A Killing Machine Lives Under My Deck
This is a picture I took after our last major snowstorm. My wife has several bird feeders around our back porch, and this one is for one of her favorite birds; the black capped chick-a-dee. Beside the chick-a-dee there are some wrens and nuthatches frequenting our back porch. It’s nice to sit in my lazy-boy, and enjoy the fluttering in and out, of these neat little winged friends. I’m not so sure we did them a favor though, as I watched a black cat lie in wait for dinner to come to the feeder. Before I knew what was going on, the cat made a lunge after a low flying songbird! He missed, but judging from his appearance he’s been eating on a regular basis. Not too many years ago I watched as our neighbors cat crept up on an unsuspecting robin. The robin saw the cat and was about 4-foot off the ground when the leaping cat’s talons dug in. Dinner was served! My guess is that more than one bird has succumbed to this stealthy black killing machine! This adult cat has two half grown kittens following her wherever she goes.
I don’t know where they came from, and I’m 99% sure they are strays, living under my back deck. The tracks in the snow indicate this to be true. The humane society will take them, but I have to catch them, and my experience with that scenario is not good! Neither my wife or I want to kill them, but we don’t want to be feeding them our fine-feathered-friends either! I don’t own a live trap, and I’m not real excited about spending 50-60 bucks to buy one. If you readers have any suggestions, send them along - the feathers are piling up.
Mike
January 7th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
You can pick up a decent Hav-a-hart trap for a reasonable price, and it’s a cinch to catch cats. While trying to trap the coons that were raiding my koi pond a few years ago, we caught the same three cats over and over again. We kept one, got it spayed, and it made an OK pet. The rest went to the pound.
Oh, to catch the coon instead of cats, I finally had to change bait to peanut butter.
I have no sympathy for feral cats. I mean, it’s not their fault that they’re just doing what cats do, but they’re still destructive and alien to the habitat. They have to go, just like any other destructive pest.
January 7th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
Sounds like a definite problem Mike. I wish I had a suggestion, but I truly don’t. Good luck with whatever you try.