Green Daily

I want to acknowledge something controversial about myself. I let my cats outside.

They are fairly unique creatures. They stick around my house, going a block away at most. They come when called, stay out for only an hour at a time. But they are cats. While one never kills a thing, and rarely tries, the other has given up synthetic feathers attached to polls in favor of the real thing: birds.

He also happens to like chipmunks, mice and the occasional baby bunny. I am constantly saving shocked creatures from the jaws of my cat.

The killing has ceased since I added bells to their collars, two in fact. And generally they aren't allowed outside during the early morning or dusk when birds are most active. But I know I'm contributing to a problem. I know that while I may slow for all crows and red winged blackbirds nearing my vehicle, my cats do not.The Audubon Society and the American Bird Conservancy launched a campaign called "Cats Indoors: The campaign for safer birds and cats." In a release the two organizations said, "Scientists estimate that free-roaming cats (owned, stray, and feral) kill hundreds of millions of birds and possibly more than a billion small mammals in the U.S. each year."

I am a lover of wildlife. I dislike animals in cages. I think all animals need more and better habitat. I think sprawl is hurting those creatures. But I'm also a lover of my cats. I know their brains get stimulus and joy from running from one lawn to the next, sniffing the bushes and hissing at the neighborhood dogs.

My dilemma shouldn't be a dilemma. I should lock up my cats. But instead I've gone back to another solution, one I tried when I had more fields around my apartment. I go out with my cats. Oddly, the follow me. So we slowly walk over to the field a few blocks over. They sniff and roam, and I chase after them while on the phone or reading. It looks absurd, and I don't always have the time. But it's my compromise. If I had kids maybe I wouldn't go to such lengths. But the neighbor kids love it. And we talk about birds and cats.