E-mails from this morning:
Oak Hill Woods Board [oakhillwoods@yahoo.com]
Terry, thanks for the reply. It was not my intent to delve into city law or VHS policies. I just wanted to point out to one neighbor the impact their actions were having on another neighbor. It seems that feeding the cats draws them to a certain place and like all wild animals they then wander within that area. It is when those animals become a nuisance that I get concerned. Any suggestions/help you can offer that would allow you to enjoy the animals while at the same time allowing other residents to enjoy their property is appreciated.
Thanks
Terry Keil, President
OHWC
Megabozo [harold@haroldsroom.net]
Hi. I am in the middle of composing a personal note to you (and the board) which touches on these things. I will send it shortly.
Megabozo [harold@haroldsroom.net]
Good morning Terry:
I wanted to drop you a personal note this morning thanking you and the rest of the board for your patience and all you have said or done in trying to help us deal with the cat situation. You know as well as I that we have done everything we can possibly do to keep the cats from wandering, which is why we feed them. We don’t want them scrounging around all over the commons looking for food. Most of the time they are within my view, or I know where they are and what they are doing. The tiny percentage of the time they wander off deeper into the woods or into the street and head south I cannot control. They are very intelligent, and very curious. They are also afraid of most humans, and if approached they will run. They are not aggressive in any way, shape or form. Lisa and I have spent a great deal of time working with them so that they consider our patio area as their safe haven and remain here as much as possible, or return here when they feel threatened. We also stopped putting the cat food outside and stopped feeding it to the raccoons quite some time ago, because I did not want to further exacerbate the problem. We now feed the cats in the sunroom every morning so as not to have carnivore food outside, and the only foods I put out now for the birds and animals are items that carnivores will not eat: sunflower seed, bananas, grapes, blueberries, strawberries, melon, stale bread and the like. There are no carnivore attractants in our ground pans or our feeders. I would also like to mention that on five separate occasions I have personally seen these cats run off other feral cats that were trying to move into the area, cats which had not been sterilized or inoculated, so VHS was correct in that if these cats were not here to chase the new arrivals away we’d be starting from scratch with unsafe animals that would roam much farther. Nature abhors a vacuum, and the food chain slot will be filled by something, and in all likelihood it will be other feral cats. I am truly sorry for the inconvenience, but I wanted to assure you that we have done and will continue to do all we can to minimize this, and that we have followed the law to the letter as best we can per the interpretations and instructions we were given. I am also sorry for the tone of my reply yesterday, but I thought it best that the formal reply to the board missive be restricted to facts, possible solutions for others I have found to be effective, and pertinent aspects of the law regarding community cats. It is not our intention to buck the board, or cause any problems. We strictly want to do what we feel is the right thing to do for these animals, and be law-abiding citizens.
Warmest regards,
Terry