feed feral cats and other wild animals. You're just propping up an unnaturally large population that will always end up like your example cat there.

I honestly don't think of cats as wild animals. They become wild if no one takes care of them, or if they are born without experiencing warm human contact. Of the three kittens mentioned above, one stood out in particular. He was white, with a few orange spots. Completely adorable ... And horribly afraid. He almost seemed to shake with fear whenever I came by, and I'd come by with food.

One time, he ran away from me and ended up in a sunken driveway. He ran to the far wall, and desperately clawed his way up it. Well; more like tried to. He only stopped when he was exhausted from the effort. It was a bit of a disturbing sight actually. He finally climbed over when he got to a shallower spot.

He lived his entire short little life in abject fear and terror, with just a few moments of warmth from when Mama cat would groom him with her tongue. I have a feeling that when he was caught, he panicked. He likely freaked out when the end came. He was a fast little guy. Clearly his fear motivated him. If he freaked out like that when there was no danger, imagine what he did when there was.

Management does indeed put out baited food for the cats. The little ones didn't know how to tell the difference between safe and baited food. All three were caught in a day or so. None of the large cats went for it. Mama cat is still around. I hope her tiny brain prevents her from thinking about the unknown (at least to her) fate of her kittens.

While upper-management would agree with you. Those just above me in positions of authority at the site, they'd rather the cats have a fighting chance at survival. Hell, they know I feed those cats. There's cameras every where. There's one right next to where I put the food down. I pretend it's not there ... They pretend they don't see me on the camera.
 

Radiophile

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Why don't you find a local cat rescue and ask them to come out to trap the feral cats? They'll get them to somone who will take care of them, and hopefully get them fixed so they stop reproducing. A girlfriend of mine worked for a cat rescue and would often get a family of cats to socialize them to people. It takes a while and a patient person to do it, but it works and it's very worthwhile to those who do it.
 

fyrstormer

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It's a good idea to feed them just enough so they don't starve to death when the rodent population is low. That's why people domesticated cats in the first place -- to control rodent infestations on farms. Nowadays people complain about cats killing birds, but ya know, I've watched my cats hunt birds for hours at a time, and I've never seen a cat kill a bird that wasn't attracted to the area by a birdfeeder. So to all those bird-lovers who want to ***** about cats killing their birds -- if you love the birds so damn much, stop attracting them down to the ground in the middle of your lawn where anything from a cat to a fox to a hawk can catch them and eat them.
 

fyrstormer

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Why don't you find a local cat rescue and ask them to come out to trap the feral cats? They'll get them to somone who will take care of them, and hopefully get them fixed so they stop reproducing. A girlfriend of mine worked for a cat rescue and would often get a family of cats to socialize them to people. It takes a while and a patient person to do it, but it works and it's very worthwhile to those who do it.
The answer to that is easy: some of us don't want cats to stop reproducing, and we don't think cats live better when they're kept inside so they never have anything to do but sleep 20 hours a day. If you ever knew a real outdoor cat, they don't sleep much more than humans do, because they're not bored and depressed being stuck in a box all their lives.

Yes, when you let cats outside they do tend to **** on bushes and fight with each other, but you know what? ALL animals do that, even humans. I guaranteed you've pissed on a bush before, and defended your turf before. Why do people object when any other animal does it? Hell, at least cats didn't invent nuclear weapons.
 
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fyrstormer

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It's better not to feed feral cats and other wild animals. You're just propping up an unnaturally large population that will always end up like your example cat there.
You mean like what we do to ourselves? The way we stuff ourselves with thousands of calories more than we need, crank out kids like half of them will die before age 5 even though we've virtually eradicated childhood disease, and force ourselves to live in smaller and smaller spaces because our population is exploding? Yes, we should definitely practice what we preach, but we should practice it on ourselves first.

Everyone who was ever born has died, or will die someday. It doesn't matter what you do. So saying that he shouldn't feed the cats because they're going to die anyway makes absolutely no sense.
 
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fyrstormer

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Completely adorable ... And horribly afraid. He almost seemed to shake with fear whenever I came by, and I'd come by with food.
Two bits of advice, coming from a lifetime of living with cats.

1. Learn how to meow. That's how they say "please". Nobody says "please" when they want to fight.

2. Humans are incredibly intimidating to most animals because we stand on our hind legs all the time and we show our teeth when we're happy. That is a very aggressive posture, and it's probably the reason why most animals leave us the hell alone or attack us out of nowhere. It's like walking around with a gun pointed in front of you all the time. If you want to tell a cat you're not looking for a fight (or trying to eat it), lay down on your back, tilt your head back, and look at them upside-down. It's the most non-threatening posture they know, which is why they do that when they're comfortable. I can understand why you'd not want to do that right next to a dumpster, but it works every single time. I've had cats that would hiss and run away, never get within ten feet of me, that would turn around and walk right up and sniff my face when I laid down on my back.
 

andyw513

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That's a great thing you do, sorry to hear about the cat though. Our home is kind of like a shelter almost for people who don't want animals...they know we'll take care of them, so about 4-5 times a year we hear and old beat-up car full of nimrods come up and turn and then we hear a door slam.

That's how we got two of our cats that we have now.

But I guess I can agree it was best if you didn't have a light...I kind of wished I had a bright light when those low-lifes came up and set those out on us...maybe with a rock in the other hand.
 
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