Deadly Kitties

I’ve said for years that I won’t keep a cat because they kill so many things, including birds and lizards that I want to have around my yard. Now comes a new, authoritative study by the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that concludes domestic cats, both pets and feral animals, kill 2.4 billion songbirds and 12.3 billion mammals nationwide every year. “The estimated kill rates position the domestic cat as one of the single greatest human-linked threats to wildlife in the nation,” notes an article about the study in the New York Times. I can only hope people will finally take note of this little-acknowledged environmental disaster, another in a long list perpetrated by humans.

The Snow Dog

“This is great!”

After a recent snowfall, we discovered that Ray shares our appreciation of snow. He had never seen snow before in his young life, since he just turned two and we had a relatively warm, snowless winter last year. But the first time his paws touched the white stuff this month, he raced around the yard, excited and happy. He sniffed at the snow, rolled in it and hunkered down in it. Violet isn’t so enamored of it; she gets cold quickly and heads for the relative safety of a porch. But not Ray the Snow Dog. Every time we take him out in the snow, it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to him. You can sort of get the idea from this pic. (Click on it to enlarge it and appeciate the look on his face.)