Cats and the Ecosystem
On Easter Sunday, April 16, 2001, our family's 13--year--old cat, Tiger, disappeared. He had been ill and was about a month into a recovery that saw him staying indoors and acting afraid of unusual or loud sounds. Our veterinarian hypothesized that curing Tiger's ear infection may have suddenly heightened his sense of hearing, thereby creating a world of sensations he wasn't used to. So he was more skittish than usual.
My wife and I were away Easter weekend; our son took care of our pets. When Tiger wanted to go out, our son let him out. When Tiger wanted in, he let him in. The third time, Tiger didn't come back. This was the only time in 13 years he didn't return within 24 hours, and even a 12-hour absence was highly unusual.
We wonder whether something scared him out of his home range-his territory-so that he couldn't find his way home. Posted notices and newspaper ads brought no responses. We didn't know whether he left to go off and die. Some people say cats do that, you know. We weren't happy about the latter suggestion because it hurt our feelings leaving us unceremoniously after we took such good care of him for so long. Did he belong to us or did we belong to him? I suppose we'll never know.
Tiger's disappearance left more than a big hole in our hearts. His disappearance left a hole in our backyard ecosystem. During the 13 years he lived with us, we knew he caught an occasional rabbit or bird and made life hell for chipmunks. We had no idea just how many rabbits and chipmunks he hunted down. We do now.
We now recognize Tiger's impact on the ecosystem because we have been overrun by a biblical plague of rabbits and chipmunks that are eating certain perennials (rudbeckia, coreopsis) right down to the ground. New creeping roses quickly became a favorite. To save some of our plants, I put plastic netting around a metal fence because the latter wasn't tight enough to keep the rabbits and chipmunks out. Mostly it's the rabbits that are at fault.
Our rabbit plague makes us sympathize with Australians who have their own massive rabbit problem. Photos comparing rabbit-free areas versus infested areas are startling. But as much as Aussies dislike rabbits, many dislike cats even more. Reportedly there are 12 million feral cats accused of eating defenseless birds and small marsupials, of which Australia has many.
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