Letter: Killer cats

Charles Maybourne
Monday 06 December 1999 00:02 GMT
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Sir: Vincent R Holmes (letter, 30 November) is quite right to name the domestic cat as the biggest killer of garden wildlife, and this is true in both town and country.

I spent several years making a garden attractive to wildlife, but this year my neighbour's newly acquired cat has killed, or destroyed the nests of robin, blue tit and blackbird. I have not seen a vole or field mouse since it appeared.

Its murderous intent unsatisfied, it then turned its attention to hooking newts out of the pond. I bitterly resent the fact that someone else's pet can enter my property and cause such damage, and I have no rights to take action against them. I am no proponent of fox hunting, but I wonder how many who oppose it keep cats.

Fox hunts kill, so we are told, a few thousand foxes, but cat owners, by allowing their pets to carry on their murderous activities unchecked are thereby directly responsible for the killing of millions of birds, small mammals and reptiles. If anyone knows of a cat-hunt, I would willingly join it.

CHARLES MAYBOURNE

Capel

Kent

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