What Would Andy Do?

     Long ago a timeless classic was created called The Andy Griffith Show. Among the many memorable episodes in  the one titled "Opie the Birdman" Barney gives Opie a slingshot. Andy soon comes upon a bird Opie has killed. Andy wonders aloud in sad amazement that "the neighbor's cat has killed one of Aunt Bea's song birds". He tells himself he'll have to tell the neighbor to keep their cat indoors. Opie raises the nestlings & all is well in Mayberry. In wonderful Mayberry fledglings are hardy & no cats run loose. Even by the 60's, Sheldon Leonard and his writers knew cats were a likely suspect in any bird death. We all know that cats running loose equal dead birds. These days the millions of free roaming feral and domestic cats kill hundreds of millions birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and other species in the U.S. each and every day. As a nation our society must now take stock of the fact that cats are a huge menace to our environment. Habitat depletion is the #1 reason for all new extinctions and invasive species are #2. Cats are our number one invasive species in the Texas killing anything they can in our environment. It is estimated by the American Bird Conservancy (abcbirds.org) the U.S. may have as many as 200 million cats. If we do not have that many cats now, we soon will. ABC estimates 120 million cats are feral and the other 80 million are owned or semi-owned. Cats are simple animals with about half the chromosomes of dogs and a small frontal cortex. It is estimated about 60% of all companion pet owners have cats & 60% of those owners have multiple cats. Only one out of three owners keep their cat indoors. Sheriff Andy Taylor would be weep to see the state of our bird decline in America. Birders of America should band together to protect the 800 plus song bird species in decline. Birders need to write their elected officials and demand sweeping changes in our policies for avian protection. We must demand bird friendly laws be enacted and enforced. Policy should support the laws that require restrictions for free roaming cats, licensing for breeding and sales. Mandatory registration is a must. We hobble our officers in the field if we do ont have registration. A big percentage of animal nuisance calls lead to felonies. Seesm how aperosn treats hteir aniamsl is a direct indicator of how they treat other folks or behave in general. Our other companion animals will benefit and many species will be protected when we break the paradigm that allows free roaming cats as the rule rather than the exception in our society. So remember the words of our favorite sheriff. Keep your cat indoors and push the appropriate elected people to protect our birds. I bet that's what Andy would do.