THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 



THE CAT PROBLEM 



By 

 DR. WITMER STONE 



Curator Academy of Natural Sciences 

 Philadelphia, Pa. 



Splendid results have been attained during the past year 

 toward the better protection of wild birds and animals. It seems 

 high time that we take up a phase of the subject that comes near 

 home to every household in the country. This is the cat question. 

 There is, I think, no doubt that for years past the greatest 

 destructive agency to our smaller song and insectivorous birds 

 has been the cat. 



In an editorial in "Forest and Stream" for November 15, 

 1913, that is well worth reading, the subject is taken up from 

 the standpoint of the sportsman and the destruction of young 

 and adult quail effected by cats is rated as great as that from 

 any other agency. "The English keeper," the writer says, "well 

 understands the injury done in the preserves by the domestic cat 

 and wages against it a war as bitter, and as uncompromising, as 

 that which he carries on against the stoat or any of the hawks." 



The number of stray cats at large in the United States is 

 enormous. It is stated in "Bird Lore" that the number put out 

 of existence in New York City by the Society for Prevention of 

 Cruelty of Animals during the first nine months of 1905 totaled 

 53,938 ! The stray cats are usually the worst offenders and if 

 means could be adopted to effect their slaughter and to instruct 

 people in the danger that they inflict upon bird life by allowing 

 cats to run wild and leaving them behind when they move 

 away, some good would be accomplished. The whole question 

 of the economic value of the cat, it seems to us, would be a 

 valuable line of investigation. If the destruction of mice offsets 

 the destruction of game and insectivorous birds, then the cat 

 deserves consideration, but if the keeping of cats is to be regarded 

 as merely a "luxury," or if they are proven to be more noxious 

 than beneficial to wild life, then their possession should be 

 guarded with stringent restrictions, or taxation. 



Is it not time that organizations of sportsmen, Audubon 

 societies and the Department of Agriculture join forces in giving 

 the cat question serious attention? 



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