17 September, 2014

Dear Sir,

I am writing in response to the letter in last Tuesday’s paper entitled ‘Feral cat explosion’ to address some of the writer’s concerns.

Many people are quick to blame the Bermuda Feline Assistance Bureau (BFAB) for the growing feral cat population in Bermuda. A lot people seem to have the misconception that BFAB is somehow part of, or supported by, the government. Let’s be clear that BFAB is a charity and relies on donations in order to carry out the important work of controlling the feral cat population with no financial assistance from the government.

Let’s take a moment to imagine a Bermuda without BFAB. As large as the feral cat population has grown now, it would be exponentially worse without the tireless work of BFAB spaying and neutering thousands of feral cats every year. BFAB did not put these feral cats in these locations. These cats are here because of irresponsible cat owners dumping their unwanted pets and not getting their cats spayed or neutered.

I would like to address the suggestion that the feral cat feeding stations be “moved to the garden of BFAB volunteers so they can experience what we suffer from”. I myself, like so many BFAB supporters, indeed do have a feral cat feeding station in my back yard, and am in no way ‘suffering’. I thoroughly enjoy the company of these beautiful creatures and in fact it is because I am feeding them that they aren’t tearing into the garbage, are not killing birds, nor lizards, and do not defecate in my garden any more than the owned cats in my neighbourhood.

There is also a reason that people are noticing a sharper increase in the feral cat population lately – BFAB has temporarily ceased their spay/neuter operation over the past 6 months or so as the clinic is relocating and improving, but shortly will resume operations in higher volumes than ever before.

Instead of passively writing letters to the editor to complain, I urge this writer and all readers to take action and donate to BFAB in order to help them carry out their important work. You can donate at www.bfab.bm/donate.html

Paws and Reflect